Isaiah 9:2–7 This is one of the most common non-Gospel texts read at a Christmas worship service. It is a key text that authors of the Gospel, Paul in the Epistles, and even Jesus himself refer back to in order to emphasize that Jesus is the one described here as coming. This “great light” breaks the bonds of oppression and ends hunger and violence. In particular, the text notes that David’s kingdom will endure and will do so in peace.
Psalm 96 A call for praise to the God of Israel, who is to be seen as superior to all other god-figures over anything else we might worship instead. It also calls us to spread the word about this God and that God will judge the world righteously.
Titus 2:11–14 This brief and often overlooked text packs a lot into a couple of sentences. It speaks of Jesus’s time on earth as the embodiment of God’s grace, reminds the audience that he came to reconcile us once and for all with God, and speaks to the anticipation of his coming again after his death and resurrection.
Luke 2:1–14 Similarly densely packed, this text covers Mary and Joseph’s travels to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, and the annunciation by the angel to the shepherds about the birth of the Messiah
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