“The First Song of Christmas”

Micah 4:1-6 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, ²  and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ³  He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; ⁴  but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. ⁵  For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. ⁶  In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted

Luke 1:67-79 ⁶⁷ And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, ⁶⁸  “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people ⁶⁹  and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, ⁷⁰  as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, ⁷¹  that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; ⁷²  to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³  the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us ⁷⁴  that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵  in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. ⁷⁶  And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷  to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸  because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high ⁷⁹  to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”