A Service of Renaming

When an event or experience leads a baptized person to take or to be given a new name, the following may be used to mark this transition in the parish community. It is expected that the presider or someone appointed by the presider has prepared the candidate for this rite through pastoral conversation and theological reflection.

This new beginning is distinct from the new life begun in Holy Baptism, which conveys regeneration and the responsibilities of Christian discipleship. The rite can be used on its own or in place of the Word of God during a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. It is particularly commended for use on a major feast day or any of the following occasions: Advent 3 (Gaudete); Holy Name (Jan. 1); Presentation in the Temple (Feb. 2); The Last Sunday After the Epiphany (Transfiguration Sunday); The Feast of the Transfiguration (Aug. 6).

Throughout the rite, the pronouns “they,” “their,” and “them” are used, with corresponding verb forms. These pronouns should be adapted to the preference of the person receiving or claiming the new name, with appropriate adjustment to the accompanying verbs.

Opening Acclamation

PresiderBlessed be the God of Sarai revealed as Sarah, Jacob who became Israel, and Simon called Peter.

PeopleBlessed be the God who comes among us, reconciles us, and sets us free.

Song of Praise

A song of praise or the Gloria in excelsis is sung; in Advent and Lent, the Kyrie or Trisagion is used instead

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.

Collect

Blessed are you, God of growth and discovery; yours is the inspiration that has altered and changed our lives; yours is the power that has brought us to new dangers and opportunities. Set us, your new creation, to walk through this new world, watching and learning, loving and trusting, until your kingdom comes. Amen.

The Collect of the Day

Readings

The service continues with the readings appointed for the day, readings from the list below, or other scriptural passages suitable to the occasion. If the rite takes place in the context of the Eucharist, a reading from the gospel is always included.

The First Lesson

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-17

Genesis 32:22-31

Exodus 3:1-15

Isaiah 42:1-9

Isaiah 43:1-7

Isaiah 56:1-8

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¹O Lord our Governor, *how exalted is your Name in all the world!

²Out of the mouths of infants and children *your majesty is praised above the heavens.

³You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, *to quell the enemy and the avenger.

⁴When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

⁵What is man that you should be mindful of him? *the son of man that you should seek him out?

⁶You have made him but little lower than the angels; *you adorn him with glory and honor;

⁷You give him mastery over the works of your hands; *you put all things under his feet:

⁸All sheep and oxen, *even the wild beasts of the field,

⁹The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, *and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.

¹⁰O Lord our Governor, *how exalted is you Name in all the world!

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¹The Lord is my shepherd; *I shall not be in want.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures *and leads me beside still waters.

³He revives my soul *and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.

⁴Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; *for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

⁵You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

⁶Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

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¹I waited patiently upon the Lord; *he stooped to me and heard my cry.

²He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; *he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.

³He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; *many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴Happy are they who trust in the Lord! *they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.

⁵Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! how great your wonders and your plans for us! *there is none who can be compared with you.

⁶Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! *but they are more than I can count.

⁷In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure *(you have given me ears to hear you);

⁸Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required, *and so I said, “Behold, I come.

⁹In the roll of the book it is written concerning me: *‘I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart.’”

¹⁰I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; *behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O Lord, you know.

¹¹Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; *I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.

¹²You are the Lord; do not withhold your compassion from me; *let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,

¹³For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; *they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

¹⁴Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; *O Lord, make haste to help me.

¹⁵Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it; *let them draw back and be disgraced who take pleasure in my misfortune.

¹⁶Let those who say “Aha!” and gloat over me be confounded, *because they are ashamed.

¹⁷Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad; *let those who love your salvation continually say, “Great is the Lord!”

¹⁸Though I am poor and afflicted, *the Lord will have regard for me.

¹⁹You are my helper and my deliverer; *do not tarry, O my God.

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¹Sing to the Lord a new song; *sing to the Lord, all the whole earth.

²Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; *proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

³Declare his glory among the nations *and his wonders among all peoples.

⁴For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; *he is more to be feared than all gods.

⁵As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; *but it is the Lord who made the heavens.

⁶Oh, the majesty and magnificence of his presence! *Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary!

⁷Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples; *ascribe to the Lord honor and power.

⁸Ascribe to the Lord the honor due his Name; *bring offerings and come into his courts.

⁹Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; *let the whole earth tremble before him.

¹⁰Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is King! *he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”

¹¹Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea thunder and all that is in it; *let the field be joyful and all that is therein.

¹²Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the Lord when he comes, *when he comes to judge the earth.

¹³He will judge the world with righteousness *and the peoples with his truth.

The Second Lesson

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Galatians 3:27-28

Philippians 2:9-13

1 John 3:1-2

Revelation 21:1-6

The Gospel

Matthew 16:13-19

Matthew 17:1-9

Luke 2:15-21

John 20:11-18

John 20: 19-29

Reflections or Sermon

The candidate may be prepared to offer brief reflections here in place of a Sermon. Depending on the occasion, it may be appropriate to invite others to speak.

On Sundays and other Major Feasts, the Nicene Creed follows the sermon, all standing.

Nicene Creed

Prayers of the People

Prayers of the People or a Litany created for the occasion are offered, according to the directions at page 359 in the Book of Common Prayer.

Rite of Renaming

PresiderHear the invitation of God:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh; even though we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:16-20)

The Presider turns to the candidate, asking,

How do you respond to God’s invitation?

CandidateI am a new creation, grateful to embody Christ’s image.

We are here to affirm the name of N. This name expresses who N. is and who they are becoming, through the grace of God. We honor the name given to them by their parents and acknowledge that the time has come to declare a new name. We honor the name they have chosen, and acknowledge those loved ones who have made holy space for a new name to be spoken. This new name is the culmination of a journey of discovery and, at the same time, a new beginning.

Turning to the gathered community, the Presider asks,

Will you do all in your power to assist N. to embody Christ’s message of reconciliation?
PeopleWe will.
PresiderWill you honor N. in name and in spirit as they continue on their path?
PeopleWe will.

Dynamic and holy God, we remember how you changed the names of Abraham and Sarah, as they set out to follow you. We marvel that you changed the name of Jacob, after a long night of wrestling with you. We recall our ancestors in the faith who were given new names as their vocations to serve you were revealed. We now declare publicly and affirm the name you have bestowed upon N.

All lay hands upon the head of the candidate, or upon the shoulders of those around the candidate.

N., receive the blessing of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Walk in the Spirit, this day and always, knowing that God has made an everlasting covenant with you that shall never be cut off. Amen.

PresiderJesus said, ‘Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

PeopleAmen. Alleluia.

The Presider concludes with one of the following collects:

Holy One of blessing, you created us in your image and pronounced us good. We give you thanks for the gift of life itself. We thank you for our individual names, which connect us to the One who spoke all creation into being. We rejoice in our shared calling to the ministry of reconciliation. Amen.

God of transformations, you set us free to change and grow, even while you hold us close in love and grace. Send us forth to love and serve you, in Christ’s holy Name. Amen.

Sources Consulted and/or Adapted

Justin Tanis, Trans-gendered: Theology, Ministry and Communities of Faith (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2003),189-193.

Changes: Prayers and Services Honoring Rites of Passage (Church Publishing, 2007), 47-49.

A New Zealand Prayer Book (Harper One, 4th edition, 1997), 475.

A Reading from the First Letter of John.

¹See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

PeopleGlory to you, Lord Christ.

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

A Reading from the Book of Genesis.

²²The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. ²⁴Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” ²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

PeopleGlory to you, Lord Christ.

¹³Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah.

¹But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. ²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. ³For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. ⁴Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. ⁵Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; ⁶I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— ⁷everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

A Reading from the Book of Genesis.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

PeopleGlory to you, Lord Christ.

¹Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” ⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

PeopleGlory to you, Lord Christ.

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” ²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

A Reading from the Book of Exodus.

¹Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” ¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” ¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah.

¹Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. ²Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil. ³Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” ⁴For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, ⁵I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. ⁶And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— ⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. ⁸Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah.

¹Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. ²He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; ³a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. ⁴He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching. ⁵Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: ⁶I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, ⁷to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. ⁸I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. ⁹See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

A Reading from the Letter to the Philippians.

⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

A Reading from the Letter to the Galatians.

²⁷As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

A Reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians.

¹⁴For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. ¹⁵And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. ¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

PeopleGlory to you, Lord Christ.

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. ²¹After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

A Reading from the Book of Revelation.

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; ⁴he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” ⁵And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

A Reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.