Readings for Celebrating Advent

‘All of me wants to praise God and say,
“Lord, how good and great you are!”
⁴⁷ I thank God because he is the one who saves me.
⁴⁸ I know that I am not an important person.
God knows this, and he has been kind to me.
Listen! From now on, all people will say that God has made me happy.
⁴⁹ Yes, God has done great things for me.
He is very powerful and strong. He is good in every way.
⁵⁰ He is kind to people who respect and obey him.
He will always be kind to people like that.
⁵¹ He has shown how strong he is to do great things.
Some people think that they are very important.
But he has sent them away in different directions.
⁵² Some people were ruling countries.
But he has taken their power away from them.
He has given power to people who do not feel important.
⁵³ He has fed hungry people with good things to eat.
But he has sent rich people away with nothing.
⁵⁴ He promised that he would be kind to his people, Israel.
Now he has come and helped them.
⁵⁵ He made a promise to Abraham and to our other ancestors.
Now he has done what he promised.’^[a]