O King: Advent Daybook, 28

This week we are adoring Jesus by praying the prophetic names of the O Antiphons.

O KEY OF NATIONS

Opening Prayer: O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man: Come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

Read: Jeremiah 10:6-7; Haggai 2:6-9; Isaiah 2:2-4; Ephesians 2:19-22

A Reading from Jeremiah 10:6-7

There is none like thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations? For this is thy due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like thee.

A Reading from Haggai 2:6-9

For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with splendor,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘ The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts; ‘and in this place I will give prosperity,’ says the Lord of hosts.

A Reading from Isaiah 2:2-4

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 shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples 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. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; 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 any more.

A Reading from Ephesians 2:19-22

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Pray: Read Malcolm Guite's sonnet and then sing the sixth verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel as today's prayer.

O Rex Gentium

O King of our desire whom we despise,
King of the nations never on the throne,
Unfound foundation, cast-off cornerstone,
Rejected joiner, making many one,
You have no form or beauty for our eyes,
A King who comes to give away his crown,
A King within our rags of flesh and bone.
We pierce the flesh that pierces our disguise,
For we ourselves are found in you alone.
Come to us now and find in us your throne,
O King within the child within the clay,
O hidden King who shapes us in the play
Of all creation. Shape us for the day
Your coming Kingdom comes into its own.

Sing:

O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease;
Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Do: Nothing. Spend at least 15 minutes sitting in silence. Don’t try to make anything happen during that time. Just be.

Make space for silence, without any noise or distraction, to pause and calmly think about the weeks of Advent. There's no need to strive for profound insight during this time. Just be still.

If you begin to sense thoughts or feelings bubbling up in the quiet, notice them without trying to analyze them. You might breathe out one phrase each time you're tempted to become distracted. Try something like "O come, Emmanuel" or even, "Prince of Peace." Trust God as your Heavenly Father to be present with you through Christ and by His Spirit. End your time with a simple prayer or chorus. Go about your day in peace.

You might also enjoy: Listen to the live radio broadcast of King’s College Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols at 10 EST / 9 CST this morning.

For millions listening on radio and online around the world, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, live from the candlelit Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, marks the beginning of Christmas. It is based on nine Bible readings that tell the story of the loving purposes of God. They are interspersed with carols old and new, sung by the world-famous chapel choir who also lead the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns.

If you are listening to A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols you may also wish to follow along with the Order of Service. The booklet will be available at the radio link sometime in December.

O Antiphons

O COME, O COME EMMANUEL!

"In the first centuries, the Church had a beautiful custom of praying seven great prayers calling afresh on Christ to come, calling him by the mysterious titles he has in Isaiah, calling to him; O Wisdom. O Root! O Key O Light! Come to us! "-- Malcolm Guite

Advent slightly shifts its focus beginning December 17 when the antiphons for Vespers, known as the O Antiphons, are sung at the Magnificat. Each O Antiphon addresses Jesus with a title that comes from the prophecies of Isaiah anticipating the coming of the Messiah. The first letters of the titles in the original Latin in reverse order spell "Ero Cras," meaning "Tomorrow, I will come."

The reality is that most of us who celebrate Christmas have been praying the O Antiphons without ever knowing it. The seven prayers comprise the seven verses of the beloved Advent hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." I know I'm not alone in my love for that hymn. I never get tired of it and enjoy almost every arrangement I've ever heard.

I first learned about the O Antiphons from a beautiful collection of sonnets by poet-priest Malcolm Guite. I began including the seven reflections in my Advent Daybook each year. Later, our Church began celebrating an annual Advent Compline service, incorporating Guite's seven sonnets into an excellent resource from our friends at Modern Liturgic.

This year, I'm adapting the dates to fit the format of Daybook Meditations. For the next seven days, leading up to Christmas, I've shifted our daily lectionary passages to specially selected Scripture for each of the O Antiphons. Instead of including a piece of music, I’ll invite you to sing one verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, each day.

I'll also include a link to each of Malcolm Guite's seven sonnets which invite us to delight in the O Antiphons' deeper meaning:

"... we come to the last of the Seven Great O Antiphons, which was sung on either side of the Magnificat on Christmas Eve, O Emmanuel, O God with us. This is the antiphon from which our lovely Advent hymn takes its name. It was also this final antiphon which revealed the secret message embedded subtly into the whole antiphon sequence. In each of these antiphons we have been calling on Him to come to us, to come as Light as Key, as King, as God with us. Now, standing on the brink of Christmas Eve, looking back at the illuminated capital letters for each of the seven titles of Christ we would see an answer to our pleas: ERO CRAS the latin words meaning 'Tomorrow I will come!" -- Malcolm Guite

Taken together, the O Antiphons circle us back to the heart of Advent: waiting for arrival. I hope you'll find the meditations to take you deeper into the heart of God with us who will surely come again and forever. Let's sing our hearts out this week, friends!

O COME, O COME EMMANUEL!

A few additional resources: