The world is about to turn: Advent Daybook 19

Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus and more like the true self you’ve created as I savor your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Look: Annunciation (2019), Ivanka Demchuk - Source | H\T

Listen: Canticle of the Turning, Emmaus Way - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube

Read: Zechariah 4:1–14, Psalm 50, Revelation 4:9–5:5, Matthew 25:1–13

Excerpts:

“The Messenger-Angel again called me to attention. It was like being wakened out of deep sleep.

He said, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top. Seven lamps, each with seven spouts, are set on the bowl. And there are two olive trees, one on either side of the bowl.”

Then I asked the Messenger-Angel, “What does this mean, sir?”

The Messenger-Angel said, “Can’t you tell?”

“No, sir,” I said.

Then he said, “This is God’s Message to Zerubbabel: ‘You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,’ says God-of-the-Angel-Armies. ‘So, big mountain, who do you think you are? Next to Zerubbabel you’re nothing but a molehill. He’ll proceed to set the Cornerstone in place, accompanied by cheers: Yes! Yes! Do it!’”

After that, the Word of God came to me: “Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They’ll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!”
*
”The God of gods—it’s God!—speaks out, shouts, “Earth!” welcomes the sun in the east, farewells the disappearing sun in the west. From the dazzle of Zion, God blazes into view. Our God makes his entrance, he’s not shy in his coming. Starbursts of fireworks precede him.

He summons heaven and earth as a jury, he’s taking his people to court: “Round up my saints who swore on the Bible their loyalty to me.”

The whole cosmos attests to the fairness of this court, that here God is judge.”
*
”I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One Seated on the Throne. It was written on both sides, fastened with seven seals. I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, “Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who can break its seals?”

There was no one—no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from the underworld—able to break open the scroll and read it.

I wept and wept and wept that no one was found able to open the scroll, able to read it. One of the Elders said, “Don’t weep. Look—the Lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David’s Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll, can rip through the seven seals.”

*

“God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.

In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bride-groom’s here! Go out and greet him!’

So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.”

— Zechariah 4:1-10, Psalm 50:1-6, Revelation 5:1-5, Matthew 25:1-6,13 (MSG)

Pray: From Psalm 50:14-15 (NIV)

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Dear Father in heaven, we want to praise you together and to thank you with all our hearts for your goodness and your deliverance from our many needs. Accept our thanks, and help us go on our way with ever joyful hearts. Make us ready for whatever you have prepared for us, your children. Bless us in our individual lives and bless us in our community. Let your Spirit shed its rays into all places to comfort people’s hearts and to restore and strengthen their faith. May your name be praised forevermore. Amen.

    • by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

Do: Prepare to worship God through the O Antiphons of Advent.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be joining in with countless Christians over the centuries who pray the O Antiphons the week before Christmas. Read some of the histories in the links below.

Advent slightly shifts its focus beginning tomorrow (December 17) when the antiphons for Vespers, known as the Greater Antiphons, but more commonly 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.”

In the last few years, starting with the poet-priest Malcolm Guite’s sonnets during Advent, I began to notice references to this prayer tradition. We began to incorporate the prayers into our Compline service at Church of the Apostles (using a wonderful resource from our friends at Modern Liturgic). This is the framework I use for the final pages of the Advent Daybook.

The reality is that most of us who celebrate Christmas have been praying the O Antiphons without ever knowing it. The seven prayers make up 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 should mention that I take a small creative license in pausing the O Antiphon liturgy for the final Sunday in Advent and then completing the series with the seventh O Antiphon (O Come, Emmanuel!) on Christmas Eve instead of December 23. I’ll keep the same daily format for Advent Daybook posts with the Scripture selections for each of the O Antiphons rather than the selection from the lectionary. I’ll also include a link to each of Malcolm Guite’s seven sonnets.

Here’s a little bit more of the background to this rich prayer tradition from Malcolm Guite:

“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!

I have responded to these seven “Great O” Antiphons, as they are called, with seven sonnets, revoicing them for our own age now, but preserving the heart of each, which is a prayer for Christ’s Advent for his coming, now in us, and at the end of time, in and for all. (*Note: See these sonnets as the opening sequence in his cycle of sonnets for the liturgical year - Sounding the Seasons or his Advent anthology, Waiting on the Word.)

… 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!”

Here’s the list of prayers for each day - working backward so you can see better the Latin acrostic:

December 23 - O Emmanuel: O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the One whom the Gentiles expect, and their Salvation: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

December 22 - O Rex: O King of the Nations, and their Desire; the Cornerstone who dost unite the divided into one: Come and save mankind, whom thou didst create out of clay.

December 21 - O Oriens: O Day-Spring, radiant everlasting Light, and Sun of Righteousness: Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

December 20 - O Clavis: O Key of David, and Scepter of the house of Israel; who openest and no one shutteth, who shuttest and no one openeth; Come and bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

December 19 - O Radix: O Root of Jesse, who standest for an ensign to the peoples, at whom kings shall shut their mouths, and to whom the gentiles shall pray: Come and deliver us, and do not delay.

December 18 - O Adonai: O Lord and ruler of the house of Israel, who didst appear to Moses in a burning bush, and didst give him the law on Sinai: Come and deliver us with an outstretched arm.

December 17 - O Sapientia: O Wisdom, who didst issue out of the mouth of the most High, and dost reach from one end of the world to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

A few additional resources:

These daily devotional posts are available to those who subscribe at the Daybook ($5 a month) level. You can also purchase a one-time .pdf download of all 40 meditations for Advent & Christmastide in my Shop. You can see the entire Advent archive here.

* Listen to my entire playlist on Spotify: Make A Way: Advent 2021 .

** Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 2).

AdventTamara Hill MurphyAdvent Daybook 2021, O Antiphons