Advent Daybook 16: The sun will be darkened

Pray: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus as I sit in your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Look:  Chart-Like Composite Photographs Show the Progression of the 2019 Solar Eclipse, Dan Marker-Moore - source 

Listen*:  Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Choir of King's College, Cambridge - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube 

Read**:  Psalm 41, 52; Zechariah 1:7-17; Revelation 3:7-13; Matthew 24:15-31 

Excerpts:

"Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.

As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”

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"Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day."

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" ... the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 'I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’

... So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”

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"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

.... Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"

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"So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!

... For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

... Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

- Psalm 41:1-4 * Psalm 52:1 * Zechariah 1:7b-10, 14-17 * Revelation 3:7, 9 -12 * Matthew 24:15-19, 29-31 (ESV)

Pray:  From Revelation 3:8 (NIV)

"I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you that you know us all and that you look deep into our hearts, watching over us in everything we go through, whether easy or difficult. We thank you that we do not stand alone but that you hear the smallest sigh of each of your children. We thank you that darkness must give way to light, distress to joy, and fear to strength and courage. For you lead us through everything; it is what you bring about from your future world, not anything within our sight, that gives us strength and courage and that endures through everything. We thank you from our hearts for your unending gifts, and we are amazed that it was possible for us to receive all this from you. Protect us and keep us childlike, so that we remain in the fellowship that the Lord Jesus has given us, singing praise to him and to the glory and honor of your name. Amen.

Do:  For the next 7 days of Advent, 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.

Make space for the adoration of our God

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. Last year, we incorporated the prayers into our Compline service (using a wonderful resource from our friends at Modern Liturgic) at Church of the Apostles. This year, I’m embedding them into our final week of Advent Daybook posts.

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. 

For the next seven days, leading up to Christmas Eve, 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 7 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. (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:


For an introduction read this post: Advent Daybook Explained. You can see previous Advent daybook 2018 posts here.

* Listen to my entire playlist on Spotify: Advent 2019. Add it to your account by clicking ‘Follow.’

** Sunday Scripture readings are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (Year 2).

AdventTamara Hill MurphyAdvent Daybook 2019, O Antiphons