"Advent is about learning to wait. It is about not having to know exactly what is coming tomorrow, only that whatever it is, it is of the essence of sanctification for us. Every piece of it, some hard, some uplifiting, is sign of the work of God alive in us. We are becoming as we go. We learn in Advent to stay in the present, knowing that only the present well lived can possibly lead us to the fullness of life." (Chittister)
During Advent I'll forego my weekly Buy More Art posts in order to share almost-daily meditations of Scripture, hymns, and art reflecting the alternate narrative and subversive time of waiting in hope for the Christ who came, the Christ who will come again and the Christ now among us.
Won't you join me?
Fourth Sunday of Advent:
"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)December 23 - O Emmanuel (God With Us)
Isaiah 7:14:
"The Lord himself will give you this sign: the Virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel."
Matthew 1:23:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14:
"The Lord himself will give you this sign: the Virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel."
Matthew 1:23:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.”The original antiphon in Latin and English (via Malcolm Guite)
O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster
O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God
[the verse from the familiar carol]
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears.
Listen to the original antiphon sung in Latin.
O Emmanuel re-written by Malcolm Guite
O come, O come, and be our God-with-us
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.
(Listen to the author's reading of this sonnet.)
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| Madonna and Child Nancy Goes CIVA exhibit, Seeing the Savior |
O Emmanuel rewritten by Thom Turner at Everyday Liturgy
O Emmanuel
O God-who-is-with-us, our coming king, composer of justice,
the nations will gather and bow down to you
who will come to judge the living and the dead.
Come now and save us, our God in the flesh.
the nations will gather and bow down to you
who will come to judge the living and the dead.
Come now and save us, our God in the flesh.
Song of response: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (three, because I couldn't pick just one)
Suggested Resources for Advent:
Christmas Hymns by Jason Harrod
Songs for Christmas by Sufjan Stevens
Salvation is Created by Bifrost Arts
"I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving powers. Our temptation is to be distracted by them. When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence ... I will always remain tempted to despair." -- Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen, Gracias! A Latin American Journal - 1983 (via Diary of An Arts Pastor)
