The O Antiphons

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Trinity Episcopal Church
44 East Market St.
Bethlehem PA 18018-5989
610-867-4741

A meditation by Mother Laura Howell
to help people prepare for the O Antiphon service
at Trinity, Bethlehem, on December 21

The O Antiphons

In the name of the Father (+) and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I'd like to invite you to take a short trip with me into the past (or maybe the future). So get comfortable, close your eyes, and turn on your imaginations….

*****

It's bitterly cold as we trudge through the snow. People are silent in the deepening twilight as we hurry toward the church-we hear only the creak of snow under shoes. The sharp, clear smell in the air means more white is on its way. It's good to be wrapped in wool, but when the wind whistles through the trees, it finds openings that make us shiver. Ahead, the windows of the church glow golden in the darkness. Up the stone steps and into the dim interior, lit with a candle in every window. How warm and how welcoming it is inside-away from the snow and cold wind.

In the stillness, fragrant with the scent of candles and a hint of frankincense, we settle ourselves on wooden benches and sink into prayer. We wait….it's Advent. The time of waiting. Sometimes it seems that we spend our whole lives waiting: waiting to grow up, waiting to find work, waiting for illness to pass, waiting to be happy, waiting to find a spouse, waiting for children to be born. And now we're waiting through this cold time for the coming of Christmas. We are waiting to celebrate joyfully the incarnation of Our Lord. And even more, we are longing for Our Lord to return to us, to save us from all our sorrows and troubles. We are longing for him to take away all that separates us from his love.

Sunk in silent meditation, a sound gradually penetrates our concentration and brings us back to where we're sitting. We hear soft voices, a chant, that slowly grows louder as the chanters approach. The low rumbling of the basses, the melodic rise and fall of the tenors, the gentle voices of the altos, and above them all the soaring sopranos. Surely a choir of angels is about to enter… This is what the evening service in heaven will be: friends and family praying together, surrounded with the warm golden glow of the fragrant candles. And the lovely music.

"O WISDOM," they sing, "you came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and reach from one end of the earth to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: O COME, and teach us the way of prudence."

O Adonai AND Leader of the House of Israel, you appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: O COME, and redeem us with outstretched arms.

O ROOT OF JESSE, you stand as a sign to the peoples, before you kings will shut their mouths and nations will bow in worship: O COME, to deliver us, and do not tarry.

O KEY OF DAVID, and Scepter of the House of Israel, you open and no one can close, you close and no one can open: O COME, and bring captives out of the prison house, those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O RISING DAWN, brightness of the light eternal, and Sun of Righteousness: O COME, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O KING OF THE NATIONS and the desire of them all, the Cornerstone who makes both one: O COME, and save the creatures, whom you fashioned out of clay.

O EMMANUEL, Our King and Lawgiver, the expected of the nations and the Savior of them all: O COME and save us, O Lord our God.

O VIRGIN OF VIRGINS, tell us how shall this be? For neither before you was any like you, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why do you marvel at me? The thing which you behold is a divine mystery.

Eight times, readers emerge from the shadows to proclaim the words of Holy Scripture that depict the Messiah who will come. Eight times, the choir stands to chant the ancient verses that call him to us. Eight times, in the echoing silence, our prayers ascend like the smoke of incense, expressing our yearning, our longing. Eight times, we repeat the words Our Savior has taught us, as though by repeating them, we can make him come more swiftly. And at last, we all rise to sing the plaintive hymn that has been at the heart of Advent for 1200 years: "O come, O come, Emmanuel…"

Then back out into the starry darkness, to have our noses nipped with frost, and to walk through the snow, counting joyfully: "Only four more days…only three more days…"

*****

The little trip that we've just taken in our mind's eye is actually not a fiction. It's a preview of the Advent Vespers service that we will be doing on December 21. It is based on an ancient monastic set of short prayers called the "O Antiphons." Traditionally, they are sung at Vespers during the week before Christmas. Joined together, they form the hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."

We hear first hints about them in the 5th Century. And by the 9th Century, there is a version of "O Come, O Come." "Veni veni Emmanuel" in the original Latin for the classicists among us.

Each antiphon contains an invocation of Jesus, using one of his Biblical titles: O Wisdom, O Adonai-which means Lord, and ending with O Emmanuel-meaning God Is With Us. Each contains a tiny prayer for God's people, and the petition that Christ will come-soon. Traditionally, there were at least seven of them, although in some places there were extras. We've chosen to add an eighth, as we remember Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in this time of holy waiting.

In the Middle Ages, the O Antiphons were so important that the leadership of the monasteries and churches had the privilege of singing them. Many of us feel like it's not Advent if we haven't sung "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." It's a wonderful example of how the Church preserves Truth in music and ritual, even if we no longer remember how it came about.

The antiphons create a tiny theology textbook on the nature of Christ. O Wisdom reminds us that Christ is the Logos, the Word of God, through whom all things are created. O Adonai calls upon the Lord who spoke from the Burning Bush, telling Moses to lead his people to freedom. O Root of Jesse speaks of Christ born of the line of David; God, born into a human family. O Key of David refers to Christ who has the power to open all the prisons we find ourselves in, and to lock away all things that hinder us in our journey to God. O Rising Dawn is the promise that even in our darkest times, Christ, the Light of the World, will shine forth. O King of the Nations looks forward to Christ's reign of justice and peace-which is especially poignant today, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. O Emmanuel brings us to Bethlehem, to that moment in history when Christ became incarnate. O Virgin of Virgins is about the woman who said YES when the angel told her she would bear the Messiah, and whose entire life pointed toward her holy Son.

We have two weeks before Advent Vespers and 18 days before Christmas. It's a time of joyful busy-ness and waiting for the even more joyous celebration of Christmas. Let the O Antiphons be your guide to preparing your spirits for Christ's coming. Amen.

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Trinity Episcopal Church
44 East Market St.
Bethlehem PA 18018-5989
610-867-4741