"O Root of Jesse..."
advent antiphons
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots...
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
-- Isaiah 11.1, 11 (NKJV)
. . .
"O Adonai..."
advent antiphons
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist...
For the . . .
"O Wisdom..."
advent antiphons
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
-- . . .
prayerful waiting: the "O Antiphons"
The seven days of Advent leading up to Christmas Eve and the proper celebration of Christmas are sometimes called the "Golden Nights" and are marked with an additional set of prayers in the Vespers (Evening Prayer) service. These prayers are sometimes called the "O Antiphons" because of how they begin and mark a . . .
on advent and waiting
why we need it and how to practice it
Of late, I have been particularly observant that people are picking up this Advent season on the subject of waiting. Bonhoeffer especially is known in his devotional for writing about Advent as a time of waiting. During the season of advent we practice waiting by not letting Christmas 'out of the bag' too quickly. We focus . . .
"he came to save"
If we do not believe in the power of evil, we cannot fully understand Jesus. It cannot be denied that he came to save people. But unless we understand that the main reason for his coming was to join the fight between God and Satan – to destroy the works of Satan – we cannot fully understand the need for an atonement-death on . . .
