O Antiphons Week 2
Stacy Ikard & Anne Nabors

O Antiphons Week 2

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O Antiphons Week 2 - The Text

The Great O’s of Advent

Seven prayers on the road to Bethlehem – Week Two

The First Two Antiphons

Christ who was there at Creation

Come and teach us wisdom

Christ who was there at the giving of the law to Moses and the parting of the Red Sea

Come and rescue us

O Root of Jesse, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples: kings fall silent before you; nations bow down in worship before you. O come and deliver us and do not delay!

Root Of Jesse?  Lineage and Promise

u Genesis12:1-2                                                            

u   Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

u Abraham – Isaac-Jacob- Judah

u Jesse was the child of Ruth and Obed – of the House of Judah

u All of the promises to Abraham and to David were part of this lineage

Promise to David /Israel

2 Samuel 7 

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. 15 But I will not take[b] my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me;[c] your throne shall be established forever.” 

The Destruction of Jerusalem/Israel- Exile

u Prophetic Hope Arose

u Could it be therapeutic husbandry of a Holy Vinedresser?

u Do not be deceived by appearances. The stump isn’t dead, there are seeds ready to sprout, God is at work when things look most dire.

u A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch shall grow[a] out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of counsel and might,
    the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

u 10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

O Root of Jesse – Messiah- Flower of Jesse’s Stem

Connected to the Easter Passion - Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52

The Suffering Servant

13 See, my servant shall prosper;
    he shall be exalted and lifted up
    and shall be very high.
14 Just as there were many who were astonished at him[c]
    —so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,  and his form beyond that of mortals—
15 so he shall startle[d] many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
    and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Power of Metaphors for Hope

u Progeny and lineage

u Vineyards

u Monarchy and politics

u New life

u Roots

u What is deliverance without delay?

u For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3

O Key of David

O Key of David, and scepter of Israel,

What you open, no one else can close again;

And what you close, no one can open.

O come and lead the captive from prison;

Free those who sit in darkness

and in the Shadow of Death.

O Key of David
Imagery

u The 4th O Antiphon invites us to recognize Christ’s birth as the moment when humanity was given the key to its destiny

u Gates…Genesis 3 and Revelation 3, 4, 19

u The Opening of the Heavens…Jesus’ baptism

u Key…Isaiah 22:15-22

u This key is carried on the shoulder

u Ephesians 2:18-19

u Doctrine of the Ascension (access to God)

u Rev. 1:17-18

O Key of David and The Ascension

u Jesus’ identity as the Key of David helps us manage the mystery of His “absence-and-presence” in the world. He was here, he left without leaving us, and he is coming soon.

u Jesus’ ascent to heaven where he sits on the right hand of God the Father is a completion of the Easter Paschal story. The Risen and transformed Christ has left us, but we are with him in Spirit, with the promise that we too shall ascend through the gates of Heaven to be united with the whole Church at the end the end of the age.

O Come, O Come,
Emmanuel

u First written in Latin as a metrical paraphrase (8.8.8.8) of each O Antiphon in the 8th or 9th century for chanting in monasteries.

u The hymn was translated in 1851 into English using the same meter by John Mason Neale, who translated scores of hymns from Latin, Greek, Russian and Syrian sources and published them for “Hymns Ancient and Modern”.

u The tune came to be known as “VENI EMMANUEL” but was found to have been a 15th century French burial processional chant also in 8.8.8.8 meter called “Goodbye Sweet Jesus to All”.

u Thomas Helmore paired 5 verses of the text with the tune in 1851 in “Hymns Noted”

u Two more verses (Wisdom and Desire of Nations) were composed by Presbyterian minister, Henry Sloane Coffin, in 1916, bringing us to the full seven Antiphons used today.

u Not every denomination uses the exact same words or puts them in the same order for the verses.

u 2 O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go.

u 3 O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to your tribes on Sinai's height
in ancient times did give the law
in cloud and majesty and awe.

u 4 O come, O Branch of Jesse's stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o'er the grave.

u 5 O come, O Key of David, come
and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
and bar the way to death's abode.

u THE ADVENT HYMN

u 6 O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light.

u 7 O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace.

u 1 O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.