The Discussion Below Comes From the Colson Center
Though much of America celebrates today as Black Friday, Christians anticipate this time of year for a very different reason. This Sunday begins the season of Advent, a time set aside in the Christian calendar to reflect on the coming of Jesus into the world.
For many Christians, Advent is thought of as extended Christmas, but it is more than that. In fact, this season is one of the great gifts of the early church. I’ve asked my friend and colleague Dr. Glenn Sunshine to share his thoughts on this important time of year. Here’s Glenn:
When Christmas approaches each year, I find myself connecting to the past, both my family’s and to the more distant history of the Church through the ages. Perhaps this pull toward remembrance is because the theme of Advent (the season of the Church year that begins four Sundays before Christmas) is believers waiting in anticipation of God’s promise to save His storied people. This shared hope of future glory connects us to the history and practices of the Church, who has longed for the Messiah for centuries, starting with the people of Israel in Scripture.
You see, the Church has always been in a posture of waiting and anticipation. In line with this, I’d like to introduce you to the O Antiphons, an Advent practice that goes back at least to the eighth century and possibly to the beginning of the sixth century, or even earlier. An antiphon is a short response recited or sung during a church service after a Psalm or Canticle (a scriptural song not part of the Psalms). The O Antiphons are recited after the Magnificat, or the Song of Mary found in Luke 1, is delivered during the Vespers service, or Evening Prayer, each evening in the week leading up to Christmas. One antiphon is recited each night. They are called the O Antiphons because each begins with “O,” followed by a name for the Messiah drawn from the book of Isaiah and supplemented with other Scriptures.
The O Antiphons are an acrostic. Taking the first letter of each of the names of the Messiah in the antiphons in order, and then read backwards, they form the Latin words ero cras, which means “tomorrow, I will be [there].” Since the last antiphon is recited on Christmas Eve, the acrostic is a clever and subtle way of signaling the end of Advent and the arrival of the One predicted by Isaiah and the other prophets and described in the antiphons.
The O Antiphons are also the basis for the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emanuel.” The hymn was originally composed in Latin and was first published in the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum. Only five of the seven antiphons were in the first edition; additional verses were added, and by 1878 all seven antiphons were included.