Advent Apocalypse: Lessons and Carols, celebrating the season of expectation in word and song.
This year our worship series Advent Apocalypse is looking at scripture that remind us Advent is not just about preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, it is also about looking forward to the return of Christ.
In the Middle Ages, the Church observed Advent as a season of great solemnity. There was a spiritual preparation similar to Lent with an emphasis on prayer and fasting — along with contemplation of scriptures related to judgment, hell, and heaven.
Advent also created sacred time and space for celebration because Christ would return, not only as Judge, but also as Savior, and would usher in the Kingdom of God here on earth. Today we embrace the hope we have in the future return Christ who will banish all sin.
Our worship service this morning is a celebration of Advent Lessons and Carols. This service aims to recapture that Advent longing and hope we have in the promise that God will deliver all people from sin and death.
In the monastic tradition, the Magnificat, the song of Mary, is sung or spoken every day at Evening Prayer. During the last week before Christmas, there is special group of prayers called antiphons that are said before and after the Magnificat each day. These are called the O Antiphons, because they all begin with “O” as a way of addressing the Messiah with various titles drawn from the Hebrew scriptures:
O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Rising Dawn, O King of the Nations, and O Emmanuel, God with Us.
Today’s service is based on these “O Antiphons.” If we were to pray these prayers each night the week before Christmas, and we also understood Latin we would discover the hidden meaning in the order of the words. The Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. The Latin text of the O Antiphons imbeds an acrostic: read in reverse order from last to first antiphon, the second word of each stanza begins with the letters ERO CRAS, Latin for “Tomorrow, I will come.” This word is only revealed when praying the final “O Antiphon” on December 23. This reminds us that we are not only looking to the past to celebrate the incarnation of Christ but we also look to the future promise of Christ’s return.
Music provided by Nathan Drake and used by permission (https://www.reawakenhymns.com/the-soul-felt-its-worth-videos).