O Emmanuel/O God with Us

A.Hanson, 2012

O Emmanuel, you bring hope for all people: Come and teach us the way of love, O Gracious God. 

In my role as public minister, I interact with many people who believe that faith in something greater than themselves is foolish. But I guess that in spite of how foolish it might seem, I would rather have hope than despair for our world.

I see many tough and terrible things, but I also see many beautiful and redeeming things.  I believe in a God that brings hope, despite all evidence to the contrary, because I do see bits of Gospel and hope and goodness in the midst of all the brokenness.

Blessings on your Christmas season!

O Rex Gentium/O King of Nations

A.Hanson, 2009. 

O hope of all nations, and their desire, you are the foundation, you are that which makes two into one: Come and save the creature whom you have fashioned from clay. 

I think a lot about human beings as creatures in my work in the hospital.  I see the most basic animalistic functions happen: screams of pain, gasping for breath, bleeding.

I have never thought about asking God to "save the creature whom you have fashioned from clay", because that slides too close to asking for a miracle.  But as I reflect on this Advent, I wonder if "saving" is much bigger than I might imagine. Saving might mean just saving from this life. It could mean death.  I need to sit with this idea a little more.

O Rex Gentium, O King of Nations, you created us from the beginning of all that is. Come and save us. O Rex Gentium, O King of Nations. Come.

O Oriens/O Rising Dawn

A.Hanson, 2014

O Rising Dawn, brightness of the light eternal, sun of compassion: come and enlighten us, we who sit in darkness and without life. 

I work a lot of overnight shifts at the hospital where I am a chaplain.  The night always stretches before me with some sense of foreboding. Traumas take on a life of their own during the night.  There is such a breath of relief that comes for everyone at dawn.  For the patients, it is relief that they have survived to see a new day.  For the staff, it is relief that they have survived another shift and can rest safely at home.

I think this breath of relief captures a bit of the explanation of Christ as Rising Dawn.  A healing light that bathes a darkened world after many hours of tense darkness.

O Oriens, O Rising Dawn, with gentle light you reveal that which the darkness hides.  Enlighten us from the darkness we hold within ourselves, from the darkness that shadows our world. O Oriens, O Rising Dawn.  Come.

O Clavis David/O Key of David

O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel; you reveal and you do not hide; you close and do not open: come and deliver us from the chains of our prisons, we who sit in darkness and without life. 

This particular year, this cry to "come and deliver us from the chains of our prisons, we who sit in darkness and without life" feels particularly poignant.  Advent 2014 shall forever be remembered with images of tear gas and protests on the streets of Ferguson, MO, with a garish "Season's Greetings" sign glowing overhead. Images of thousands marching for change. Images of so much pain burned into our memories.

This year there is really nothing to say except, "O Come, O Come Immanuel."

O Clavis David, O Key of David, deliver us.  Unbind us from the prisons of our world.  Sit with us in our darkness.  Free us from ourselves.  O Clavis David, O Key of David, Come.

O Radix Jesse/O Root of Jesse

A.Hanson, 2012

O Root of Jesse, you stand as a sign to the people; before you leaders shall keep silent, nations shall be reverent: come to free us, and do not delay. 

Root of Jesse is one of the weirder statements about the nature of Christ.  It basically says that Christ comes from a royal lineage, and Christ's coming has been foretold.

What strikes me about this Antiphon is the command, "Come to free us, and do not delay." What I love about the prophetic literature is God's people holding God to God's promises. This feels particularly pertinent today.


O Root of Jesse, free us and do not delay.  Be a leader of peace in a world of violence. O Radix Jesse, O Root of Jesse, come.

O Adonai/O Lord

A.Hanson, 2012 

O Lord, leader of the House of Israel, you appeared to Moses in the fire of a burning bush; On Mount Sinai you gave us your wisdom: with outstretched arm, come and redeem us. 

I think culturally we rebel against the idea of a Lord.  Adonai, or Lord, in Hebrew has connotations of a ruler and an omniscient being that Americans are uncomfortable with.  But it's not as if we do not have other lords or other things that rule over us.  We have made money our lord.  We have made success or career or education our lord.

What would happen if we surrendered to the Lord of Israel?  To the gentle wisdom of God?

O Sapientia/O Wisdom

A.Hanson, 2013

O Wisdom, you come from the mouth of the most high, and reach from one end of the earth to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come, teach us the way of wisdom.

In this particular season of Advent, we seem to have an abundance of chaos in our world. The senseless racism of our country has been made abundantly clear, despite all attempts to contain it, schoolchildren are dying in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ebola rages in Africa.

O God of Wisdom, you hold the earth in your hands.  Help us to know that you know all things and you order all things.  Help us to rest in your wisdom.  Even when it all seems so senseless.  O Sapientia, O Wisdom.  Come.

O Antiphons

A.Hanson, 2014

The O Antiphons are a set of sung refrains that are used at Vespers during the last seven days of Advent.

They get this unusual name because each refrain begins with "O" and some name of the Messiah. They pertain to some prophecy from Isaiah.

Also, they are beautiful.  So please join with me in my Advent preparation with the O Antiphons.