The Reverend Dr. William A. Evertsberg
In 2020, Vancouver poet Diane Tucker wrote Forty New O Antiphons, seven-line prayers to Jesus which address him with a unique and clever title to help us think about his person and office in an imaginative way, and then, with rather bold imperatives, petition the Lord to intervene on our behalf to make our lives richer, fuller, and more joyful.

We’re going to suggest that you pray these New O Antiphons devotionally for the 40 days of our extended Advent.

Ms. Tucker gave her prayers the same shape as the seven Great O Antiphons of traditional Roman liturgy when a choir would sing one verse on each of the last seven days of Advent (December 17-23). In each O Antiphon, the Messiah is addressed with a clever title from Hebrew Scripture (“O Key of David”), then petitioned with a bold imperative (“Open wide our heavenly home”). The Great O Antiphons are the source for the beloved Advent hymn O Come, O Come, Immanuel, an ancient prayer that goes back at least to the reign of Charlemagne in the ninth century.

Monday, November 20, 2023

The Second O Antiphon
O Red-Faced Jesus of the Upset Tables,
keep relieving us of our religious greed.
Please topple to the ground our self-salvations.
Tear up moral scorecards and one-upmanship, 
that we may flock into your house of prayer,
bringing nothing but our yawning need.

The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster
We want to save ourselves. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we could? Diane Tucker, though, asks God to topple our “self-salvations,” or what I’d call our illusions of grandeur in which we believe that we can do it all. No wonder Jesus was red-faced with anger. How absurd that we would think that it is all up to us. Our need is too great. And so again we pray,

O Red-Faced Jesus of the Upset Tables,
keep relieving us of our religious greed.
Please topple to the ground our self-salvations.
Tear up moral scorecards and one-upmanship, 
that we may flock into your house of prayer,
bringing nothing but our yawning need.