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.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
O Loud and Lavish Lover of the awkward,
the shy and scared, the socially inept,
open our eyes to all their silent beauties.
May we not miss the faithful hearts among us,
not full of many words, but big with love.
May we never idolize exalted speech.
Bless us in our stuttering wordlessness.
The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster
If you listen to Bill Evertsberg’s sermons, you know his heart for alliteration, and you hear a kindred voice from Diane Tucker calling Christ “Loud and Lavish Lover of the awkward.” In any given day we each become “the awkward, the shy and scared, the socially inept,” whether it is thinking back to the raw middle school days, or our first job, or that more recent faux pax in which we socially tripped over ourselves and our cheeks still flush in embarrassment. The gospel reiterates again and again that we (God’s people) never get it right, that we (humanity-in-general) sabotage our own self-interested attempts at peace, prosperity, and genuine connection, and that we (here in our own small corner of the world) always miss the mark. And so in our imperfection, we are brought to “stuttering wordlessness,” seeking blessing. And so again we pray,
O Loud and Lavish Lover of the awkward,
the shy and scared, the socially inept,
open our eyes to all their silent beauties.
May we not miss the faithful hearts among us,
not full of many words, but big with love.
May we never idolize exalted speech.
Bless us in our stuttering wordlessness.