… Merry Christmass!
By way of a seasonal gift, the whole family has picked out our favourite videos for you to enjoy. Happy Christmass viewing.
From Mary and Martha:
From Lily and Alma:
From the Vicar (and you thought the Curate in the giant Christingle was bad…):
The blessings of the Christ Child be on you all.
Categories: Fun in Forton
It’s Christmass Eve, and here at the Vicarage we’re all excited about the coming of Christ tomorrow (and Santa Paws tonight).
But first, back on 17th December, we promised we’d tell you what was so neat about the way the O Antiphons are arranged. Well, those clever Mediaeval bods who put them together clearly had a great deal of prophetic foresight about the arrival of the Blog genre, because they wanted you to get to Christmass Eve and then read the seven titles backwards. If you do, you get this:
Emmanuel
Rex
Oriens
Clavis
Radix
Adonaï
Sapientia
The seven first letters spell out two Latin words: Ero Cras, which mean: “I am coming tomorrow.”
Alleluya! Come, Lord, come!
Categories: Somewhere between the soapbox and the pulpit
Today’s Antiphon, the last, sums up all six that have gone before it, and the whole meaning of the festival to come: the Christ Child truly is Emmanuel, God with us.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God is with us always and everywhere. Now we look forward to his coming at Christmass.
O Emmanuel,
our King and Lawgiver,
the one whom the peoples await,
and their Saviour:
Come to save us,
O Lord our God.
Categories: Somewhere between the soapbox and the pulpit
Today is the penultimate day of the O Antiphons, and the turn of Rex Gentium, King of the Nations. As the days have progressed, the Antiphons have been moving through salvation history. We have seen how the coming of Christ is rooted in Hebrew scripture and tradition, but is good news for all people in all times.
Today is the most explicit of the Antiphons: Christ is for everybody. Following the prophet Haggai, we proclaim Christ as the Desire of Nations. He is able to break down the barriers between people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, and make us one.
O King of the nations,
and their desire,
Cornerstone who makes both one:
Come, and save humanity,
whom you formed from clay.
Categories: Somewhere between the soapbox and the pulpit
