Emmanuel – God with us

I have been so enjoying this last week of Advent on the Lectio 365 app. There, Pete Greig has been taking us through the O Antiphons, the seven names given to Jesus as sung in the carol “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

They are: Sapientia (Wisdom); Adonai (Lord); Radix (Root of Jesse); Clavis (Key of David); Oriens (Morning Star); Rex (King of Nations) and finally Emmanuel (God with us).

In yesterday’s reading focusing on Emmanuel, Mr. Greig quoted part of Malcolm Guite’s poem “O Emmanuel” which sums up these O Antiphons so beautifully. Here is that poem in full. Be blessed in the knowledge of God’s rich presence with us today because Jesus became human 2000+ years ago.

O Emmanuel

• By Malcolm Guite

O come, O come, and be our God-with-us
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.

Copied with permission with a link back to his blog Malcolm Guite

O Emmanuel; a final antiphon and more music

Published in Sounding the Seasons – Canterbury Press, 2012