Thoughts for the Day

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins'... When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, he took her as his wife.

(Church in Wales lectionary, from New Revised Standard version)

Thoughts

The 'O Antiphons' are a series of short lines sung before or after psalms in Advent. The seven antiphons begin with "O" and are used for services between the 17th and 23rd December. Their origins go back to Medieval Europe some 1,500 years ago, and many of us will know them from the hymn 'O come, O come Emmanuel'. Each of the antiphons starts with a title for the Messiah, and as Christians we believe they refer to Jesus. Yesterday's title was 'O Wisdom':

'The spirit of the lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding.'
(Isaiah 11.2)

and today's is 'O Lord', ie our ruler or master. Isaiah says:

'For the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our ruler,
the Lord is our king;
he will save us.'
(Isaiah 33.22)

We should remember that the baby born in the stable 2,000 years ago is the one to whom we pray today today in this pandemic, and it is who can rescue us.

O Wisdom,
O Lord,
creator of the world,
and ruler of Your people
we remember that You
came to live among us
as a baby,
in order to offer us eternal life.
Amen.