St Nicholas (6 December)
St Nicholas was Bishop of Myra (now in Southern Turkey) in the fourth century AD. Not
much was written about him at that time, but he was remembered as being a wonderful
pastor, having a love of children, and for caring for the hungry, the sick and the
oppressed.
A church was built over his tomb in the fourth century.
Later, in the eleventh century, his relics were transferred to Bari in Italy by seamen
from Bari. Books were written about him about that time telling tales of his wonderful
exploits, many of these really legendary. My two favourites are those of the three girls
he is said to have rescued from sexual slavery by providing them with dowries (his emblem
is a sign of three bags of gold, representing these three dowries and of the rescue of
three boys who succeeded not only in being pickled and put in a pickle jar, but in
surviving this ordeal alive.
Because of these legends he is most often nowadays associated with the giving of
presents, and with giving delight to children. In this guise he is best known as Santa
Claus. In several (Northern) European countries it is still the practice to give children
presents on 6 December, in honour of St Nicholas.
Almighty Father, lover of mankind,
who chose your servant Nicholas to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
Make your people mindful of the needs of others,
and as they have themselves received,
so teach them also to give,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(G B Timms, The Cloud of Witnesses, London 1982)
St Ambrose (7 December)
Bishop of Milan (332-397). Born in Trier of Christian parents, was not baptised until
adulthood. Was trained as a lawyer, and was very successful in that profession. In 374 was
elected Bishop of Milan, and, in the course of three weeks, was ordained deacon, priest
and bishop.
A great bishop. Baptised St Augustine. Created in Milan a magnificent liturgical
tradition which is still in use (different from the rest of the RC provision, and of
course used by some of his great successors, such as Pope Paul VI, who brought to
completion the Second Vatican Council, and, as Pope, exchanged Episcopal rings with the
great Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, with whom he shared a blessing to the
congregation of St John Lateran on the occasion of Bishop Ramsey's visit to him in Rome.
Ambrose baptised St Augustine, wrote numerous superb treatises on the Christian faith,
still widely read (by clergy, including me) and wrote some terrific hymns, still widely in
use: Creator of the earth and sky; The eternal gifts of Christ the King; O strength and
stay, upholding all creation; and most valuable of all, the wonderful Advent/Christmas
hymn, Come, thou Redeemer of the earth.
Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,
And manifest thy virgin-birth:
Let every age adoring fall,
Such birth befits the God of all.
The virgin womb that burden gained
With virgin honour all unstained,
The banners three of virtue glow,
God in his temple dwells below.
Forth from that chamber goeth he,
That royal home of purity,
A giant in twofold substance one,
Rejoicing now his course to run.
From God the Father he proceeds,
To God the Father back he speeds,
Runs out his course to death and hell,
Returns on God's high throne to dwell.
(New English Hymnal hymn 19; trans JM Neale and others)
The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 December)
This festival (solemnity) was first introduced in the Eastern Church as 'The Conception
of the Virgin Mary by St Anne' (the name attributed by tradition to the mother of the
Blessed Virgin, though there is no Biblical evidence to support this; however, this
tradition is very ancient) in the eighth century. It spread to Western churches and became
a much-loved festival. It was faithfully observed in the Western Church from the twelfth
century to the present day.
The Western Church elaborated the understanding of this feast. To understand this you
have to think in medieval terms. You will appreciate that, when we receive communion, we
receive the body and blood of Christ, as consecrated on the altar. We, the baptised, carry
in our bodies the very body and blood of Christ. Now, no one can receive this great gift
without first being baptised. Mary, of course, was not baptised. Yet she carried the body
and blood of Christ in her body. This presented the medieval church with a problem. The
theologians of the day resolved this by saying that Mary must have been conceived 'already
baptised, in a state of grace'. This came to be considered 'the immaculate conception of
the Blessed Virgin Mary'. You can see where they were coming from. If this medieval
theology disturbs you, then, in modern terms, really all it means is that the BVM was born
as a special person to God, and she carried out her mission with diligence and grace.
Because of this wonderful contribution to salvation history (the history of mankind in the
divine context) she has to be considered the first of all the saints.
Please note:
- This festival is not to be confused with that on March 25, 'the annunciation of
our Lord' - the annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin that she would
give birth to the Messiah.
- No one actually knows the date of birth of the Blessed Virgin, any more than
anyone knows the actual date of birth of Out Lord. The date of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin having been set for 8 September (see Scottish Calendar), then obviously the
Conception of the Blessed Virgin in the womb of St Anne must have been approximately nine
months earlier (8 December). Similarly with the other feasts. If the birth of Jesus should
coincide with the winter equinox (25 December), then clearly the Annunciation must
coincide with the spring equinox (25 March).
- Clearly the Blessed Virgin had a mother and
father, and was conceived and born, on whatever dates. This is
indubitable. The additional information about St Anne and St Joachim
comes from early tradition, but is not mentioned in books incorporated
in the New Testament. The use of some traditional material which is not
canonically New testament does not invalidate the importance of the
festival.
Sing we of the blessèd Mother.
Who received the angel's word,
And obedient to his summons.
Bore in love the infant Lord;
Sing we of the joys of Mary.
At whose breast the child was fed.
Who is Son of God eternal.
And the everlasting bread.
(G B Timms. New English Hymnal, no 185)
The collect for this day in the Scottish Prayer Book is as follows:
O almighty God,
who didst endue with singular grace
the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord:
Vouchsafe, we beseech thee
to hallow our bodies in purity
and our souls in humility and love;
through the same our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Scottish prayer Book 1929, page 298)
13 December: St Lucy
Some twenty years ago I was at an education conference in Uppsala in Sweden, much
puzzled as to why an international conference should have been set up in mid-December,
amid the snow. However, at dinner on 13 December all was revealed: a children's choir
entered the dining room singing the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia, and at the back of the
choir was a girl wearing a candelabra on her head, with four lighted candles. This, it
seems, is a tradition carried out all over Sweden on 13 December. Here is the explanation.
St Lucy was a young Christian in Syracuse, Sicily. She lived in the late third and
early fourth century, at a time when the Roman Empire was attempting to force religious
uniformity in celebration of Roman gods and the god-emperor (twenty or thirty years later
the emperor Constantine established Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire, but
this was too late for Lucy). Lucy gave away her goods to the poor, and was betrayed to the
Roman authorities by her betrothed, who was most unhappy at her disposal of goods he
considered to be his own. She was put to death in 304.
The celebration of her martyrdom in December led to her name being associated with the
light of Christ: The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it.
Hence the use of lights from 13 December, making the connection between Lucy's death
for Christ and the coming of Christ into the world at Christmas.
God our redeemer,
who gave light to the world that was in darkness
by the healing power of the Saviour's cross:
shed that light on us, we pray,
that with your martyr
Lucy we may, by the purity of our lives,
reflect the light of Christ and,
by the merits of his passion,
come to the light of everlasting life,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Exciting Holiness, 2nd edition, Norwich 2003)
14 December: St John of the Cross
St John of the Cross was born in Avíla in Spain in 1542. He was educated by the
Jesuits, but entered the Carmelite order. He met St Teresa of Avíla, and between them the
two saints carried out considerable reform of the Carmelite order, against considerable
opposition. St John of the Cross was so distressed by the opposition he had to contend
with that he wrote about the Dark Night of the Soul. This was his way of coming to terms
with his problems by focusing on the Passion, death and Resurrection of our Lord, thus
seeing the dark night of the soul as the way of emerging into the Light of Christ. He
wrote some impressive poetry on this theme. He died on this day in 1591.
The eternal source hides in the Living Bread
That we with life eternal may be fed
Though it be night.
(From Song of the Soul that is glad to know God by Faith, trans Roy Campbell,
London 1966)
Almighty god,
who taught us by the lips of your Son
that through the narrow gate
we shall find entrance to the kingdom:
Grant that by the example of your servant John of the Cross
we may be ready to enter darkness
before beholding the light of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(G B Timms, London 1982)
The Advent Ember Days
The Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after 13 December have traditionally been held as
the Advent Ember Days. These are days of preparation for those about to be ordained in
Advent, and days of prayer for the rest of us.
'Pray the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out labourers into his harvest.' On
these days we pray for all who are about to be ordained, and also for all those in
ordained ministry. Please pray for your Rector and all your clergy, in their service of
our parishes and the wider Church, and for Gregor our Bishop and the diocese of Glasgow
and Galloway. The Bishop is the repository of the faith for all in his diocese, and all
clergy carry out their apostolate subject to his approval. Pray also for all who share in
the work to ensure the smooth running of our services and our church work.
Ordained clergy are of course the ministers of the sacramental action of the Church,
but it is important to remember that all church members are also involved in God's work in
the world in this way, and carry their chare of responsibility for bringing the gospel to
others and God's grace and reconciliation to those whom they meet. So please pray for all
members of our congregations, that they may carry out their Christian mission with
faithfulness and love.
Almighty God,
by grace alone we are accepted and called to your service.
Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit
and make us worthy of our calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Scottish Liturgy p41)
17-23 December: The 'O' Antiphons for Advent
These refrains are used before and after the Magnificat at evensong during the week
leading up to Christmas.
It is important to remember that liturgy is 'theology turned into lyric', as seen in
Isaiah and many shorter passages in Luke and the New testament writings. The antiphons are
therefore quoted here in their familiar metrical form, in the translation of T A Lacey, as
adapted by the editors of the New English Hymnal.
17 December:
O come, thou Wisdom from on high!
who madest all in earth and sky,
creating man from dust and clay:
to us reveal salvation's way.
Wisdom, a great attribute of those who serve God (Proverbs, Psalms), but above all an
attribute of God, the creator of the world (see especially Wisdom 9,9: With you is wisdom,
she who knows your works/and was present when you made the world;/she understands what is
pleasing in your sight/and what is right according to your commandments. - NRSV, Apocrypha
p49. The Apocrypha is a collection of books included in the Greek translation of the Old
Testament - the Septuagint - but not in the Hebrew OT. The Septuagint was the Bible of
John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul and all the early Church. The Apocrypha is an
essential component of any Bible.)).It became common to associate divine Wisdom with God
in creation, and from there to relate divine Wisdom to the second person of the Trinity
(see John 1 and 1 Corinthians 1, as well as Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1). In this
antiphon these ideas are interwoven with the idea of God in salvation history, and with
that of Christ as Saviour, who, through his life, passion, death and resurrection has
given to the baptised the role of living as part of that salvation history, in the hope
(the Advent hope) of being part of the culmination of salvation history at the second
coming of Christ. In fact, from a Christian perspective, salvation history as seen in the
Old Testament only comes into its own with the birth of Christ and the Advent hope.
18 December:
O come, O come, Adonaï,
who in thy glorious majesty
from Sinai's mountain, clothed with awe,
gavest thy folk the ancient law.
Adonaï is Aramaic (the language spoken in Palestine in Jesus's day) for THE
LORD. This is the way the name of God, Yahweh, was read when the scriptures were
read aloud. In NRSV, whenever the words THE LORD are a translation of Yahweh,
they are printed in capital letters to make this clear.
So, this verse is a prayer for the second coming of THE LORD as Jesus Christ, the
second Person of the Trinity, in his birth at Bethlehem. This coming is associated with
the coming of THE LORD at the giving of the ten commandments, the first recorded
expression of the Law. The verse also emphasises the holiness of God, reflecting the
importance in Liturgy of demonstrating that worship is our lyrical expression of our faith
in and love for God, the tremendous and awe-inspiring centre, focus and 'mystery' of our
faith ('mystery' in the ancient sense of sacramental understanding).
19 December:
O come, thou Root of Jesse! Draw
the quarry from the lion's claw;
from those dread caverns of the grave,
from nether hell, thy people save.
Jesse was the father of David, and Jesus is celebrated by the synoptic evangelists
(Matthew, Mark and Luke) as being of the lineage of David. This verse therefore refers
also to the role in salvation history of the line of the kings of Israel, and the focal
function of David in the Old Testament narrative, showing God's purpose being carried
forward in that salvation history. The verse also celebrates the work of Jesus Christ, who
through his passion, death and resurrection made available for his followers the baptised
the Advent hope, which is the hope of life with Christ in this world and the next, through
feeding on his body and blood in the eucharist and living the Christian life in
contradistinction to the life of the world which is subject to the wiles of the devil
(Satan, the lion's claw).
20 December:
O come, thou Lord of David's Key!
The royal door flings wide and free;
safeguard for us the heavenward road,
and bar the way to death's abode.
Jesus, the Word, the Wisdom of God, holds the key to the kingdom of heaven, and invites
his followers, the baptised, through feeding on his body and blood and living the
Christian life, learning from the scriptures and the fathers of the faith, to proceed to
life with him.
21 December:
O come, O come, thou Dayspring bright!
Pour on our souls thy healing light;
dispel the long night's lingering gloom,
and pierce the shadows of the tomb.
The fourth gospel teaches us that we are living in the kingdom of god both now and not
yet. In our Advent eucharistic prayer we pray the wonderful words, recollecting Jesus's
intention for his followers at the Last Supper: Before he was given up to suffering and
death, alight with the vision of a feast that heralded a kingdom yet to come… We
recall his birth, passion, death and resurrection and look for the coming of his kingdom.
The light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
22 December:
O come, Desire of nations!
Show thy kingly reign on earth below;
thou Corner-stone uniting all,
restore the ruin of our fall.
We long for Christ's second coming, the second coming of him who is the corner-stone of
our faith and of our Christian life. We recognise our human frailty, and we recognise also
Christ's power to help us, through our baptism in the Holy Spirit, to overcome the
potential consequences of yielding to human impulses rather than to God's commands.
23 December:
O come, O come, Emmanuel!
Redeem thy captive Israel,
that into exile drear is gone
far from the face of God's dear Son.
After the fall of Jerusalem in 586BC all the notables of Israel were carried off into
exile in Babylon: the subject of the laments of Second Isaiah (chapters 40-55) of Jeremiah
and Ezekiel. The hope of these prophets was that Israel could return to its homeland, and
Jerusalem and its temple be rebuilt. This return is also celebrated by Ezekiel, by Third
Isaiah (chapters 56 onwards) and by Zechariah, the return facilitated by decrees of Cyrus
King of Persia after his defeat of Babylon in 540BC.
The liturgical use of these texts leads us to see our hope for the life of the world to
come in the light of the prophet's hope for the restoration of Israel, our return from
exile in the life of the secular world into the life of the kingdom of God and of his
Christ.
Advent
It seems strange to be writing about Advent as the season of Advent is coming to its
close: but the very fact of having worked through the Advent prayers and the Bible texts
associated with them brings new insights to consideration of the meaning of our
celebration.
The Old Testament is put together in such a way as to highlight
All these things are recalled in the Advent 'O' Antiphons ( see my comments on these
for December 17-23). A brief summary of them is seen here in Tropes for the penitential
rite at the Eucharist:
Wisdom of the Most High, filling the whole of creation:
Lord, have mercy.
Lord of your people, giver of the law of love:
Christ, have mercy.
Root of Jesse, sign to the peoples, desire of all nations:
Lord, have mercy.
Key of David, you open and none will close, you free those held fast by death: Lord, have
mercy. Dayspring, you are the radiant eternal light, and sun of righteousness: Christ,
have mercy. King of nations, for you the whole earth waits, Emmanuel, God-with-us: Lord,
have mercy.
(Celebrating the Christian Year, Norwich 2005, p153)
God of power and mercy,
you call us once again to celebrate the coming of your Son.
Remove those things which hinder love of you,
that when he comes he may find us waiting in awe and wonder
for him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
(Collect for the third Sunday of Advent, Scottish Liturgy P4)
Baruch 4, 21-22:
Take courage, my children, cry to God,
and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.
For I have put my hope in the everlasting to save you,
and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of mercy that will soon come to you
from the everlasting saviour. (NRSV, Apocrypha, p117)
December 26: St Stephen
The first Christian martyr. Stephen was a deacon, very gifted at proclaiming the
purposes of God in salvation history, and the work of Christ in bringing those purposes to
their fulfilment. The story of his martyrdom, and of the part played by Saul of Tarsus
(later St Paul) in it (and, therefore, the role played by this event in the conversion of
Saul into an Apostle of Christ) is told by St Luke in Acts Chapters 6 and 7. As the crowd
killed him, he said, 'Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the
right hand of God.' As he died, he prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not
hold this sin against the.' (Acts 7, 56 and 60)
Grant us grace, O Lord,
that like Stephen we may learn to love even our enemies
and seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt;
through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
(Scottish Liturgy p35)
December 27: St John, Apostle and Evangelist
We celebrate him who told us of the 'Word made flesh', 'who was born, not of blood or
of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God'. We celebrate him also who was
with Jesus in his earthly ministry, was with him on the holy mountain if the
Transfiguration, who was present at the Last Supper, and who stood at the foot of the
cross. We celebrate him who described not only the immediate aftermath of the
Resurrection, but also the meeting on the lakeshore, and the huge catch of fish,
representing the growth of the Church served by a succession of 'fishers of men'.
It was normal, up to the time of the Reformation, for churches to have a 'rood screen'
- a screen with a crucifix at its centre - separating the nave from the chancel. Above
these screens, the Blessed Virgin Mary stood on one side of the crucifix and John the
Evangelist on the other. It is sad that these immediate reminders of the roles of these
two saints were removed in favour of tablets containing the Lord's Prayer, the Ten
Commandments and the Apostles' Creed. Sometimes pictures speak more loudly than words.
Shed upon your Church, O Lord,
the brightness of your light,
that we, being illumined by the teaching
of your apostle and evangelist John,
may walk in the light of your truth
and come at last to the fullness of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Scottish Liturgy p36)
December 28: The Holy Innocents
The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was accompanied not only by the adoration of the
shepherds and of the Magi, but also by extreme cruelty. Warned by the Magi that a 'rival'
king was about to be born, and by his advisers to expect that birth in Bethlehem
(referring to a text in Micah 5, 2-5a), King Herod ordered the killing of all new-born
children in Bethlehem. Meanwhile Mary and Joseph had left as quickly as transport in those
days allowed for Egypt, where they would be out of reach of Herod's executioners. When I
was in Cairo a few years ago I was taken to see several churches built on sites said to
have been occupied by the holy family during the 'flight into Egypt', churches built on
sites still held to be very holy indeed.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
whose children suffered at the hands of Herod:
receive, we pray, all innocent victims into the arms of your mercy.
By your great might
frustrate all evil designs
and establish your reign of justice, love and peace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever. Amen.
(Scottish Liturgy p37)
