Lynne Baab

Praying about the flow of time: Naming who Jesus is and praying in response

Lynne Baab • Tuesday December 10 2024

O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel.

O come, O Wisdom from on high . . . to us the path of knowledge show.

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem, unto your own and rescue them!

O come, O Key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home.

O come, O Bright and Morning Star, and bring us comfort from afar!

O come, O King of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind.

Notice the structure of these prayers. First, we call on a name or characteristic of Jesus, and then we request something that corresponds to that name. You’ll recognize those words from “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” I’ve pulled out some words from each verse to illustrate the structure of the prayer. This structure is called an “O Antiphon.” Christians have been singing O Antiphons since at least the eighth century, especially in Advent. This one we know so well may date that far back. It was translated from the Latin 1851 by J. M. Neale, an English Anglican priest and influential leader in the Oxford Movement that bought a renewal of Roman Catholic traditions into the Anglican church.

This pattern — invoking a name or attribute for Jesus then making a request that relates to the name or attribute — can stimulate our prayers in several ways. Remembering the many characteristics of Jesus helps us love and trust him. Thinking of a specific prayer request related to the name stimulates our creativity, which helps the prayer remain in our minds. Praying this new prayer expands our faith. This whole process can be fun, which lightens our hearts and brings us joy.

I want to introduce you to contemporary O Antiphons by Canadian poet Diane Tucker. I “met” her 40 O Antiphons in Advent 2020 in The Christian Century magazine, and read and reread them constantly for several months. Remember December 2020 and the following months? Such hard days. Tucker’s poems gave me creative words to pray, and thus they became anchors for me in that challenging time.

Because I love color, this one lifts my heart. It also illustrates that an O Antiphon can conclude with a prayer of thanks:

O God of Twilight, Lord of Day to Night,
Spinner of the Earth, O Sunset Painter,
our hearts lift praises for the many blues
you spread above us as the evening falls,
pinks and reds projected on the clouds
and orange fire spilt across the mountains.
Our souls sing out in thanks for all your colours! [1]

These two are appropriate for these challenging times we live in:

O Safe One, Sure One, Refuge from the din
we find ourselves immersed in every day,
rising from within or loud without:
the world’s deafening, distracting cries.
The needs we cannot meet, the mess beyond us,
the puzzle and the pains we cannot solve,
these we bring in weakness to your Strength.

O Living Water, Depthless Source of Life,
revive our drooping days, slake every thirst
when we fill our dry and foolish hearts with dust.
Slick our sticking throats that we may praise
your flooding grace. And teach us how to drink
the sweetness that will never let us drown,
but only make us lush with flowing love.

This one gives us words to express our desire to bring God’s love into this complex holiday season and into the New Year:

O Friend of Sinners, Lord of Gentleness,
a single wounded reed you will not break.
The smallest spark of faith receives your Breath
until that living coal ignites a fire
that fuels the sorry soul, that heats the heart.
Kindle every fire that sleeps within us
that in this world we may be warmth and light.

I invite you to think of a name for Jesus or a way to describe him and ponder what request you might make of him in response to that aspect of who he is. Here are two of my brief O Antiphons:

O Good Shepherd, hold us in your arms. And when you put us down to walk into our daily lives, continue to be our Shepherd, guiding our steps and feeding us with physical and spiritual food.

O Light of the Word, O Bright Morning Star, O Lamp to Our Feet, bring light into the dark places inside us. Enable us to shine your light on the people we meet today. Bring your light into the sad, painful, and dark places in this world.

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A blog post with four more of Diane Tucker’s O Antiphons: Draw Near: O Antiphons

Next week: The incarnation and prayer. Illustration by Dave Baab. If you’d like a pdf of all 40 of Tucker's O Antiphons, email me at LMBaab [at] aol [dot] com.

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[1] All of the O Antiphons by Diane Tucker in this post come from "One Winter: Forty New O Antiphons," The Christian Century, December 2, 2020.

Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christians spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

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"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
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