Saturday 18 December
O Adonai
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
(cf Exodus 3.2, 24.12)
Arvo Pärt. Seiben Magnificat-Antiphonen (1988 / 1991). Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, dir. Tönu Kaljuste. 2. "O Adonai, der Herr und Führer des Hauses Israel, im flammenden Dornbusch bist du den Mose erschienen, und hast ihn auf dem Berge das Gesetz gegeben: O komm und befreie uns mit deinem starken Arm."
Ballads of Joseph the Father of Jesus, by Alexander K Opicho
(Please read this with humour, remembering Matthew 1.18-21!)
My name is Joseph
Am a Jewish bachelor
Or call me a male spinster
Am a poor penniless carpenter
Am pushing forth and back my plane
And waving my old claw hammer
Hitting the nail on the head
And chopping of its ears by my adze
In the entirety of Israel and Hebrew world
My beautiful Hebrew fiancée is Mary
No she is already my wife,
Mary wife of my youth
She is pregnant minus my nuptiality
Minus my conjugal enfranchisement
And the man who fertilized her
Was witnessed and flunkeyed by Gabriel
The airy voice in the amorphous whirlwind
Without form and shape but erotically crazy
How sad; I am a victim of the spiritual powers that be
My jealousy of humanity will be condemned blasphemous
Kindly come and feel with me, please feel for me
How do you see? For someone else
To have sex and sex with your newlywed wife
Or your beautiful wench
Or your lovable concubineous fiancée
Until he makes her pregnant with male foetus
Then he commands you to marry her
Because you are only a humble wood work
He commands you to accept fornication
As immaculate sex that yield holy pregnancy
Holy conception but nothing bad or foul,
What if that male foetus comes out a son
Who resembles foreigners from beyond the mountain?
But not me, his head having shape of a hook
I am annoyed with this heaven chauvinist religion
This horrible anti-human relationship
From which I will be degraded and come out ignobled
And the one who impregnated my wife
Will be exulted and ennobled to the throne of glory
His son and himself they will be made an exalted religion
But I will die desperate as a carpentering lout
A worthless Jewish oaf, reeking a foul stench
O Death! Come take me away from this humiliated life
I don’t want to see this Jewish Mary with her bulging belly
Her beauty and sexuality has made me a village pumpkin
She is in no way a virgin.
'Fear not!’, says the angel to Joseph, to Mary, to the shepherds. It is a recurring motif in the Christmas stories, and a significant reminder that the overwhelming news of God the Saviour’s coming is both all that the human heart could hope for and also something that powerfully disrupts the way the world goes and the way our lives go. There is something to be afraid of in the renewal of a world: I may not welcome being reconstructed or interrupted. . . .
And this is what our Christmas story and our Christmas faith offer. Why should Joseph and Mary and the shepherds not be afraid? Because what happens when God comes to earth is not something like the first landing of an occupying army, the first breach in our defences by a powerful enemy who wants to take all that is ours. The truth is as different as could be; and the clue is in those simple words, simple words that invite a lifetime’s joyful reflection: ‘The Word was made flesh’. When God comes among us, he doesn’t first of all clear humanity out of the Way so that he can take over; he becomes a human being. He doesn’t force his way in to dominate and crush; he announces his arrival in the sharp, hungry cry of a newborn baby. He changes the world not by law and threat but by death and resurrection.
— Rowan Williams, "Fear Not," Christmas Day Sermon 2003. In Choose Life. London: Bloomsbury, 2013, pp.13, 17.
Jeremiah 23:5-8
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt’, but ‘As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they shall live in their own land.
Psalm 72.15-19
Long may he live!
May gold of Sheba be given to him.
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all day long.
May there be abundance of grain in the land;
may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
like the grass of the field.
May his name endure for ever,
his fame continue as long as the sun.
May all nations be blessed in him;
may they pronounce him happy.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name for ever;
may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
Matthew 1:18-24
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 just 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.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,
Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629). Joseph, lieber Joseph mein, sung by VOCES8, 2018. A macaronic version of Resonet in laudibus, which originated as a lullaby in a Leipzig mystery play.
Joseph, lieber Joseph mein,
hilf mir wiegen mein Kindelein,
Gott, der wird dein Löhner sein
im Himmelreich, der Jungfrau Kind Maria.
Eia, eia.
Virgo Deum genuit,
quem/quod divina voluit clementia.
Omnes nunc concinite,
nato regi psallite,
voce pia dicite:
sit gloria Christo nostro infantulo.
Hodie apparuit in Israel,
quem prædixit Gabriel, est natus Rex.
Joseph, my dear Joseph,
help me rock my little child.
God will recompense you
in heaven, the Virgin Mary’s child.
Hey, hey! The Virgin has given birth to God
whom the divine mercy willed.
Now let all sing together,
sing to the newborn king,
saying with devout voice,
“Glory be to Christ our babe!”
Today the one whom Gabriel predicted
has appeared in Israel, has been born king.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.