Tuesday 20 December
"Greetings, favoured one, the Lord is with you." Luke 1:28.
Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942) Annunciation. Pavlovsk Museum.
O Clavis David
O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no one can shut; you shut and no one can open: come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. (cf Isaiah 22.22, 42.7).
Bob Chilcott. Advent Antiphons, no. 4. Queens' College Choir, Cambridge, cond. Silas Wollston.
Isaiah 7:10-14
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Psalm 24
1. The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
2. for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
3. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
4. Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
5. They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation. 6 Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
Luke 1:28-38
And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
Overshadowing
by Scott Cairns
Deep within the clay, and O my people
very deep within the wholly earthen
compound of our kind arrives of one clear,
star-illumined evening a spark igniting
once again the ember of our lately
banked noetic fire. She burns but she
is not consumed. The dew falls gently,
suffusing the pure fleece. Her human flesh
adorns its Lord, and lo, the wall comes down.
And—do you feel the pulse? —we all become
the kindled kindred of a King whose birth
thereafter bears to all a bright nativity.
Heavenly Father,
who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of the promised saviour:
fill us your servants with your grace,
that in all things we may embrace your holy will
and with her rejoice in your salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John Tavener. Annunciation (1992).
Winchester Cathedral Choir, dir David Hill.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.