December 18 Morning Meditation by Winnie Smith

Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent

December 18, 2023

Invitatory

Our King and Savior now draws near: Come let us adore him.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Reading: “O thou, the central orb” by H.R. Bramley

O thou, the central orb of righteous love,

Pure beam of the Most High, eternal light

Of this our wintry world; thy radiance bright

Awakes new joy in faith: hope soars above.

Come, quickly come, and let thy glory shine;

Gilding our darksome heaven with rays divine.

Thy saints with holy lustre round thee move,

As stars about thy throne, set in the height

Of God's ordaining counsel, as thy sight

Gives measured grace to each, thy power to prove.

Let thy bright beams disperse the gloom of sin:

Our nature all shall feel eternal day

In fellowship with thee, transforming ray

To souls, erewhile unclean, now pure within. Amen.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

This anthem, “O though, the central orb,” was sung at Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I know that because I come from a family of big fans of the royals and because I cannot not watch a beautiful church service at St. Paul’s Cathedral when the opportunity presents itself. So this past week, I excitedly walked into Andrew Senn’s office and exclaimed, “‘O thou, the central orb!’ SO good!” knowing that our choir would sing it beautifully on Sunday.

While I love the music of this anthem, its text is equally gripping. The words describe Jesus - the true central orb, the eternal light whose “radiance bright awakes new joy in faith.” But when listening to it over ten years ago in the context of the Queen’s Jubilee, I - like many, I’m sure - heard them also about Elizabeth. I knew, intellectually, that the words were about Jesus. But watching this incredible service with all its beauty and pomp, knowing we were celebrating the anniversary of the Queen’s coronation, it was hard to separate the mortal woman from the divine Jesus the choir was singing about. It amazed and horrified me.

We, the naive royal watchers at home, may have had trouble distinguishing descriptions of Jesus from descriptions of Her Majesty, but perhaps she didn’t. The choice of this anthem among other beautiful choral pieces helped us do what John the Baptist taught us to, and what Christianity asks of us all the time: to point to God. To direct our lives towards God rather than ourselves. Too often we get caught up in the splendor, the excitement, the celebration of a moment, and the focus turns to us. But what is asked of us is to orient our lives toward God.

And when we do that, we understand Advent all the more. This is the time of hopeful and patient expectation. It is a time of preparation for the remembrance of the birth of Jesus, and is also a period to remind ourselves that Christ will come again one day, and that Christ is always trying to come to us. In our everyday lives, God is reaching out, trying to “gild our darksome heaven with rays divine.” We simply aren’t always open to that and observant enough to recognize it.

I hope you were able to hear this beautiful music at yesterday’s service. If not, I encourage you to listen to it through the recordings on our website or Facebook. And when you do, close your eyes and listen to the words: they do not describe any person we have ever met in the traditional sense, but they describe the One we meet everyday, the One who knows us all, the One whose birth and return we await anew right now.

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.