Daily Reading for December 17
O Adonai and Leader of the house of Israel, you 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. (Listen)
‘Adonai’ is the Hebrew word for ‘Lord.’ God has a person name in the Bible but it was considered too holy for normal use, so when the reader at public worship in the synagogue found the holy name in the text, he read the word ‘Adonai’, ‘Lord’, instead. The original text of the Hebrew Bible was written in consonants only and the name of God occurs as YHWH so that its pronunciation can only be guessed.
The name of God which is rendered ‘Lord’ is associated with the description of Moses as ‘I am who I am’ in the account of God’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush. The designations ‘Lord’ and ‘I am’ indicate that God is both known to us and beyond our knowledge. He gives us his name, yet this name directs our attention to God as he is in himself, rather than any ideas we may have of him. He is I am, not anything we can define or capture in human concepts. So we cry in the antiphon, ‘O Adonai, . . . come,’ not with any power to manipulate God or compel him by knowing his name, but adoring his transcendent majesty and asking him with childlike trust to come and help us.
This antiphon presents the God revealed in Jesus Christ as the ultimate answer to the world’s need for leadership. The wisdom which ‘mightily and sweetly ordereth all things’ does not override our freedom or force us into a particular line of conduct. God leads us but does not drive us. We follow his leading, not because we have to, but because it appeals to those urges in our nature which we judge to be deepest and best. Our Christian faith is that God is sovereign Lord over all creation, yet his leadership is not like the heavy hand of a totalitarian state. His supreme rule is known only by faith, not with the coercive evidence of logical demonstration. We have the choice to accept or reject his rule, but if we accept it then we commit ourselves to him as Lord and make all other concerns subordinate to God’s kingdom.
May the cross of the Son of God, who is mightier
than all the hosts of Satan, and more glorious
than all the angels of heaven, abide with you in
your going out and your coming in! By day and by
night, at morning and at evening, at all times and
in all places, may it protect and defend you!
From the wrath of evil men, from the assaults of
evil spirits, from foes visible and invisible,
from the snares of the devil, from all low passions
that beguile the soul and body, may it guard,
protect, and deliver you. Amen. (–an Indian blessing, the Christaraksha)
From O Come Emmanuel: Scripture Verses for Advent Worship by William Marshall. Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com