ERO CRAS — Tomorrow I Come

Emmanuel Rex Oriens Clavis Radix Adonai Sapienta– ERO CRAS. In reverse order, the first letters of these names for our Lord spell ERO CRAS. This is His response to our cry throughout Advent and especially in these last seven days:

Tomorrow, I come.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus come.

What a great way to usher in Christmas with our families. We call out to Christ throughout the season by naming the Old Testament Names by which He is known, and in these very words the Father has given to us, is Christ’s response. Merry Christmas!!

O Emmanuel — God is With Us

O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, hope of the nations and their saviour: come and save us, O Lord our God.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

O Emmanuel,
Rex et legifer noster,
expectatio gentium,
et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos,
Domine, Deus noster.

O come, o come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Rex Gentium — King of Nations

O Rex Gentium

O king of the nations, you alone can fulfil their desires: cornerstone, binding all together: come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust of the earth.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

O Rex Gentium,
et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis,
qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

The Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, December 21, 2011

Doubting Thomas.  He was an apostle of Jesus.  All four Gospels mention him as one.  He was not present that first night Jesus appeared to the disciples in the locked room.  He did not believe his brothers.  He demanded proof that Jesus was alive, that He did appear to them.  For their eyewitness testimony was not enough for him.  He needed to see for himself, touch the wounds.  Only then would he believe.

On the night of Jesus’ death, Thomas Jesus a question that evoked one of the most memorable sayings of our Lord.  Jesus had just finished washing the feet of His disciples and revealed that one of the twelve would betray Him to His death.  Peter, ever the bold and brash jumped into the thick of it, telling our Lord that he would fight for Him to the death.  Jesus brought Peter back to reality and told him that he would not only not fight to the death for Him, but that he would deny that he knew the Lord of Life three times before the rooster crowed in the morning.  Jesus then began to comfort His disciples, telling them He was going to His Father’s house to prepare rooms for them. and that they knew the way to where He was going.  To this, Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus replied, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes unto the Father unless He comes through Me.”  In these two short sentences, Jesus staked His claim to be the salvation of the world.  There is no other name in heaven and on earth by which we may be saved.  ”Show us the Father,” Phillip exclaimed.  Jesus must have been exasperated at their inability to comprehend and perceive what He was plainly telling them, and He tells Phillip, “Just believe my words!  Or if you do not believe them, at least believe based on the evidence of the miracles the Father has done through Me!”  Faith.  Christ calls us to be under His Word, to be subject to it.  He said it, BELIEVE it.  It is true.

What the scene must have been like, when Christ appeared again to the apostles, again behind closed doors.  This time Thomas is present.  Knowing Thomas’ doubts, Jesus goes directly to Him and bids Thomas to place his hands in His side, in the wounds of His hands.  ”My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

“You have believed because you have seen.  Blessed are those who believe who have not seen.”  This is the reality of the cross.  Thomas came face to face with the wounds and scars borne by Christ.  It brought to mind all the words of Jesus, the claims He made to be God in the flesh.  And here, in his presence, stood the risen Lord of the Light, shining a light on the darkened mind and sight of His apostles.  That light, for that moment, opened the eyes of faith in Thomas.  It illumined his path to India, the ends of the earth where he followed the Way of Christ.  That Way always, always is to the Cross for us.  Never around it, or through it.  We do not get to pick it up and lay it down.  We get to carry that Cross, the one that meets us at the beginning of our walk, just as Christ did for Thomas.  And in the darkest day of the year, a time of doubt and despair for many, we call upon the light of the Morning Star to shine in this world as He did for Thomas.

O Oriens — O Morning Star

O morning star, splendour of the light eternal and bright sun of righteousness: come and bring light to those who dwell in darkness and walk in the shadow of death.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae,
et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina
sedentes in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer,
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Clavis David — O Key of David

O Clavis David – O Key of David

O key of David and scepter of the House of Israel; you open and none can shut; you shut and none can open: come and free the captives from prison, and break down the walls of death.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui aperis, et nemo claudit,
claudis, et nemo aperuit:
veni, et educ vinctum
de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

O come, thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!  Emmanuel
shall Come to thee oh Israel!

O Radix Jesse — O Root of Jesse

O Radix Jesse – O Root of Jesse

O root of Jesse, that stands for an ensign of the people, before whom the kings keep silence and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication: come, to deliver us, and tarry not.

Amen.   Come, Lord Jesus.

O Radix Jesse,
qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos,
jam noli tardare

O come, O Rod of Jesse free,
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Adonai — O Lord of Might

O Adonai – O Lord of might

O Lord of Lords, and ruler of the House of Israel, you appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush, and gave him the law on Sinai: come with your outstretched arm and ransom us.

Amen.   Come Lord Jesus.

O Adonai,
et dux domus Israël,
qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty, and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.

Was Jesus Really Born in a Stable?

This is one of those stories that continues to gain traction.  I wrote it last year thanks to an interview Todd Wilken did with Kenneth Bailey in 2008 on Lutheran Talk Radio over at Issues, Etc.  It is a wonderful example of why we need continual study of the Scriptures in the original languages.  It is not a reinterpretation of the birth narrative of Jesus, but a closer reading of the story that literally scrapes the frost of the window so we can see the story clearly.  Most often our story combines the events surrounding Jesus’ birth into one galactic event culminating with the arrival of the star and wise men at a barn in which Jesus is thought to have been born.  We picture the Messiah coming into the world in the filth of a stable, among barn animals.  We picture Mary and Joseph making the long journey to Bethlehem, arriving in the middle of the night only to have Mary’s water break as routinely happens in all made for TV movies, sitcoms, and other melodramas to let us know the baby is on the way.  To make matters worse, the city of Joseph’s family is so crowded because of the census, that all the hotels are booked up.  In one of the Christmas plays in which I participated in grade school, I played an innkeeper, a compassionate one.  I remember having to thoughtfully rub my 10 year old bearded jaw as I turned them away from the fires of the spacious hotel de Bethlehem, only to offer a very pregnant woman in labor the stable where the animals were kept and which I the innkeeper would not be cleaning until the morning.  And they could not have a fire burning in the stable with all the stray and fodder for the animals.

It does not sound like God planned very well for the birth of His Son, begotten from all eternity, into this world.  I mean, He only sent an angel to Mary to announce Jesus’ birth.  That same angel announced to Zechariah the birth of the forerunner for Jesus, His cousin John.  And a wonderful scene played out in the stars to herald the birth of the King of Kings, leading those wise, ancient stargazers from the east to Bethlehem.  And maybe this little sleepy town of Bethlehem did not sleep through the birth of Jesus.  This was Joseph’s hometown.  All his family and extended family would be coming into the city.  And certainly they had family living in the City of David.  Surely his own kin would not turn he and the pregnant woman to whom he was betrothed away.  After all he claimed the child as his own.  Maybe Jesus was not born in a stable after all.  Maybe we need to wipe some fog from our windows and take another  look.  Read on and let me know what you think.  I have posted some links to more information on the topic at the end of the article.

O Come Thou Wisdom From on High — O Sapienta

O Sapientia – O Wisdom

O wisdom, coming forth from the Most High, filling all creation and reigning to the ends of the earth; come and teach us the way  of truth.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O come, thou wisdom from on high
Who madest all in earth and sky,
Creating us from dust and clay:
To us reveal salvation’s way.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.