Mattins and Evensong during Advent: Versicles and responses

If the penitential rite in the Cranmerian Office is shot through with eschatological references, what of the unchanging versicles and responses? Unlike, for example, Advent Morning and Evening Prayer in Common Worship, there is no seasonal provision for the versicles and responses. This does not mean, however, that the unchanging versicles and responses lack a seasonal characteristic. As with penitence, the very fact that we are praying unchanging texts can draw us to recognise how they take on an Advent character.

This is particularly so with 'O God, make speed to save us; O Lord, make haste to help us'. Rooted in the prayer of Israel and its experience of defeat and exile, echoing the Church's cry Maranatha and the petition of the great Advent antiphons, and reflecting the cold, dark December landscape, it encapsulates the Advent hope. It is the very essence of Advent prayer.

The Kyries after the Apostles' Creed give expression to another aspect of Advent. In the Creed, the Church confesses the truth that "he shall come to judge the quick and the dead". How else should we respond to this truth than by praying the Kyries? In the face of the Lord's return "in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead", we can plead no merits:

When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, we are unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10, Article 14).

At Mattins and Evensong, we confess our sins. We sing God's praises. We read the Scriptures. But this is no claim to merit. Before the Lord's Advent we can only pray 'Lord, have mercy upon us'.

In the versicles and responses following the Lord's Prayer and before the collects, we are first again brought to seek mercy: 'O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us; And grant us thy salvation'. Rightly, we again seek mercy before the coming judgement of the Lord. We then repeat the petition grounded in the Advent hope of ancient Israel and the Church throughout the ages: 'O Lord, save thy people; And bless thine inheritance'. It is the Advent hope alone which saves us, the hope also reflected in the petition 'Give peace in our time, O Lord; Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God'. Finally, when we pray 'O God, make clean our hearts within us; And take not thy Holy Spirit from us', we are giving further voice to the petition of the Advent collect:

give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light.

There is, then, a deep Advent character to the versicles and responses at Mattins and Evensong. These petitions give voice to defining aspects of the Church's Advent prayer: hope; the need for mercy; exhortation. The fact they are unchanging, and therefore known to us, means that we are not seeking to memorise new words, or recall a new response. Instead, we have the freedom to explore the meaning of well-known and oft-repeated words of prayer in light of the Lord's Advent.

(The illustration is from contemporary artist Vanessa Bowman. These illustrations are being used in this series on Mattins and Evensong in Advent to remind us that familiar, ordinary landscapes can be filled with Advent richness and meaning, as is the case with the Cranmerian Office.)

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