Email from Church of the Redeemer

Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent

December 13, 2023

The Invitatory

Watch, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find your asleep.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: The Sursum corda

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift of your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give him thanks and praise.

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

This Sursum corda is the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora in our liturgy. Anaphora is a Greek word that means carrying up or take an offering of sacrifice to God. This begins the most solemn part of the liturgy. The call and response between the clergy and congregation ties together the response of the priest and congregation to God. The form of Sursum corda in our Book of Common Prayer closely follows that Anaphora of Saint Basil the Great, a late 4th century Bishop in Cappadocia.

Naturally, when I was a child I took these opening words quite literally - Lift up your hearts. I thought this was some demanding physical exercise that in my mind could not truly be performed. I felt that I had in some fashion failed. And I wondered who could literally lift one’s heart to God. I was quite dumbfounded. Note that the Sursum corda follows the offertory sentences. It is at this time that the physical gifts of wafer, wine, water and our monetary gifts are presented and offered in celebration of the Eucharist. What we as human beings are called to do in this opening dialogue is to offer ourselves to God and to God’s service.

While it is with gratitude that we offer the physical gifts, it is with both gratitude and humility that we offer ourselves to God. Given the breadth and depth of God’s gifts to us, it can feel entirely overwhelming to make the response “We lift them to the Lord.” And yet, if one can just take account of all that has taken place solely in the week leading to the Eucharist, I must say, I am overcome with gratitude for all that has redounded to my benefit during that time. I am acutely aware of some of the good things that have come to me, and, if honest, must admit that there is much that I have probably overlooked.

This offering of myself to God is both with knowledge and ignorance of what God has done for me. It is sometimes overwhelming just to offer myself. The corporate effect is without measure. I cannot know all that God has done for each of those gathered on Sunday. I also cannot know all that everyone could offer of oneself to God. Just imagine the range, the depth of what that giftedness could be. And if I truly enter into that moment giving myself over fully, the effect on me is without words or measure. This is something to ponder during the Advent season as we await the giving of God’s self to us.

The 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.

For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.