In Malcolm Guite’s excellent book –  Waiting on the Word – a collection of poems for each day for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, he includes a most extraordinary series of Antiphons. Antiphons were ancient poems written in the first centuries of the Church for reading in Advent. Malcolm’s poems are a fresh response to those ancient beauties and bring a living immediacy to these prayers of longing and waiting. These are among my favourites of all Malcolm Guite’s work. He has recorded his reading of each of these and those recordings can be listened to on his site, here.  

The O Antiphon series is written by Rev Malcolm Guite. 

For more information about these prayers and his recordings of them, link to Malcolm Guite’s website. 

To read more about Waiting on the Word, Malcolm Guite gives an excellent interview here.

The image series titled “Glory Skies” used for each of these o antiphons are (c) Lancia E. Smith, and are used with permission for Malcolm Guite and for The Cultivating Project.

Lancia E. Smith

Lancia E. Smith is an author, photographer, teacher, and business owner. A grateful lover of the Triune God, Lancia is the Founder & Executive Director of Cultivating & The Cultivating Project. She has served in executive management, church leadership, boards, and Art & Faith organizations over 30 years. She & her husband Peter have parented 7 children, & have a flock of beloved grandchildren. Lancia loves garden and website design, beautiful typography, road trips, being read aloud to by Peter, & cherishes every book she ever read by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and George MacDonald.

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