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 is an author, photographer, teacher, and publisher. She is the founder and Executive Director of Cultivating Oaks Press, Cultivating Magazine, and its fellowship of writers and makers, The Maker’s Project. She has been honoured to serve in executive management, church leadership, school boards, and Art & Faith organizations throughout her career.
Now empty-nesters, Lancia & her husband Peter make their home in the Black Forest of Colorado, keeping company with 200 Ponderosa Pine trees, a herd of mule deer, two beautiful black cats, a wild fox, and an ever expanding library. Lancia loves land reclamation, website and print design, beautiful typography, road trips, being read aloud to by Peter, and cherishes the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and George MacDonald. She lives with daily wonder of the mercies of the Triune God and in constant gratitude for the beloved company of Cultivators.
Her newest endeavours will be released in the spring of 2026. Bearing Witness: Fifteen Years of Conversations with Malcolm Guite, and Cultivating A Writer’s Life: A Field Guide for Word Shepherds.
You can follow Lancia here in Cultivating and on her Substack Cultivating A Writer’s Life.
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