The Bridegroom Comes
“Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight...”
Painted just before the turn of the 20th C, the Greek artist Nikolaos Gyzis's depiction of the Bridegroom's coming (Ιδού ο Νυμφίος έρχεται) stands visually between the iconographic style of his native Orthodox Church, and a continental Romantic style almost reminiscent of Blake, and unlike his characteristic Munich school. Curiously, though the "bridegroom comes" according to the title of the image, it is difficult to identify where the presence of the bridegroom is located. Certainly, the angelic figures are arrayed to receive him: could he be the Divine figure sitting on the throne? Or the angelic figure descending from the top of the frame? The image's subtly enigmatic character invites and rewards contemplation.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God...
— The Apostle Paul (1st Thessalonians 4:16)
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for this Week
Prayer
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Justice will Roll Down …
Rooted in the famous last verse of the Amos reading, "let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24). McCracken's lyrics correctly identify that the hortative "let justice roll" is not primarily imperative or cohortative in force, but an optative directed towards the eschatological horizon.
Soon oh soon, when the trumpet sounds
Every knee shall bend, every heart will pound
I have made a new world, where the servant is the King
Oppression will be over, and the slave set free
