Christ Church

Audio File of the Service of Matins & Ante-Communion for Trinity 9, August 9th, 2020

“Now these things were our examples”

These examples are found in the wilderness. It is where we are overthrown, defeated and in despair, on the one hand, and enlightened and redeemed, on the other hand. “I would not that ye should be ignorant,” Paul tells us. At issue is the question of discernment, itself a form of prudence. The question is about learning in the wilderness. How do we learn?

Some find today’s Gospel rather difficult and disturbing, confusing and bizarre, and, well, not particularly positive and uplifting, and understandably so. I rather like it partly for all of those reasons but even more because it challenges us about spiritual learning and discernment. There are things to be learned from wickedness and evil, even from the example of the one whom Jesus calls the “unrighteous steward.”

In a way, these readings are about the realities of the wilderness or the world in which we find ourselves and, more importantly, how we understand ourselves and our world; in short, how we think and learn. Paul, in a wonderfully mystical and rhetorical flight of theological insight, sees Christ as the abiding principle even in the Exodus wanderings in the wilderness of the People of Israel. God, in a lovely image, “stands over” and “goes before” the People of Israel “in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night” (Numbers 14.14); the cloud of God’s shekinah, the glory of his presence, is the sign of his providential care. It belongs to the story of the Passover and the Exodus of Israel, to the lessons in the wilderness which culminate in the Law given to Moses.

Yet the imagery is given a Christian form; it becomes all part of the greater Exodus of Christ, at least in a Christian understanding. The Exodus events prefigure Christian Baptism and the Christian Eucharist, the forms of our incorporation into the life of God through the sacrifice of Christ: “baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea;” eating “the same spiritual food,” drinking of “that spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ.” It is a remarkable tour deforce of imaginative spiritual reasoning that inaugurates a long tradition of interpretation which sees the Hebrew Scriptures as anticipating and participating in the story of Christ. What is veiled in the one is revealed in the other. Quod Moyses velat, Christus revelat, as the saying goes. Moses strikes the rock at Horeb and out comes water that refreshes the People of Israel; Christ on the cross is pierced by the centurion’s spear and out flows water and blood which becomes a Patristic commonplace as symbolic of the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion.

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The collect for today, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 16:1-9

Artwork: Andrey Mironov, Parable of the Unjust Steward, 2012. Oil on canvas. © Copyright Andrey Mirinov and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The collect for today, the Feast of the Name of Jesus, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Almighty God, who by thy blessed Apostle hast taught us that there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved, but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may ever glory in this Name, and strive to make thy salvation known unto all mankind; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For The Epistle: Acts 4:8-12
The Gospel: St Matthew 1:20-23

Artwork: El Greco, The Adoration of the Name of Christ (The Dream of Philip II), 1579. Oil on canvas, Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial, Madrid.

The Collect for today, the Holy Day of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who on the holy mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses thy well-beloved Son wonderfully transfigured: Mercifully grant unto us such a vision of his divine majesty, that we, being purified and strengthened by thy grace, may be transformed into his likeness from glory to glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 2 St. Peter 1:16-21
The Gospel: St. Matthew 17:1-9

Artwork: Lodovico Carracci, The Transfiguration, 1594. Oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Italy.

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Oswald (d. 642), King of Northumbria, Martyr (source):

O Lord God almighty,
who didst so kindle the faith of thy servant King Oswald with thy Spirit
that he set up the sign of the cross in his kingdom
and turned his people to the light of Christ:
grant that we, being fired by the same Spirit,
may ever bear our cross before the world
and be found faithful servants of the gospel;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

With the Epistle and Gospel for a Martyr from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:24-27

In AD 635, the army of Prince Oswald defeated the forces of pagan king Caedwalla of Gwynedd (north Wales) at the Battle of Heavenfield (near present-day Hexham, Northumberland). Oswald was a Christian and nephew of King Edwin, the man Caedwalla had defeated a few years earlier to conquer the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Heavenfield proved to be a key battle in English history for it marked the end of paganism as a religious and political force in England.

Knowing that the fate of his kingdom would be decided on the following day, Oswald had a wooden cross erected beside which he and his men knelt and prayed to the Lord for victory. The badly outnumbered Christian soldiers defeated their apparently over-confident adversaries, and Oswald became King of Northumbria.

After his victory, Oswald invited monks to come from Iona and establish a monastery at Lindisfarne, the Holy Island. This was to become one of England’s most important centres of Christian scholarship and evangelism.

King Oswald was killed in battle in 642 defending his land and people against the pagan king Penda of Mercia.

Artwork: Jacopo de’ Barbari, St. Oswald of Northumbria, 1500. Oil on canvas, Slovak National Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Audio File of the service of Matins & Ante-Communion for Trinity 8

We are children of God

O sacred Providence, who from end to end
strongly and sweetly movest! shall I write,
And not of thee, through whom my fingers bend
To hold my quill? shall they not do thee right?

Of all the creatures both in sea and land
Onely to Man thou hast made known thy wayes,
And put the penne alone into his hand,
And made him Secretarie of thy praise.

George Herbert’s poem, Providence, begins with a scriptural text upon which the whole poem hangs, a text from the Wisdom of Solomon: “Wisdom reacheth from one end to another mightily and sweetly doth she order all things”, fortiter et suaviter, strongly and sweetly (Wisdom 9.1). It is also the only scriptural reference in Boethius’ great classic, The Consolation of Philosophy, written in 529 AD while in prison, falsely accused and awaiting his death; the work itself is a treatise on Providence for that is our great consolation regardless of the times and circumstances.

Herbert writes of Providence with the awareness that this is itself a providence. Providence bids him write and that bidding extends to all humanity. It belongs to us to write of Providence. It is our vocation as “children of God”. It is about who we are in the sight of God.  Writing here is a metaphor for living out what we believe and know.

Yet the question is not at first how well do we write but what and how do we read. After all, Solomon, Boethius, Herbert, and a host of other thinkers and writers have all read and learned something of God’s Providence whether in Scripture, history, philosophy, or people’s lives. Only so can they then write of it as what moves so strongly and sweetly. Only then can we read so that we, too,  might be the “secretaries of thy praise”. But what and how do we read?

To contemplate the Providence of God is to discover the will that wields the world and beyond. It is what we acknowledge in the Collect: “O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth”. But what does it mean to contemplate the Providence of God?

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The collect for today, the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 8:12-17
The Gospel: St. Matthew 7:15-21

Artwork: Domenico Morelli, Sermon on the Mount, c. 1895. Oil on canvas, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome.

The collect for a Martyr, in commemoration of the Maccabean Martyrs (d. 166 B.C.), from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy Martyrs the Holy Maccabees were enabled to witness to the truth and to be faithful unto death: Grant that we, who now remember them before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with them the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle: Hebrews 11:29-12:2
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:49-56

The Seven Holy Maccabean Martyrs are seven Jewish brothers who were tortured and killed by the order of Antiochus Epiphanes in 166 B.C. for refusing to participate in idolatrous worship and eat illicit food in violation of God’s laws. Their teacher, Eleazar the scribe, was also martyred at that time. Their mother was forced to watch her sons being cruelly put to death, and then she died. The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as St. Solomonia.

In 2 Maccabees, the account of Eleazar’s martyrdom is followed by the story of the seven brothers who submitted to martyrdom rather than transgress God’s law. One after another, they stated their willingness to be tortured and die based on a firm hope that God would raise them from the dead.

The episode can be found in 2 Maccabees 6:18-31 and 7:1-42. The valour of the Maccabean Martyrs is celebrated by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Artwork: Michael Astrapas and Eutychios, Holy Martyrs Maccabees, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher Eleazar, 1316-18. Fresco, Church of St. George, Staro Nagoricane, North Macedonia.

The collect for today, the commemoration of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), English MP, Social Reformer, Abolitionist (source):

Let thy continual mercy, O Lord, enkindle in thy Church the never-failing gift of charity, that, following the example of thy servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the children of the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Galatians 3:23-29
The Gospel: St. Matthew 25:31-40

Artwork: Sir Thomas Lawrence, William Wilberforce, 1828. Oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London.

The collect for a Martyr, in commemoration of Saint Olaf (995-1030), King and Patron Saint of Norway, Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who didst bestow upon thy Saints such marvellous virtue, that they were able to stand fast, and have the victory against the world, the flesh, and the devil: Grant that we, who now commemorate thy Martyr Olaf, may ever rejoice in their fellowship, and also be enabled by thy grace to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold upon eternal life; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St Matthew 16:24-27

Artwork: Saint Olaf, stained glass, St Olave’s Church, Hart Street, London. Photo taken by admin, 24 August 2004.