Year: 2009

Prayers and liturgy

Saint George

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint George (d. c. 303), Soldier, Martyr, Patron Saint of England (source):

O God of hosts,
who didst so kindle the flame of love
in the heart of thy servant George
that he bore witness to the risen Lord
by his life and by his death:
grant us the same faith and power of love
that we, who rejoice in his triumphs,
may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection;
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.

The Epistle: 2 St Timothy 2:8-10, 3:10-12
The Gospel: St John 15:1-7

Carpaccio, St George and the DragonArtwork: Vittore Carpaccio, St George and the Dragon, 1502-08. Oil on canvas, Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice.

c/p: Nova Scotia Scott

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Saint Anselm

St AnselmThe collect for today, the Feast of Saint Anselm (1033-1109), Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church (source):

O everlasting God,
who gavest to thy servant Anselm
singular gifts as a pastor and teacher:
grant that we, like him,
may desire thee with our whole heart
and, so desiring, may seek thee
and, seeking, may find thee;
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.

The Epistle: Romans 5:1-11
The Gospel: St Matthew 11:25-30

A prayer of St Anselm

Lord Jesus Christ; Let me seek you by desiring you,
and let me desire you by seeking you;
let me find you by loving you,
and love you in finding you.

I confess, Lord, with thanksgiving,
that you have made me in your image,
so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you.

But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults,
and darkened by the smoke of sin,
that it cannot do that for which it was made,
unless you renew and refashion it.

Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height,
for my understanding is in no way equal to that,
but I do desire to understand a little of your truth
which my heart already believes and loves.

I do not seek to understand so that I can believe,
but I believe so that I may understand;
and what is more,
I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand.

Source: The Oxford Book of Prayer, George Appleton (gen. ed.), 1985, 2002.

c/p: Nova Scotia Scott

Print this entry

Sermons

Sermon for The Octave Day of Easter

“Jesus came and stood in the midst”

The uniqueness and the centrality of Christ is an undeniable and non-negotiable feature of orthodox Christianity. For Anglicans, not only is the uniqueness and the centrality of Christ constantly visible in the Liturgy, particularly, in the Lectionary, the traditional pattern of readings that shape the praying life of the Church, but it is also expressed formally and officially in the foundational and formative documents that define and describe the Anglican understanding of the Christian Faith. The only anathema in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion has precisely to do with denying the uniqueness and the centrality of Christ with respect to salvation (Art. XVIII).

What does this mean?  It means that for orthodox Christianity, Christ is the Lord and Saviour of our humanity. It means that the wholeness of our humanity cannot be achieved and accomplished apart from our life in Christ. Are there not other ways to God? So ask the religious pluralists of our day. How to answer that question? By pointing out that a proper and principled dialogue with other religions has to begin and end with a respect for the differences between the religions of the world. What kind of dialogue can Christians have with Muslims or with Jews or with atheists if it means being silent about the centrality of Christ? Do we expect Islam to remove from the Qu’ran the passages that deny that God has a son? As the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu wonderfully put it, in addressing a Muslim audience, “I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ, whom you honour as a prophet and we as the Son of God.” I call that honesty, intellectual and spiritual honesty, and the proper way of engaging religious viewpoints. You don’t do it by denial or by woeful ignorance of the principle of your own position.

(more…)

Print this entry

Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 20-26 April 2009

Tuesday, April 21st
3:30pm Holy Communion – Windsor Elms
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place

Thursday, April 23rd
1:30-3:00pm Seniors’ Drop-In

Friday, April 24th, Eve of St. Mark
11:00am Holy Communion – Dykeland Lodge
3:30 pm Holy Communion – Gladys Manning Home

Sunday, April 26th, Easter II
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
2:00 pm AMD Service of the Deaf
4:30 pm Holy Communion or Evening Prayer at King’s-Edgehill School

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The Octave Day of Easter

The collect for today, The Octave Day of Easter, being The Sunday After Easter Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Almighty Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St John 5:4-12
The Gospel: St John 20:19-23

Duccio, Christ's appearance behind locked doors

Artwork: Duccio di Buoninsegna, Christ’s appearance behind locked doors (from Back Crowning of The Maestà), 1308-11. Tempera on wood, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena.

c/p: Nova Scotia Scott

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Tuesday in Easter Week

The collect for today, Tuesday in Easter Week, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 13:26-33
The Gospel: St Luke 24:36-48

Duccio, Christ's appearance when the apostles are at tableArtwork: Duccio di Buoninsegna, Christ’s appearance when the apostles are at table (from Back Crowning of The Maestà), 1308-11. Tempera on wood, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena.

c/p: Nova Scotia Scott

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Monday in Easter Week

The collect for today, Monday in Easter Week, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 10:34-43
The Gospel: St Luke 24:13-35

Rembrandt, Supper at Emmaus (1648)Artwork: Rembrandt, The Supper at Emmaus, 1648. Oil on wood, Louvre, Paris.

c/p: Nova Scotia Scott

Print this entry

Sermons

Sermon for Easter-Day

“Christ is risen. Alleluia, Alleluia!”

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, “early when it was yet dark,” John tells us. She “seeth the stone taken away.” And so it begins. She runs to tell the others, apostle apostolorum, an apostle to the apostles, as the Fathers put it. She says “to Simon Peter and to the other disciple” that “they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.” He is not there. Who has taken him? Who are ‘they’ that “have taken [him] away”? Confronting something that counters her expectation, she suspects a conspiracy, it seems. Don’t we all? Simon Peter and “that other disciple” run and see. They, too, find only an empty tomb. And so it continues. It is the Resurrection.

With apologies to President Obama, and for that matter most politicians, the Resurrection is change you can believe in. This is what the Gospel accounts show us. In a way, of course, it can only be believed in. There is, after all, no ‘CSI Jerusalem’ with respect to the Resurrection, nor can there be. There is no DNA. There is no forensic evidence whatsoever; not much to go on, it might seem. Folly to even think there could be, it seems to me.

At best, we might say there is only evidence which points to an absence beginning with the stories of the empty tomb. Then, there are the accounts of angels. Ah, an angel told me! Right! Hardly convincing, it might seem, at least to the empirically minded. Then, there are the supposed eye-witness accounts of strange encounters with the risen Christ who appears and disappears behind closed doors. Right! Explicable, perhaps, according to “superstring theory” in Physics, but then one might feel about that the same way the British travel writer, Alexander Kinglake, felt about churches in England, wanting to inscribe upon their lintels the caveat, “interesting, if true.” Perhaps that is where we are with the Resurrection, “interesting, if true.”

If so, why are we here this morning? (more…)

Print this entry

Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 13-19 April 2009

Monday, April 13th, Easter Monday
10:00am Holy Communion

Tuesday, April 14th, Easter Tuesday
10:00am Holy Communion
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:30pm Parish Council Meeting

Thursday, April 16th, Easter Thursday
1:30-3:30pm Seniors’ Drop-In

Saturday, April 18th
7:00-9:00pm  Newfoundland and Country Evening of Musical Entertainment, Parish Hall

Sunday, April 19th, Octave Day of Easter
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
4:30 pm Evening Prayer or Holy Communion at King’s-Edgehill School

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Easter-Day

Veronese, Resurrection of ChristThe collect for today, Easter-Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962) :

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: Colossians 3:1-11
The Gospel: St John 20:1-10

Artwork: Paolo Veronese, The Resurrection of Christ, c. 1570. Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.

c/p: Nova Scotia Scott

Print this entry