Christ Church

“My soul cleaveth to the dust:
O quicken thou me, according to thy word”
(Psalm 119, pt 4, vs 25)

Dust and dirt? Quite a change from the emphasis of the Epiphany season on the essential divinity of Christ, it might seem. To be sure, with Septuagesima Sunday we mark a new beginning. We begin at the beginning. And that means, beginning, too, with dust and dirt, with the ground of creation, quite literally.

At Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, we begin reading from The Book of Genesis. In so doing, we enter into an ancient tradition. The tradition conveys ancient wisdom, namely, a profound reflection upon the mystery of Creation within the Revelation of God as Trinity.

We begin with Genesis only to find ourselves in the midst of the vineyard of creation in today’s gospel. But we begin with Genesis. It is, at once, a difficult and a necessary starting point. It is difficult because of the contemporary tendency to view the Book of Genesis in one of two ways, both of which are false. The first way is to read Genesis as a kind of scientific treatise, which it isn’t (this is the folly of creationism: bad science and bad religion). The second way is to read Genesis as a haphazard collection of fables and myths, which it isn’t.

The Book of Genesis does not propose a discovery of God; it begins with God. “In the beginning, God.” There is the proclamation of God as the absolute beginning after which everything else is secondary, after which everything else is derivative, after which everything else is a product. And while something of the Mind of the Maker, to use a famous phrase, is made known in what he makes, the Creator is not simply equated with what he makes. He is known as beyond and in control. It is his creation. The distinction between the Creator and the created is absolutely crucial.

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Epiphany ends and pre-lent begins. It makes, I hope, the winter seem shorter! Purely psychological, of course, but the pre-lenten Sundays with their impossible Latin polysyllabic names point us towards Spring and Easter. They help, in Loreena McKennit’s words “to drive the cold winter away,” at least notionally.

What curious names they are! Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. A kind of esoteric knowledge at its best, it might seem, and yet these are the terms which have been in common use for centuries upon centuries. More recently, they have been given up in favour of more prosaic terms but with more complex demands of computation and order, namely, the parade of Sundays in Ordinary Time. There is, I think, such a wealth of colour and feel to these more intriguing and exotic terms. What exactly do they mean? And what do they signify?

Septuagesima refers to the week of the seventieth day before Easter; Sexagesima to the week of the sixtieth day; Quinquagesima, to the week of the fiftieth day and stands on the brink of Lent itself, just a few days before Ash Wednesday. What do they signify? Historically they recall a time when the Quadragesima, the forty days of Lent, were computed differently, with fasting and repentance scheduled for certain but not all days of the week, hence seventy, sixty and fifty day periods in which the biblically based forty days of Lent were accomplished. But beyond that historical note, these Sundays have developed a special character of their own, spiritually and theologically. They are very much about the transformation of the older classical virtues of prudence, courage, temperance and justice into the forms of love through the power of the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

In short, they inculcate a more inward consideration of the journey of the soul in Lent.  Unusual, even curious names but which are well worth the trouble in giving them your fullest and prayerful attention.

Fr. David Curry

Monday, February 1st, Eve of Candlemas
7:00pm Holy Communion

Tuesday, February 2nd
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Sparks Mtg. – Parish Hall
7:30pm Christ Church Book Club – Coronation Room: “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young

Thursday, February 4th
1:30-3:00pm Seniors’ Drop-In

Sunday, February 7th, Sexagesima
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
4:30pm Evening Prayer at KES

Upcoming Events

Sunday, February 14th: Annual Parish Meeting & Luncheon, following the 10:30am service
Sunday, February 14th, 5:00 pm: Fr Curry preaches at Evensong, St George’s, Halifax
Tuesday, February 16th, 4:30-6:00pm: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

The collect for today, Septuagesima (or the Third Sunday Before Lent) from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The Gospel: St Matthew 20:1-16

Artwork: Rembrandt, The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, 1637. Oil on panel, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

The collect for today, the commemoration of Charles I (1600-1649), King and Martyr (source):

King of kings and Lord of lords,
whose faithful servant Charles
prayed for his persecutors
and died in the living hope of thine eternal kingdom:
grant us, by thy grace, so to follow his example
that we may love and bless our enemies,
through the intercession of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
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:

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

Artwork: Anthony van Dyck. Charles I, King of England. 1636. Oil on canvas. Windsor Castle, Royal Collection, UK.

The collect for today, the Feast of St John Chrysostom (347-407), Preacher, Doctor of the Church, Archbishop of Constantinople (source):

O God of truth and love,
who gavest to thy servant John Chrysostom
eloquence to declare thy righteousness in the great congregation
and courage to bear reproach for the honour of thy name:
mercifully grant to the ministers of thy word
such excellence in preaching
that all people may share with them
in the glory that shall be revealed;
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 Lesson: Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Gospel: St Luke 21:12-15

Artwork: Saint John Chrysostom, c. 9th century. Mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.

The collect for today, the Feast Day of St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Apostolic Man, Martyr (source):

Almighty God,
who gavest to thy servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to suffer death for his faith:
grant that we too may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Revelation 2:8-11
The Gospel: St Matthew 20:20-23

Church tradition holds that Polycarp was born c. AD 69 of Christian parents and was a disciple of St John the Apostle and Evangelist, who ordained him Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was arrested during a pagan festival in Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) and brought before the Roman pro-consul.

[W]hen the magistrate pressed him hard and said, “Swear the oath, and I will release you; revile the Christ,” Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

But on his persisting again and saying, “Swear by the genius of Caesar,” he answered, “If you suppose vainly that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and feign that you are ignorant who I am, hear you plainly: I am a Christian. But if you would learn the doctrine of Christianity, assign a day and give me a hearing.”

He was burned at the stake for refusing to renounce Christ.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp was written down by the church of Smyrna and sent as a letter to the church at Philomelium. It is the first Christian martyrology. Several translations of the text can be accessed via this page.

The collect for today, The Conversion of Saint Paul, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 21:40-22:16
The Gospel: St Luke 21:10-19

Artwork: Lucas Cranach the Younger, Conversion of St. Paul, 1549. Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg.

“Speak the word only”

Before I begin, let me thank Fr. Harris for the kindness of his invitation to preach this morning here at St. Peter’s. I bring you greetings from Windsor, Nova Scotia, from Christ Church and, on behalf of the Headmaster, Mr. Joe Seagram, and our assistant Headmaster, Mr. Darcy Walsh, who is also here with us this morning, I bring you greetings from King’s-Edgehill School. It is wonderful, too, that Canon Tuck, an old boy of the School, is assisting with the liturgy this morning. All these wonderful Maritime connections!

Along with my colleague, Mr. Kevin Lakes, and our Junior Boys Basketball Team consisting of Christian, Zachary, Devon, Sam, Fernando, Ryan, Ben and Tom, we have been delighted to come and play on your island and now to be able to come and pray on your island, especially here in this wonderful and holy place.

Everything is “charged with the grandeur of God,” the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins suggests. But, then, there is the misery, too, the misery of suffering and death in Haiti, for instance. The grandeur and the misery. The grandeur of God meets the misery of man in the Epiphany season; “signs and wonders” abound in that meeting.

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Teaching is Feeding: “Thou hast the words of eternal life”

The sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel is known as “the Bread of Life Discourse.” It concerns our Lord’s teaching about himself and about the means of our abiding in him. “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him” (vs.56). “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (vs.63). The last sections of this chapter (vs.41ff), which we heard this morning, indicate how hard and yet how necessary the teachings of Christ are. As Amos puts it, “they abhor him who speaks the truth” (Amos 5.10).

God teaches us about himself and about our life in him. But these are hard teachings. The Jews murmur against Jesus because of the identity they perceive he makes between himself and God, “calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5.18). They murmur against him here “because he said, I am the bread of life which came down from heaven” (John 6.41). This conflicts with what they think they know about him. “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” (vs.42). Their sense of his earthly identity gets in the way of what he would teach them. What he would teach them is an heavenly knowledge conveyed through earthly signs. It is a kind of epiphany.

He recalls the point of the prophets, “they shall all be taught by God” (Is.54.13, Jer.31.33,34), and centers it upon himself, “everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me”(vs.45). They murmured because in saying “I am the bread which came down from heaven” (vs.41), he identifies himself with the Father as the one who is “from God” (vs.46). That is the meaning of his being the Son, the Son of God become the Son of man.

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