Month: March 2012

Prayers and liturgy

Benedict, Abbot

The collect for today, the Feast of St Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-550), Abbot of Monte Cassino, Father of Western Monasticism (source):

O eternal God,
who made Benedict a wise master
in the school of thy service,
and a guide to many called into the common life
to follow the rule of Christ:
grant that we may put thy love above all things,
and seek with joy the way of thy commandments;
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: Proverbs 2:1-9
The Gospel: St Luke 14:27-33

Glory of St Benedict and St Vitalis, San Vitale Ravenna

Artwork: Serafino Barozzi, Ubaldo Gandolfi & Giacomo Guarana, Glory of St Benedict & St Vitalis, 1780. Fresco, Vault, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.  Photograph taken by admin, 20 May 2010.

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Prayers and liturgy

Cuthbert, Missionary and Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of St Cuthbert (c. 634-87), Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary (source):

St CuthbertAlmighty God,
who didst call thy servant Cuthbert from following the flock
to follow thy Son and to be a shepherd of thy people:
in thy mercy, grant that we may so follow his example
that we may bring those who are lost home to thy fold;
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 Corinthians 6:1-10
The Gospel: St Matthew 6:24-33

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Joseph of Nazareth

The collect for today, the Feast of St Joseph of Nazareth, Guardian of Our Lord, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron Saint of Canada, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Vincenzo de Rossi, St Joseph with Christ as a childO GOD Most High, who from the family of thy servant David didst raise up Joseph the carpenter to be protector of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we may so labour in our earthly vocations, that they may become labours of love and service offered unto thee, our Father; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle: Galatians 4:1-7
The Gospel: St Matthew 1:18-25

Artwork: Vincenzo de Rossi, St. Joseph with Christ as a Child, 1550-60. Chapel of St. Joseph of the Holy Land, Pantheon (Basilica di Santa Maria ad Martyres), Rome. Photograph taken by admin, 29 April 2010.

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Prayers and liturgy

Thomas Ken, Bishop and Poet

The collect for today, the commemoration of Thomas Ken (1637-1711), Bishop of Bath and Wells, Non-Juror, Hymn Writer (source):

Bishop Ken windowO God, from whom all blessings flow,
by whose providence we are kept
and by whose grace we are directed:
assist us, through the example of thy servant Thomas Ken,
faithfully to keep thy word,
humbly to accept adversity
and steadfastly to worship 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.

With the Epistle and Gospel for a Bishop or Archbishop,
from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St Luke 12:37-44

Click here to read more about Thomas Ken.

Artwork: Thomas Ken window, Wells Cathedral, installed in 1885 to celebrate the bicentenary of his consecration as Bishop of Bath and Wells.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

“Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?”

The sixth chapter of The Gospel according to St. John is sometimes known as “the bread of life discourse”. It is a fascinating and complex chapter and one which challenges Jesus’ disciples and the people of Israel in general, and, for that matter, all of us. As today’s Gospel reading makes clear the overarching theme is about the provisions God makes for us in the wilderness journey of our lives. Taken with the epistle reading from Galatians, the food of our wayfaring is food from home, “the bread of heaven,” as Jesus later names it. Jerusalem, as Paul makes clear, is our spiritual home, our alma mater, our nursing mother, as it were. The Gospel passage is about how we are sustained, nourished and refreshed in the journey with spiritual food. The teaching is the feeding on this day which is variously known as Mothering Sunday, Laetare Sunday and Refreshment Sunday, terms which are all derived from the readings in one way or another.

The word, wilderness, is used twice in the chapter and in both cases refers to the Exodus journey of the Hebrews. The text from Psalm 78 reflects on the trials of that ancient wilderness journey. A critical feature of the psalmist’s reflection is the complaint of the people in the wilderness. The question, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?” is a rhetorical question that challenges God; in short, puts God to the test. We are recalled instantly to the First Sunday of Lent, to the story of the temptations of Christ. The temptations, too, belong to the wilderness, quite literally to the desert.

This Gospel story is the answer to the question but in such a way as to highlight our disbelief and distrust of the essential goodness of God. Here the Word by which we live and which nourishes and refreshes us is bread, food for our wayfaring souls. The bread in the wilderness is about the divine generosity from which we live; “twelve baskets” are taken up from “the fragments” of “the five barley-loaves that remain” a basket for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, we might say, a basket for each of the twelve apostles of the new Israel, the Church, too, we might add.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 19 – 25 March

Tuesday, March 20th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:30pm Holy Communion & Lenten Programme III – The Prodigal Son

Wednesday, March 21st
6:00-7:30pm Sparks Mtg. – Parish Hall

Thursday, March 22nd
1:30pm Service at Windsor Elms
6:30-7:30pm Brownies’ Mtg. – Parish Hall

Friday, March 23rd
3:30pm Holy Communion – Gladys Manning Home

Sunday, March 25th Lent V / Passion Sunday
8:00am Holy Communion – Parish Hall
10:30am Holy Communion
2:00pm AMD Service of the Deaf

Upcoming Events:

On Saturday, March 24th, from 6:00-9:00pm, the West Hants Historical Society is holding its annual heritage banquet. A roast beef dinner, the cost is $ 20.00 per person. The speaker will be Terri McCulloch, formerly of Bay of Fundy Tourism and now with CBC’s This Hour Has Twenty-Two Minutes. She was a major force in the effort to have the Bay of Fundy recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world. If you would like to attend, please see Fr Curry for a ticket.

Monday, April 9th (Easter Monday)
7:30pm Christ Church Concert: Acadia Univ. String Ensemble. Admission: $10 / $5 for students.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

The collect for today, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Epistle: Galatians 4:26-5:1
The Gospel: St John 6:5-14

Multiplication of Bread and Fish

Artwork: Multiplication of Bread and Fish, 6th-century mosaic, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Patrick, Missionary and Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of St Patrick (c. 390-c. 461), Bishop, Missionary, Patron of Ireland (source):

Almighty God,
who in thy providence chose thy servant Patrick
to be the apostle of the people of Ireland:
keep alive in us the fire of faith which he kindled,
and in this our earthly pilgrimage
strengthen us to gain the light of everlasting life;
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: 1 Thessalonians 2:2b-12
The Gospel: St Matthew 28:16-20

Click here to read the prayer known as St Patrick’s Breastplate.

Tiepolo, Miracle of Saint PatrickArtwork: Giambattista Tiepolo, Miracle of Saint Patrick (detail), 1746. Oil on canvas, Museo Civico, Padua.

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Prayers and liturgy

Gregory the Great, Doctor and Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of St Gregory the Great (540-604), Bishop of Rome, Doctor of the Church (source):

Zurbaran, Saint Gregory the GreatO merciful Father,
who didst choose thy bishop Gregory
to be a servant of the servants of God:
grant that, like him, we may ever desire to serve thee
by proclaiming thy gospel to the nations,
and may ever rejoice to sing thy praises;
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: 1 Chronicles 25: 1a, 6-8
The Gospel: St Mark 10:42-45

Artwork: Francisco de Zurbaran, Saint Gregory the Great, c. 1626-27. Oil on canvas, Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Seville.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent

“If I cast out devils by the finger of God, no doubt the kingdom of God
hath come upon you.”

It is a terrifying and frightening picture, perhaps, the most terrifying and frightening picture of the human soul in the whole of the Scriptures. And, perhaps, this is where the ancient gospel with all of its perplexity and confusion about devils and demons meets the darkness and despair of contemporary culture. No set of readings, it seems to me, speaks more directly to our confusions and uncertainties.

There is far more to this picture than the postures of moralizing righteousness that, at first glance, we might think is the message of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians with his proscriptions against “fornication”, “all uncleanness”, “covetousness” which is idolatry, “filthiness”, “foolish-talking”, “jesting”, all of “which are not befitting”, and “whoremonger[ing]”, as he puts it, all of which are summed up as being “the unfruitful works of darkness.”

It seems like quite a list of the usual suspects of human sinfulness with more than a modicum of focus on sex which troubles our age so greatly. And yet, this list of “the unfruitful works of darkness” is based upon something deeper and more profound, and perhaps, most troublingly so. It will belong to the tradition of moral theology to rank and place the vices and virtues of the human soul in a kind of hierarchy, a kind of system, if you will, such as the seven deadly sins, for instance. And there is something right about that culturally, politically and socially. There is, we might say, the recognition that our peccadilloes, our little sins, as it were, are not to be compared with the ranker forms of evil potentially and actually in our souls and our communities and that are before us in the endless parade of injustices and violences in our world and day. But, be that as it may, there is also the deep spiritual insight that all our sins, from the least to the greatest, belong to the darkness. Paul claims that all of it must come to light.

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