Month: November 2013

Prayers and liturgy

Saint Andrew the Apostle

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle and Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay: Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 10:8-18
The Gospel: St. Matthew 4:18-22

Rusconi, St. AndrewA native of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, Andrew was a fisherman, the son of the fisherman John, and the brother of the fisherman Simon Peter. He was at first, along with John the Evangelist, a disciple of John the Baptist. John the Baptist’s testimony that Jesus was the Christ led the two to follow Jesus. Andrew then took his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus. In Eastern Orthodox tradition, St. Andrew is called the Protokletos (the First Called) because he is named as the first disciple summoned by Jesus into his service.

At first Andrew and Simon Peter continued to carry on their fishing trade, but the Lord later called them to stay with him all the time. He promised to make them fishers of men and, this time, they left their nets for good.

The only other specific reference to Andrew in the New Testament is at St. Mark 13:3, where he is one of those asking the questions that lead our Lord into his great eschatological discourse.

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Prayers and liturgy

Catherine, Virgin and Martyr

The collect for a virgin or matron, on the Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria (4th century?), Virgin and Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD Most High, the creator of all mankind, we bless thy holy Name for the virtue and grace which thou hast given unto holy women in all ages, especially thy servant Catherine; and we pray that the example of her faith and purity, and courage unto death, may inspire many souls in this generation to look unto thee, and to follow thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Saviour; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 9:36-42
The Gospel: St. Luke 10:38-42

Orley, Martyrdom of St. CatherineThe cult of Saint Catherine arose in the Eastern Church in the 8th or 9th century and spread to the West at the time of the Crusades. She is not mentioned in any early martyrologies. No reliable facts concerning her life or death have been established. She is now generally considered to be a mythical figure.

According to her legend, St. Catherine lived in Alexandria when Emperor Maxentius was persecuting the church. A noble and learned young Christian, Catherine prevailed in a public debate with philosophers who tried to convince her of the errors of Christianity. Maxentius had her scourged, imprisoned and condemned her to death. She was tied to a wheel embedded with razors, but this attempt to torture her to death failed when the machine (later a Catherine wheel) broke and onlookers were injured by flying fragments. Finally, she was beheaded.

St. Catherine is often portrayed holding a book, symbolic of her great learning. She is the patron saint of teachers and students.

Artwork: Bernaert van Orley, The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine, early 16th century. Oil on wood, Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kiev, Ukraine.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Sunday Next Before Advent, 10:30am service

“Then Jesus turned”

As images go this one is particularly significant. The idea of turning is provocatively before us in the Lesson from Jeremiah, in the gradual psalm, in the Gospel reading from John, and most poignantly in the baptism of Kaitlyn Jacoba Marilyn this morning. The turning is twofold: there is God’s turning to us and there is our turning to God, the turning of our hearts and minds to God. “I will hearken what the Lord God will say:/ for he shall speak peace unto his people and to his saints, and unto them that turn their heart to him,” as the Psalmist puts it.

Today marks a turning point in the Church Year, a time of transition from one year to the next, a time at once of endings and beginnings. It is captured in the way this Sunday is designated, The Sunday Next Before Advent. Times of transition provide the opportunities and the occasions for renewal; they recall us to the radical nature of our spiritual beginnings, to the radical idea of God’s turning to us. “Turn thou us, O Lord, and so shall we be turned” is our prayer. In a way the whole pattern of the Church Year signaled in the readings of Scripture recall us to the idea of Revelation, God makes something known about himself and about us. Because of that we can begin again.

The lesson from the prophet Jeremiah recalls God’s turning to Israel in exile in Egypt and in Babylon, to the idea of God delivering Israel from bondage and captivity. “The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt” prompts the idea of a greater marvel in the eyes of the prophet, the idea of God delivering “the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them.” The prophet looks to God to redeem and restore Israel and “they shall dwell in their own land” rather than living as exiles. More than the obvious political overtones that have become such a troubling part of the long twentieth century, there is a profoundly spiritual principle at work here, namely the theme of God’s righteousness as providing the true basis for our dwelling safely as a community. The passage looks to God raising unto David, meaning the house of David, “a righteous Branch,” a King who shall reign and prosper. It is a prophecy about the Messiah, the coming of the anointed one, a prophecy which Christians interpret as fulfilled in Christ and in the inauguration of a new kingdom that is first and foremost spiritual, not political, the idea of dwelling with God in Christ.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Sunday Next Before Advent, 8:00am service

“Then Jesus turned”

As images go this one is particularly significant. The idea of turning is provocatively before us in the Lesson from Jeremiah and in the Gospel reading from John. The turning is twofold: there is God’s turning to us and there is our turning to God, the turning of our hearts and minds to God. “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people,” as Collect prays.

Today marks a turning point in the Church Year, a time of transition from one year to the next, a time at once of endings and beginnings. It is captured in the way this Sunday is designated, The Sunday Next Before Advent. Times of transition provide the opportunities and the occasions for renewal; they recall us to the radical nature of our spiritual beginnings, to the radical idea of God’s turning to us. “Turn thou us, O Lord, and so shall we be turned” is our prayer. In a way the whole pattern of the Church Year signaled in the readings of Scripture recall us to the idea of Revelation. God makes something known about himself and about us. Because of that we can begin again.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 25 November – 1 December

Monday, November 25th
4:45-5:15pm World Religions/Inquirer’s Class, Rm. 206, King’s-Edgehill School
6:00-7:00pm Brownies/Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, November 26th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place

Thursday, November 28th
6:30-7:30pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall

Sunday, December 1st, First Sunday in Advent
8:00am Holy Communion (followed by Men’s Club Breakfast)
10:30am Holy Communion
2:00pm AMD Service of the Deaf
4:00pm Evening Prayer – Christ Church
4:30pm Holy Communion – KES

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, December 8th
4:30pm Advent & Christmas Lessons & Carols with KES (Gr. 7-11) – Christ Church
7:00pm Gr. 12 Service – Hensley Memorial Chapel, KES

Friday, December 20th
7:00pm Christ Church Concert Series II, Capella Regalis presents “To Bethlehem with Kings”

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Prayers and liturgy

The Sunday Next Before Advent

The collect for today, the Sunday Next before Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Jeremiah 23:5-8
The Gospel: St. John 1:35-45

Christ PantocratorArtwork: Christ Pantocrator, early 14th century. Ekklesia tis Theotokos i Pammakaristos (Church of the All-Blessed Mother of God). Istanbul.

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Prayers and liturgy

Clement, Bishop of Rome

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Clement (c. 30-c. 100), Bishop of Rome, Martyr (source):

Eternal Father, creator of all,
whose martyr Clement bore witness with his blood
to the love that he proclaimed and the gospel that he preached:
give us thankful hearts as we celebrate thy faithfulness,
revealed to us in the lives of thy saints,
and strengthen us in our pilgrimage as we follow thy Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:1-7
The Gospel: St. Luke 6:37-45

Tiepolo, Pope St. Clement Adoring the TrinitySaint Clement was one of the first leaders of the church in the period immediately after the apostles. Some commentators believe that he is the Clement mentioned in Philippians 4:3. If so, he was a companion and fellow-worker of Paul. The Roman Catholic Church regards him as the fourth pope.

St Clement is best known for his Epistle to the Corinthians, dated to about 95. Clement addressed some of the same issues that Paul had addressed in his first letter to the Corinthians. The church at Corinth apparently still had problems with internal dissension and challenges to those in authority. Clement reminds them of the importance of Christian unity and love, and that church leaders serve for the good of the whole body.

Although the letter was written in the name of the Church at Rome to the Church at Corinth, St. Clement’s authorship is attested by early church writers. This epistle was held in very high regard in the early church; some even placed it on a par with the canonical writings of the New Testament.

Artwork: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Pope Saint Clement Adoring the Trinity, 1737-38. Oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

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Prayers and liturgy

Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Cecilia (3rd century), Virgin, Martyr (source):

O GOD, which makest us glad with the yearly festival of blessed Cecilia thy Virgin and Martyr: grant, we beseech thee; that as we do venerate her in our outward office, so we may follow the example of her godly conversation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Ecclesiasticus 51:9-12
The Gospel: St. Matthew 25:1-13

Waterhouse, Saint CeciliaArtwork: John William Waterhouse, Saint Cecilia, 1895. Oil on canvas, Private collection.

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Prayers and liturgy

Edmund, King and Martyr

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Edmund (841-869), King of the East Angles, Martyr (source):

O eternal God,
whose servant Edmund kept faith to the end,
both with thee and with his people,
and glorified thee by his death:
grant us the same steadfast faith,
that, together with the noble army of martyrs,
we may come to the perfect joy of the resurrection 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 St. Peter 3:14-18
The Gospel: St. Matthew 10:16-22

Saint EdmundEdmund was raised a Christian and became king of the East Angles as a young boy, probably when 14 years old. In 869 the Danes invaded his territory and defeated his forces in battle.

According to Edmund’s first biographer, Abbo of Fleury, the Danes tortured the saint to death after he refused to renounce his faith and rule as a Danish vassal. He was beaten, tied to a tree and pierced with arrows, and then beheaded.

His body was originally buried near the place of his death and subsequently transferred to Baedericesworth, modern Bury St. Edmunds. His shrine became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in England, but it was destroyed and his remains lost during the English Reformation.

The cult of St. Edmund became very popular among English nobility because he exemplified the ideals of heroism, political independence, and Christian holiness. The Benedictine Abbey founded at Bury St. Edmunds in 1020 became one of the greatest in England.

Click here to read Fr. David Curry’s sermon for the Feast of St. Edmund.

Artwork: St. Edmund the Martyr, c. 1420-40. Stained glass, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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Administrative

Explanatory note regarding today’s readings

An explanatory note may be in order about the readings used this Sunday. On page 258 of the Canadian BCP, at the end of the appointed readings for the Trinity Season, there is the following rubric:

If there be an additional Sunday preceding the Sunday before Advent, the Service of the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany shall be used; if there be two additional Sundays, the Services of the Fifth and Sixth.

Thus at Holy Communion this morning at Christ Church, the Propers for Epiphany VI (p. 131, ff.) were used. In the Sunday and Weekday Office Lectionary (BCP, pp. xvi-xlv) provision is made for the Office readings for the Twenty-fifth and the Twenty-sixth Sundays after Trinity at Morning and Evenings Prayer, following a Year One and Year Two pattern (depending on whether Advent Sunday in any given ecclesiastical year is an even or odd numbered year). So there is an ambiguity. This year, 2013, we have twenty-five Sundays after Trinity. Following the rubric of page 258, the Collect, Epistle and Gospel for Epiphany VI are directed to be used. But what if the second service in a Parish happens to be Morning Prayer? A different Collect associated with different readings? Or the same Collect with the Office Readings appointed for the twenty-sixth Sunday? I chose to keep the connection between the Office and the Eucharist – same Collect of the Day and the readings belonging to both the Eucharist and the Service of Morning Prayer.

An argument could certainly be made for using the readings appointed for Morning Prayer for Trinity XXV along with the Collect for Epiphany VI. The intent of the Office and Weekly pattern is, I think, fairly clear, but here is an instance of an ambiguity and one which I happily confess to have exploited in the interest of the intriguing reading from The Prayer of Manasses. Such are the vagaries of time and the limits of all our systems. At issue really are the principles which govern the readings at the Holy Eucharist and its connection to the reading of the Scriptures at the Sunday Offices. All this relates to a much deeper concern: the principles that belong to the Theology of Revelation without which the Scriptures cease to be the Scriptures and merely relics of the past.

Fr. David Curry

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