Year: 2013

Sermons

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

“Jesus said, Love your enemies”

The Gospel reading for today ends where the reading for The Fourth Sunday after Trinity began, “be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Both Gospel readings are taken from the 6th chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, from what might be styled Christ’s Sermon on the Plain, in obvious allusion to Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. There are certain parallels and commonalities and I like the idea that what is conveyed on high is also present for us here below. Like The Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain also turns the world on its head. Everything, we might say, is being placed on an entirely radical and new foundation.

What is that radical and new foundation? It is grace conveyed principally here in terms of the theme of mercy which challenges, corrects and ultimately perfects all the limited forms of human interaction. To my mind, Christ’s command to “love your enemies” is utterly astounding and gives fuller meaning to the nature of the divine mercy which is meant to rule and govern our lives. Why? Because I cannot help but think that this is a distinctive and unique feature of the Christian Faith which goes to the radical meaning to the idea of God as love. It signals the radical idea of the overcoming of all that opposes the truth and goodness of God and makes that idea the governing reality of our lives.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Sixth Sunday After Trinity

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

O GOD, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 6:27-36

Artwork: Gustave Doré, Jesus Preaching On the Mount. Oil on canvas, Private collection.

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Prayers and liturgy

Thomas More, Martyr

The collect for today, the commemoration of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Lord Chancellor of England, Scholar, Reformation Martyr (source):

Almighty God, who strengthened Thomas More to be in office a king’s good servant but in conscience your servant first, grant us in all our doubts and uncertainties to feel the grasp of your holy hand and to live by faith in your promise that you shall not let us be lost; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 3:13-16
The Gospel: St. Mark 12:13-17

A meditation of Thomas More, written in the Tower of London a year before he was beheaded:

Give me your grace, good Lord, to set the world at nought,
to set my mind fast upon you and not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths.
To be content to be solitary.
Not to long for worldly company,
little and little utterly to cast off the world, and rid my mind of the business thereof.
Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
but that the hearing of worldly fantasies may be to me displeasant.
Gladly to be thinking God,
busily to labour to love him.
To know own vility and wretchedness,
to humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God,
to bewail my sins passed;
for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity.
Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
to be joyful of tribulations,
to walk the narrow way that leads to life.
To bear the cross with Christ,
to have the last thing—death—in remembrance,
to have ever before my eye death, that is ever at hand;
to make death no stranger to me;
to foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell;
to pray for pardon before the Judge comes.
To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me;
For his benefits incessantly to give him thanks,
to buy the time again that I before have lost.
To abstain from vain confabulations,
To eschew light foolish mirth and gladness;
To cut off unnecessary recreations.
Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all–
To set the loss at nought for the winning of Christ.
To think my worst enemies my best friends,
for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good
with their love and favour as they did with their hatred and malice.

Artwork: Peter Paul Rubens (after the portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger), Thomas More, 1630. Prado, Madrid.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth

The collect for today, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth (source):

Almighty God,
by whose grace Elizabeth rejoiced with Mary
and greeted her as the mother of the Lord:
look with favour, we beseech thee, on thy lowly servants,
that, with Mary, we may magnify thy holy name
and rejoice to acclaim her Son our Saviour,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:39-56

Artwork: Ludovico Pogliaghi, The Visitation, 1894-1908. Central Bronze door, Milan Cathedral. Photograph taken by admin, 2 May 2010.

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Prayers and liturgy

Confederation of Canada, 1867: Dominion Day

The collect for today, Dominion Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who providest for thy people by thy power, and rulest over them in love: Vouchsafe so to bless thy servant our Queen, and her Government in this Dominion of Canada, that thy people may dwell in peace and safety, and thy Church serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 2:11-17
The Gospel: St. Matthew 22:16-22

Canada FlagCanadian Red Ensign

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Sermons

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity

“Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net”

It is, to my mind, a powerful picture and an enchanting scene. Jesus sits down in a boat which he uses as a pulpit for teaching those that “pressed upon him to hear the word of God,” then bids Simon to “launch out into the deep and to let down [the] nets.” There is the intriguing response of Simon Peter. “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.” It captures a marvelous moment and one which speaks to the existential despair of our age as well as providing the exact counter to our sense of futility and hopelessness.

What follows is equally marvelous. Having let down their nets, “they inclosed a great number of fishes, and their net brake.” Another ship is beckoned to come to their aid and yet the catch is so overwhelming that it “fill[s] both the ships, so that they began to sink.” It is a great marvel and it sparks a further response from Simon Peter: “depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” to which Jesus replies, “fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” We are very much in the presence of God, it seems. The story marks Luke’s account of the call to discipleship of Simon Peter and the others.

In God’s Providence, this Gospel story read on The Fifth Sunday after Trinity coincides with Petertide, the Church’s celebration of St. Peter and St. Paul, the twin pillars and princes, we might say, of the Apostolic Church, so outstanding and so incalculable is their witness. Their joint commemoration is a kind of accident of history, on the one hand, and the providence of God, on the other hand, having to do with the coming together of their bodies to a common place of burial in the sixth century, long after their martyrdoms in Rome. Yet there is something fitting about their being commemorated together. It speaks to the truth and unity of the Church’s mission and life.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Schedule of Services for Summer 2013

Sunday, July 7th, Sixth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Holy Communion – St. Thomas’, Three Mile Plains
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church

Sunday, July 14th, Seventh Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Reunion Service – KES
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church
7:00pm Evening Prayer – All Saints’, Leminster

Saturday, July 20th
7:30pm Christ Church Concert Series: Ensemble Seraphina

Sunday, July 21st, Eighth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Holy Communion – St. Michael’s, Windsor Forks
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church

Sunday, July 28th, Ninth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Holy Communion – St. George’s, Falmouth
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church

Sunday, August 4th, Tenth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Holy Communion – St. Thomas’, Three Mile Plains
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church

Sunday, August 11th, Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church
7:00pm Evening Prayer – All Saints’, Leminster

Sunday, August 18th, Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Holy Communion – St. Michael’s, Windsor Forks
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church

Sunday, August 25th, Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
9:00am Holy Communion – St. George’s, Falmouth
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church

(Fr. David Curry is Priest-in-Charge of the Parish of Avon Valley during July;
Fr. Tom Henderson is Priest-in-Charge of the Parish of Christ Church during August)

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fifth Sunday After Trinity

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

GRANT, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 3:8-15a
The Gospel: St. Luke 5:1-11

Artwork: Giovanni Francesco Gessi, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1645. Church of San Girolamo della Certosa, Bologna.

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Prayers and liturgy

St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles

The collects for today, the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock: Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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 manifold labours 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 Epistle: 1 St. Peter 1:1-9
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:13-19

Artwork: Saint Peter & Saint Paul, 9th-century mosaic, Chapel of San Zeno, Basilica of Saint Praxades, Rome.

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Prayers and liturgy

Irenaeus, Bishop and Doctor

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Irenaeus (d. 202), Bishop of Lyon, Doctor of the Church (source):

O God of peace,
who through the ministry of thy servant Irenæus
didst strengthen the true faith and bring harmony to thy Church:
keep us steadfast in thy true religion
and renew us in faith and love,
that we may ever walk in the way
that leadeth to 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: 2 Timothy 2:22b-26
The Gospel: St. Luke 11:33-36

Artwork: Pierrot Feré, Baptism of Saint Irenaeus (detail of the Saint Piat Tapestry), 1402. Treasury of the Cathedral, Tournai.

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