Year: 2013

Sermons

Sermon for the Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity

“Whose is this image and superscription?”

Autumn leaves lie scattered on the wind. The glory of the Fall fades into the somber grey of November. At the risk of indulging too much in the pathetic fallacy, not to mention privileging the seasons of the northern hemisphere, there is, it seems to me, a contemplative feel to nature at this time of year. Certainly, the Scripture readings in the Offices and at the Eucharist reflect an emphasis upon wisdom. They recall us to contemplation and reflection.

I love the contrast between the fading of nature’s glory and the opening out to us of the glory of God in the Communion of Saints, the vision of our redeemed humanity. We meet within the Octave of the Feast of All Saints’ and this morning’s Epistle reading reminds us of the spiritual reality of that communion. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” Paul tells the Philippians, and bids them and us “look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change this lowly body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body”, words which are echoed in the Service of Committal in the Burial Office. Death and glory.

The Feast of All Saints’ embraces The Solemnity of All Souls’. All Souls’ reminds us of the somber reality of our common mortality but it does so within the vision of the hope of heaven, the vision of our humanity transformed. These celebrations challenge us about how we think about our humanity, about what it means to be human and about our lives in the human community, politically, economically, socially, and religiously. They challenge us about the necessity of making certain distinctions and about understanding the forms of interaction within the varied areas and aspects of our lives. “Our citizenship is in heaven” but we have certain obligations in the political and social communities of which we are inescapably a part as well. The Gospel speaks directly to the questions about their interaction.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 4 – 10 November

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

Tuesday, November 5th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place

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

Sunday, November 10th, Trinity XXIV
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
4:00pm Evening Prayer – Christ Church
4:30pm Holy Communion – KES

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, November 19th
7:00pm Christ Church Book Club: A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks and What Money Can’t Buy by Michael Sandel

Saturday, November 23rd
4:30-6:00pm Annual Parish Ham Supper

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 Twenty-Third Sunday After Trinity

The collect for today, the Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Feti, The Tribute MoneyO GOD, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all godliness: Be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the devout prayers of thy Church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Philippians 3:17-21
The Gospel: St Matthew 22:15-22

Artwork: Domenico Feti, The Tribute Money (after Titian), c. 1618-20. Oil on panel, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

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King's-Edgehill School Sermons, Sermons

Meditations for the 225th Anniversary Celebration of King’s Collegiate School, now King’s-Edgehill School

Meditations for the 225th Anniversary Celebration of King’s Collegiate School,
now King’s-Edgehill,
November 1st, 2013
Christ Church, Windsor, Nova Scotia

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

I.

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” The haunting questions of the poet, T.S. Eliot, reverberate throughout the ups and downs of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries but they also cast light upon what belongs to our eighteenth century beginnings.

The year was 1788. The day was November 1st. Our beginnings. This day marks the beginnings of a programme of formal education in what would one day become Canada. It marks the beginnings of a School and, in the following year, a College and an University; institutions committed to the idea that education is not just about information, not just about knowledge, but about the pursuit and love of wisdom.

II.

We celebrate today the 225th anniversary of King’s Collegiate School, now King’s-Edgehill. It is our birthday! But it is about more than ourselves. This celebration marks an important milestone in Canadian history and in the history of Britain’s Overseas Empire, as it was once called, in the history of the Province of Nova Scotia and in the history of the Town of Windsor. It marks the beginnings of an important chapter about education in our country and province.

III.

Born between two revolutions, the American Revolution and the French Revolution, our many storied history speaks volumes about the hopes and aspirations of a parade of generations and about an education that contributes to public life and service in every way.

IV.

Anniversary celebrations are reminders of who we are and what we stand for. Our beginnings reveal our principles, the very ideals that define us. They are captured in the Motto of the School and College as envisioned by the founder of both, Bishop Charles Inglis. Deo Legi Regi Gregi – for God, for the Law, for the King, and for the People. Words conveying meaning and purpose, they speak to a vision about education that inculcates the qualities of gentleness, learning and humanitas and that leads to service and sacrifice in a great number of different public arenas: government, business, military, education, medicine, church, academia, to mention but a few.

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Prayers and liturgy

Richard Hooker, Doctor

The collect for today, the commemoration of Richard Hooker (1554-1600), Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher of the Faith (source):

Hooker Statue, Exeter CathedralO God of peace, the bond of all love,
who in thy Son Jesus Christ hast made for all people
thine inseparable dwelling place:
give us grace that,
after the example of thy servant Richard Hooker,
we thy servants may ever rejoice
in the true inheritance of thine adopted children
and show forth thy praises now and for ever;
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 Corinthians 2:6-10, 13-16
The Gospel: St. John 17:18-23

The statue of Richard Hooker stands outside Exeter Cathedral, England.

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Prayers and liturgy

All Souls’ Day

The collect for today, The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, commonly called All Souls’ Day (source):

Everlasting God, our maker and redeemer,
grant us, with all the faithful departed,
the sure benefits of thy Son’s saving passion
and glorious resurrection,
that, in the last day,
when thou dost gather up all things in Christ,
we may with them enjoy the fullness of thy promises;
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 4:13-18
The Gospel: St. John 5:24-27

Nardo di Cione, ParadiseArtwork: Nardo di Cione, Paradise, 1350s. Fresco, Capella Strozzi, Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

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Prayers and liturgy

All Saints’ Day

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

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Revelation 7:9-17
The Gospel: St. Matthew 5:1-12

Genga, Madonna Child Saints DoctorsArtwork: Girolamo Genga, Madonna and Child, Saints and Doctors of the Church, c. 1518. Oil on panel, Brera, Milan. (Originally in the church of Sant’Agostino, Cesena.)

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Prayers and liturgy

James Hannington, Bishop, Missionary and Martyr

The collect for today, the commemoration of James Hannington (1847-85), first Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Missionary to Uganda, Martyr (source):

James HanningtonPrecious in your sight, O Lord,
is the death of your martyrs
James Hannington and his companions,
who purchased with their blood a road into Uganda
for the proclamation of the gospel;
and we pray that with them
we also may obtain the crown of righteousness
which is laid up for all
who love the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 3:14-18,22
The Gospel: St. Matthew 10:16-22

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Prayers and liturgy

St. Simon and St. Jude the Apostles

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Simon the Zealot and Saint Jude, Apostles, with Saint Jude the Brother of the Lord, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The collect for the Brethren of the Lord, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O HEAVENLY Father, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning: We bless thy holy Name for the witness of James and Jude, the kinsmen of the Lord, and pray that we may be made true members of thy heavenly family; through him who willed to be the firstborn among many brethren, even the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: St. Jude 1-4
The Gospel: St. John 14:21-27

Ribera, St. SimonIn the various New Testament lists of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon and Judas son of James, also called Thaddeus.

To distinguish Simon from Simon Peter, Matthew and Mark refer to him as Simon the Cananaean, while Luke refers to him as Simon the Zealot. Both surnames have the same signification and are a translation of the Hebrew qana (the Zealous). The name does not signify that he belonged to the party of Zealots, but that he had zeal for the Jewish law, which he practised before his call. The translation of Matthew and Mark as Simon “the Canaanite” (as, e.g., KJV has it) is simply mistaken.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity, 2:00pm service for Atlantic Ministry of the Deaf

“Go thy way, thy son liveth”

A miracle story, to be sure. What do the miracles teach us? They teach us something about the nature of God and about the truth of our humanity. But there is something particularly special and important about this gospel story. It is taken from The Gospel according to St. John. There is an important connection between Word and Wisdom that is wonderfully illustrated in this Gospel.

It is a miracle of healing, and so not unlike any number of healing miracles, it might seem. But there is something special about this story and it is not that Jesus is reluctant to make house calls! John tells us that this was “the second sign that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.” That begs the obvious question about the first sign. What was that? Not a healing miracle per se but the story of the turning of the water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, a miracle that points us to the meaning of the Incarnation and to the social joys of heaven which God seeks for us in and through the fellowship of the Church here and now as well as in heaven. This second sign teaches us something profound about the nature of God and about our humanity.

It teaches us that the Word of God is not confined to the limits of time and space. We are being reminded of the eternal Word of God which cannot be constrained to our experiences and expectations. A certain nobleman beseeches Jesus to come down to Capernaum, another town, to heal his son who was at the point of death. Like so many of us, we want God to do something for us immediately and directly. Here we are reminded of the greater truth of God’s Word and its truer movement in us. Jesus rebukes our presumption about wanting signs and wonders without which we will not believe. For we have forgotten, it seems, what The Letter to the Hebrews wisely teaches, namely, that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” There is a greater power and truth to God’s Word.

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