Month: March 2016

Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 7 – 13 March

Monday, March 7th
6:30-7:30pm Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, March 8th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:30pm Parish Council Meeting

Wednesday, March 9th
6:30-8:00pm Brownies – Parish Hall

Thursday, March 10th
6:00-8:00pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall

Saturday, March 12th
9:00am-4:00pm Lenten Quiet Day – King’s-Edgehill School, sponsored by the Prayer Book Society of Canada, NS/PEI Branch

Sunday, March 13th, Fifth Sunday in Lent/Passion Sunday
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, March 15th
7:00pm Holy Communion & Lenten Programme IV

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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

St. Augustine Kilburn, Accepit Ergo JesusArtwork: Accepit ergo Jesus panes et cum gratias egisset distribuit discumbentibus similiter et ex piscibus quantum volebant [St. John 6:11, Vulgate], St. Augustine Kilburn, London. Photograph taken by admin, 26 September 2015.

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Sermons

Scenes of Bethany – III

This is the third of four Lenten addresses on the theme Contemplation, Activity and Resurrection in the Passion of Christ. The first is posted here, the second here, and the fourth here.

“Martha received him into her house”
Martha: Love-in-Activity

“And a woman named Martha received him into her house”. Our lives are busy lives, probably far too busy. Our busyness becomes our burden and our justification. We are busily miserable and miserably busy all at the same time. The world, without and within our souls, conspires to make us busy and we acquiesce to its demands. We all fall prey to the hideous notion of ‘justification by busyness alone’. Leisure, in its proper and more ancient sense, is intolerable and inexcusable for this possessive spirit of busyness. And yet, there is something not only inevitable but necessary about some of our busyness. Martha in Bethany presents us with the true and the false form of busyness. There is something here to affirm and something here to eschew.

The problem is not so much that we are simply busy, but what our busyness is about. What end does it serve? Bernard of Clairvaux, for instance, speaks of the contemplative life as a negotiossium otium – “a most busy leisure”. Like the true form of outward activity, that “most busy leisure” has a focus. It is centered. Martha shows us the false and miserable form of busyness not because of what she is doing but because of the manner in which she is doing it.

She is “distracted” or “anxious”. What does that mean? It means that she is uncollected, uncentered, and without a proper focus. The word itself suggests that her eyes move about from one thing to another, turning this way and that, almost in a frenzy of activity but without any clear sense for what end, for what purpose. The most miserable form of busyness is busyness for busyness’ sake.

No doubt, it is easy to lose our heads and our hearts in the daily busyness of our lives. The danger is very great and very real. We can end up by being defined by the endless round of the mere doing of things. Our activity becomes ceaseless and aimless and thoroughly meaningless. We may not even be aware that it is happening. That is a tragedy. When we lose our center, we lose our purpose and our direction. We lose ourselves. Our lives become unsettled. We become unglued. We get bent out of shape.

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Prayers and liturgy

Chad, Missionary and Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Chad (d. 672), Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary (source):

St. Hilda Ashford, St. ChadAlmighty God,
who, from the first fruits of the English nation
that turned to Christ,
didst call thy servant Chad
to be an evangelist and bishop of his own people:
grant us grace so to follow his peaceable nature,
humble spirit and prayerful life,
that we may truly commend to others
the faith which we ourselves profess;
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: Philippians 4:10-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 14:1,7-14

Artwork: St. Chad, stained glass, St. Hilda’s Church, Ashford, England.

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Prayers and liturgy

John and Charles Wesley

The collect for today, the commemoration of John Wesley (1703-91) and Charles Wesley (1708-88), Evangelists, Hymn Writers, Leaders of the Methodist Revival (source):

Merciful God,
who didst inspire John and Charles Wesley with zeal for thy gospel:
grant to all people boldness to proclaim thy word
and a heart ever to rejoice in singing 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: Isaiah 49:5-6
The Gospel: St. Luke 9:2-6

Salisbury, John Wesley as an Old ManHudson, Reverend Charles Wesley

Artwork:
(left) Frank O. Salisbury, John Wesley as an Old Man, 1932. Oil on canvas, John Wesley’s House & The Museum of Methodism, London, U.K.
(right) Thomas Hudson, Reverend Charles Wesley, 1749. Oil on canvas, Epworth Old Rectory, Epworth, Lincolnshire, U.K.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint David of Wales

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint David (c. 520-589), Bishop of Menevia, Patron Saint of Wales (source):

Holy Trinity Sloane Square, St. David of WalesAlmighty God,
who didst call thy servant David
to be a faithful and wise steward of thy mysteries
for the people of Wales:
in thy mercy, grant that,
following his purity of life and zeal
for the gospel of Christ,
we may with him receive the crown of everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory,
world without end.

The Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 2:2b-12
The Gospel: St. Mark 4:26-29

Artwork: Saint David, stained glass, Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, London. Photograph taken by admin 20 October 2014.

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