The new list of discussion books for Christ Church Book Club is now available. The next series will kick off on Tuesday, 19 September, at 7:00pm, when the featured books will be The Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny, and Earthly Remains, by Donna Leon.
Click here for the full schedule of books and other information.
The collect for today, the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
LET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 19:41-47a
Artwork: Francesco Boneri (Cecco del Caravaggio), The Purification of the Temple, c. 1615. Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
The collect for today, the Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD Most High, who didst endue with wonderful virtue and grace the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we, who now call her blessed, may be made very members of the heavenly family of him who was pleased to be called the first-born among many brethren; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Lesson: Acts 1:12-14
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:39-49
Artwork: Rembrandt, Death of the Virgin, 1639. Etching, Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam.
The collect for today, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 16:1-9
Artwork: Jan Luyken (1649-1712), Parable of the Unjust Steward, engraving, Bowyer Bible.
The collect for a Bishop or Archbishop, in commemoration of The Right Rev. Charles Inglis (1734-1816), first Church of England bishop of Nova Scotia, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Charles Inglis to be a Bishop in thy Church and to feed thy flock: We beseech thee to send down upon all thy Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, the abundant gift of thy Holy Spirit, that they, being endued with power from on high, and ever walking in the footsteps of thy holy Apostles, may minister before thee in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-44
Born in Ireland, Charles Inglis became in 1787 the first Bishop of Nova Scotia—the first bishop consecrated for any English colony.
Charles Inglis travelled to North America in 1759 as a Church of England missionary to Dover, Delaware. In 1765 he went to Trinity Church, New York, as assistant to the rector, and was chosen rector in 1777. His ministry proved extremely controversial when he emerged as an outspoken Loyalist during the American Revolution. His life was threatened because he refused to omit prayers for the King and the Royal Family from the liturgy.
In 1783, Rev. Inglis and his family left the newly independent nation and returned to England, where he was consecrated the first Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, which at that time included Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward’s Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. He immediately sailed to Halifax and began his work of furthering the progress and unity of the Church of England in Canada.
Bishop Inglis undertook an ambitious programme of church construction across Atlantic Canada; in 1789, he himself laid the cornerstone for the original Christ Church in Windsor. He also played a leading role in the establishment in Windsor of King’s Collegiate School (1788, now King’s-Edgehill School) and King’s College (1789, now University of King’s College, Halifax).
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Laurence (d. 258), Archdeacon of Rome, Martyr (source):
Almighty God,
who didst make Laurence
a loving servant of thy people
and a wise steward of the treasures of thy Church:
inflame us, by his example, to love as he loved
and to walk in the way that leads 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 Corinthians 9:6-10
The Gospel: St. John 12:24-26
Artwork: Jacopo Tintoretto, Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, late 1570s. Oil on canvas, Christ Church, Oxford.
The collect for today, the Feast of the Name of Jesus, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
ALMIGHTY God, who by thy blessed Apostle hast taught us that there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved, but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Grant, we beseech thee, that we may ever glory in this Name, and strive to make thy salvation known unto all mankind; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lesson: Acts 4:8-12
The Gospel: St. Matthew 1:20-23
Artwork: Francisco Goya, The Adoration of the Name of The Lord, 1772. Fresco, Cathedral of Our Lady of Pilar, Zaragoza, Spain.
The Collect for today, the Holy Day of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD, who on the holy mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses thy well-beloved Son wonderfully transfigured: Mercifully grant unto us such a vision of his divine majesty, that we, being purified and strengthened by thy grace, may be transformed into his likeness from glory to glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: 2 St. Peter 1:16-21
The Gospel: St. Matthew 17:1-9
Artwork: Pavel Svedomsky, Transfiguration, 1885-96. Fresco, St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, Kiev.
The collect for today, the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Romans 8:12-17
The Gospel: St. Matthew 7:15-21
Artwork: Sermon On The Mount, 6th-century mosaic, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.
The collect for today, the Feast of St. Oswald (d. 642), King of Northumbria, Martyr (source):
O Lord God almighty,
who didst so kindle the faith of thy servant King Oswald with thy Spirit
that he set up the sign of the cross in his kingdom
and turned his people to the light of Christ:
grant that we, being fired by the same Spirit,
may ever bear our cross before the world
and be found faithful servants of the gospel;
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 Martyr from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:24-27
In AD 635, the army of Prince Oswald defeated the forces of pagan king Caedwalla of Gwynedd (north Wales) at the Battle of Heavenfield (near present-day Hexham, Northumberland). Oswald was a Christian and nephew of King Edwin, the man Caedwalla had defeated a few years earlier to conquer the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Heavenfield proved to be a key battle in English history for it marked the end of paganism as a religious and political force in England.
Knowing that the fate of his kingdom would be decided on the following day, Oswald had a wooden cross erected beside which he and his men knelt and prayed to the Lord for victory. The badly outnumbered Christian soldiers defeated their apparently over-confident adversaries, and Oswald became King of Northumbria.
After his victory, Oswald invited monks to come from Iona and establish a monastery at Lindisfarne, the Holy Island. This was to become one of England’s most important centres of Christian scholarship and evangelism.
King Oswald was killed in battle in 642 defending his land and people against the pagan king Penda of Mercia.
Artwork: Ford Madox Brown, The Baptism of St. Oswald, c. 1864. Oil on canvas, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool.