Year: 2021

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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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

Mattia Preti, Martyrdom of St. PeterMartyrdom of St. Paul

Artwork: (left) Mattia Preti, Martyrdom of St. Peter, c. 1656-60. Oil on canvas, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, England.
(right) Mattia Preti, Martyrdom of St. Paul, 1654-61. Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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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

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

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Prayers and liturgy

Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Fourth Sunday after Trinity

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (in the Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist).

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Sermons

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (in the Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist)

“Thou hypocrite”

It is sometimes called ‘the Mercy Gospel’. It is part of the “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s Gospel which complements the more famous “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew’s Gospel. Both ‘sermons’ present to us some of the most powerful ethical and spiritual teachings of the Christian Faith, teachings which we have either forgotten or of which we are completely unaware. Mercy, as this rather challenging reading makes clear, is inescapably connected to justice. Hypocrisy, starkly and sternly presented in the parable, is injustice masquerading as justice in the form of self-righteousness and judgmentalism so prevalent in the current confusions of our culture and in ourselves.

The mercy is that we “groan within ourselves,” as the Epistle puts it, waiting for the fuller realization of what we know is yet incomplete in us. Mercy lies in suffering the forms of our finitude and our sinfulness, our unrighteousness, but only if we can be brought to know our unknowing; in short, the blindness about ourselves that belongs to our self-righteous judgments about others. It is an ancient and classical theme and by no means unique to Christianity. Buddhism, for instance, arises in part out of a critical rejection of the Brahmin class of Hinduism who are seen as “the blind leading the blind” especially with respect to the question of human suffering. In today’s Gospel, the point is made in very graphic and personal terms as suggested in the use of the second person. Why do you behold the mote, the small faults of others, while remaining unaware of the much greater faults in yourself? Such is hypocrisy, the only answer to which is self-criticism and self-correction. We are quick to judge others but only so as to absolve ourselves in the emotive forms of passionate outrage.

We are hypocrites, to be sure. The mercy is that God calls us to self-understanding in which we are made aware of our absolute need for mercy. We all stand under the same condemnation; in other words, none of us is fully righteous. “There is none that doeth good, no, not one“ (Rom. 3.12) as Paul puts it, “the good that I would I do not, the very evil that I would not do is what I do” (Rom. 7.19). This is to confront the limitations and failings of our very hearts. Yet, this is good news precisely because it turns us to the desire for the mercy of God and puts a check on empty emotivism.

We meet within the Octave of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of French Canada and associated with the European encounter with North America through the landing in Newfoundland of John Cabot supposedly on his feast day in 1497. Thus the Collects for the Nativity include prayers for the nation of Canada, prayers which are surely much needed. Yet John’s birth signals primarily his vocation within the Providence of God in the working out of human redemption. His life and death point inescapably and necessarily to the one for whom he exists. He preaches, as Luke puts it, “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk. 3. 3). He is not that forgiveness but the one who belongs to its necessary preparation and ultimate fulfillment in Christ who is the forgiveness of sins. The desire for righteousness leads to its highest expression in mercy.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fourth Sunday After Trinity

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

O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 8:18-23
The Gospel: St Luke 6:36-42

Henrik Olrik, Sermon on the MountArtwork: Henrik Olrik, Sermon on the Mount, c. 1880. Altarpiece, Sankt Matthaeus Kirke, Copenhagen.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

The collect for today, the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance: Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching, and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Isaiah 40:1-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:57-80

Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Birth of John the BaptistArtwork: Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Birth of John the Baptist, 1486-90. Fresco, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

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Prayers and liturgy

Alban, Martyr

All Saints Margaret Street, St. AlbanThe collect for today, the Feast of Saint Alban, First Martyr of Britain, d. c. 250 (source):

Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even unto death: Grant to us, who now remember him with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. John 3:13-16
The Gospel: St. Matthew 10:34-42

Artwork: St. Alban, 1869, stained glass, All Saints Margaret Street, London. Photograph taken by admin, 25 September 2015.

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Prayers and liturgy

Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Third Sunday after Trinity

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Third Sunday after Trinity.

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