Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Passion Sunday
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on Passion Sunday.
Month: March 2026
Sermon for Passion Sunday
“He is the Mediator of the new covenant … by means of death”
Venantius Fortunatus’ hymns, Vexilla Regis and Pange Lingua, were originally written for the commemoration of the relics of the true Cross brought to Poitiers in southern France in the 6th century. They have become an integral part of Passion Sunday which marks the beginning of deep Lent or Passiontide. His hymns are a commentary on the Cross and Passion of Christ particularly as expressed in the readings for this Sunday. They contribute to the Paradox of the Passion that is before us.
In Percy Dearmer’s version of Vexilla Regis, “The Royal Banners forward go,/ the Cross shines forth in mystic glow,/ where he, the Life, did death endure,/ and by that death did life procure … Fulfilled is all his words foretold … He reigns and triumphs from the Tree” (Hymn # 128). The Tree, symbolic of the Cross and Christ’s crucifixion, is not shame or ignominy but “proclaims the Prince of Glory now”. Its branches bear “the priceless treasure, freely spent,/ To pay for man’s enfranchisement.” The Cross is the emblem of salvation, personified in Pange Lingua as the “Faithful Cross … the noblest Tree”, the express “Symbol of the world’s redemption” (Hymn # 129).
The hymns illustrate the meaning of the Passion of Christ. They comment in part on the readings from Hebrews and the Gospel from Matthew today. Hebrews is a theological treatise on the mystery of human redemption concentrated in this passage. Christ is both priest and victim, “the High Priest of good things to come” who “by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” By his blood outpoured and his death on the Cross, he is “the Mediator of the new covenant” that “they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” He is Mediator not because he stands between but because he unites in himself God and Man. Here is theology in its most proper sense as a form of our thinking upon and engaging with the images that belong to the language of Scripture.
The images in Scripture and hymn highlight the paradox of salvation. The focus is on the Cross, yet in the liturgical traditions, the Altar Cross is veiled, present but not fully seen, there but not fully understood. “We see but in a glass darkly” and yet we see something. “The Cross shines forth in mystic glow,” literally, fulget crucis mysterium. Such is “the mystery of the cross,” but what is at issue is the understanding. We sing in Pange Lingua “that engagement of the struggle glorious” that results in the “triumph on the trophy of the cross” which proclaims “how the world’s redeemer was, sacrificed, victorious.” His kingdom is not a worldly kingdom of human making but the redeeming of our humanity through his embrace of human sin and death. His death is ‘the death of death.’ It makes visible the triumph of life over all and every culture of death such as our own. This is the paradox of death becoming the means to eternal life. How? we might ask.
Month at a Glance, March 2026
Sunday, March 22nd, Lent V (Passion Sunday)
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
(after the Service, looking for help to move things from the Hall to the Church)
(Return to ‘Big Church!’)
Tuesday, March 24th, Eve of the Annunciation
7:00pm Holy Communion & Lenten Programme IV: ‘Reading Augustine’ – “Enchiridion”
Sunday, March 29th, Palm Sunday
8:00am Palms & Holy Communion
10:30am Palms & Holy Communion
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
The collect for today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, commonly called Passion Sunday, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
WE beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15
The Gospel: St. Matthew 20:20-28
Artwork: Adriaen Isenbrandt, Christ as the Man of Sorrows, 1525-50. Oil on panel, Prado, Madrid.
Benedict, Abbott
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-550), Abbot of Monte Cassino, Father of Western Monasticism (source):
O eternal God,
who made Benedict a wise master
in the school of thy service,
and a guide to many called into the common life
to follow the rule of Christ:
grant that we may put thy love above all things,
and seek with joy the way of thy commandments;
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: Proverbs 2:1-9
The Gospel: St. Luke 14:27-33
Artwork: Oleg Supereco, San Benedetto, 2014 (source).
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop and Martyr
The collect for today, the commemoration of Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury, Reformation Martyr (source):
Father of all mercies,
who through the work of thy servant Thomas Cranmer
didst renew the worship of thy Church
and through his death
didst reveal thy strength in human weakness:
strengthen us by thy grace so to worship thee in spirit and in truth
that we may come to the joys of thine everlasting kingdom;
through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3:9-14
The Gospel: St. John 15:20-16:1
Artwork: Frederick Goodall, Thomas Cranmer at the Traitor’s Gate, Tower of London, 1856. Oil on panel, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Cuthbert, Missionary and Bishop
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Cuthbert (c. 634-87), Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary (source):
Almighty God,
who didst call thy servant Cuthbert from following the flock
to follow thy Son and to be a shepherd of thy people:
in thy mercy, grant that we may so follow his example
that we may bring those who are lost home to thy fold;
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 6:1-10
The Gospel: St. Matthew 6:24-33
Artwork: Ernest-Ange Duez, Saint Cuthbert, 1879. Oil on canvas, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Thomas Ken, Bishop and Poet
The collect for today, the commemoration of Thomas Ken (1637-1711), Bishop of Bath and Wells, Non-Juror, Hymn Writer (source):
O God, from whom all blessings flow,
by whose providence we are kept
and by whose grace we are directed:
assist us, through the example of thy servant Thomas Ken,
faithfully to keep thy word,
humbly to accept adversity
and steadfastly to worship thee;
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 Bishop, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962)
The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-44
Ordained an Anglican priest in 1662, Thomas Ken served as rector in several parishes before becoming chaplain to members of the royal family and, in 1685, Bishop of Bath and Wells. A man of principle and strong conviction, he was one of seven bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II’s “Declaration of Indulgence”, the purpose of which was to allow Catholics to resume positions of political power in England. After strong expressions of popular support by the people of London, Bishop Ken was quickly tried and acquitted.
King James II was forced to flee the country when King William and Queen Mary were invited to become co-monarchs of England. William and Mary demanded oaths of allegiance from all persons holding public positions, including the bishops. Thomas Ken and others (known as the Non-Jurors; the older meaning of “juror” is “one who takes an oath”, hence “perjurer” as “one who swears falsely”) refused to take the oath on the grounds that they had sworn allegiance to James and could not during his lifetime swear allegiance to another monarch without making such oaths a mockery. Bishop Ken took this stand as a matter of principle despite his strong disagreement with much that James had done. In 1690, he and the other surviving non-jurors were deposed.
(Most of the bishops of Scotland also refused the oath; William and Mary retaliated by disestablishing the Episcopal Church in Scotland and making the Presbyterian Kirk the established state church there instead.)
Bishop Ken was also a poet and hymn-writer. He wrote the text for the well-loved doxology “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow“, which is actually the last verse of his longer hymn, “Awake My Soul, and with the sun“.
A prayer of Thomas Ken:
God, our heavenly father, make, we pray, the door of this Cathedral Church wide enough to welcome all who need human love and fellowship and a Father’s care; but narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride, and lack of love. Here may the temped find help, the sorrowing receive comfort, the careless be awakened to repentance, and the penitent be assured of your mercy; and here may all your children renew their strength and go on their way in hope and joy; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Artwork: Thomas Ken window, Wells Cathedral, installed in 1885 to celebrate the bicentenary of his consecration as Bishop of Bath and Wells.
St. Joseph of Nazareth
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Joseph of Nazareth, Guardian of Our Lord, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron Saint of Canada, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD Most High, who from the family of thy servant David didst raise up Joseph the carpenter to be protector of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we may so labour in our earthly vocations, that they may become labours of love and service offered unto thee, our Father; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Epistle: Romans 4:13-18
The Gospel: St Luke 2:41-52
Artwork: Pietro Annigoni, St. Joseph and the Christ Child in the Carpentry Workshop, 1963. Fresco, San Lorenzo, Florence.
Notes on St. Augustine’s Enchiridion
Notes Enchiridion: A Brief Outline of the Argument
Ethical Treatise – a handbook that answers Laurentius’ questions about “man’s chief end” what “to avoid” in terms of heresies, “to what extent religion is supported by reason”, “what there is in reason that lends no support to faith, when faith stands alone,” “what is the beginning and the end of religion, “what is the sum of the whole body of doctrine”, “what is the sure and proper foundation of the catholic faith.” He says these questions are all answered through the proper objects of faith, hope and love. The whole treatise is about the kind of Trinitarian relationship in us of these three theological virtues through a basic and essential form of theological reasoning that seeks to gather all things into unity in God from whom and to whom all things belong. Wisdom belongs to God. “We begin in faith, and are made perfect in sight. This also is the sum of the whole body of doctrine. But the sure and proper foundation of the catholic faith is Christ” (ch. 5).
The treatise seeks deliberately to avoid commenting on heresies. God is to be worshipped through the three graces understood in their necessary interrelation. The task of the treatise is to state what are the true and proper object of each of these three theological virtues.
Immediately he turns to the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer which he says (all in the introduction) “you have these three graces exemplified: faith believes, hope and love pray.” In a way this provides the structure of the treatise. But as he notes, “without faith the two last (hope and love) cannot exist, and therefore we may say that fatih also prays – i.e. faith prays through hope and love without which hope and love are incomplete, even though love is the fullest completion and perfection of faith and hope. This apparent paradox is explained through the argument as the conclusion of the Introduction (ch. 8) makes clear. “Wherefore there is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither love nor hope without faith.”
The treatise is structured as follows: Intro – chapters 1-8
Faith – as that which we are to believe in regard to religion – Ch. 9 – Ch. 113; This is essentially a theological commentary on the Creed organized as follows: Ch. 9 -33 “God the Father in general: I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth, treating a number of questions about the attributes and nature of God and how we think and know things, (God as Trinity actually); “And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary – Ch. 34-55; I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Church, Communion of Saints. Ch. 56- 63 .The Forgiveness of Sins, Ch. 64-84; the Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting, Ch. 84-113.
What follows is the consideration of Hope by way of the Lord’s Prayer (Ch. 114-116) and Love by way of the gathering into unity all that belongs to Faith and Hope – Ch. 117-122. A remarkably concise and coherent treatise on the theological substance of the three graces, Faith, Hope and Charity.