Author: CCW

Prayers and liturgy

Benedict Biscop, Abbot and Scholar

The collect for a Doctor of the Church, Poet, or Scholar, on the Feast of Saint Benedict Biscop (c. 628-89), Founder of the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, Scholar, Patron of the Arts, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962);

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Benedict Biscop, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Daniel 2:17-24
The Gospel: St. Matthew 13:9-17

Norwich Cathedral, St. Benedict BiscopSaint Benedict Biscop is remembered as a church leader instrumental in preserving and disseminating Western civilisation during the so-called “Dark Ages”.

Born into a noble Northumbrian family, Benedict spent many years in Frankish monasteries, becoming a monk at the Abbey of Lérins, off the southern coast of France. He also travelled to Rome six times. At the conclusion of his third visit in 668, he accompanied St. Theodore of Tarsus, the Greek monk newly commissioned as Archbishop of Canterbury, to England. For two years, Benedict served as abbot of the monastery of St. Peter & St. Paul (later St. Augustine’s), Canterbury, but soon wanted to establish his own foundation.

Receiving papal approval to establish monasteries in Northumbria, Benedict founded the twin monasteries of St. Peter’s at Wearmouth in 674 and St. Paul’s at Jarrow in 681. He travelled to Rome and returned with an “innumerable collection of books of all kinds”. He also brought with him John the Chanter, Archcantor of St. Peter’s, Rome, who taught the monks the Roman liturgy and Gregorian chant.

(more…)

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

William Laud, Archbishop and Martyr

The collect for today, the commemoration of William Laud (1573-1645), Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr (source):

St. Botolph's, William LaudKeep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like thy servant William Laud, we may live in thy fear, die in thy favor, and rest in thy peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Epistle: Hebrews 12:5-7,11-14
The Gospel: St. Matthew 10:32-39

A Prayer for the Church by William Laud:

Gracious Father, I humbly beseech thee for Thy holy Catholic Church, fill it with all truth; in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where it is superstitious, rectify it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right strengthen and confirm it, where it is in want, furnish it; where it is divided and rent asunder, make up the breaches of it; O Thou Holy One of Israel. Amen.

Source: Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayers, compiled by Christopher L. Webber. (Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, 2004), p. 55.

Artwork: William Laud, stained glass, St. Botolph’s Church, Boston, England. Photograph taken by admin, 3 October 2014.

Print this entry

Sermons

Sermon for the First Sunday after the Epiphany

“Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”

Click here to listen to an audio file of the Service of Matins & Ante-Communion for the First Sunday after Epiphany.

Epiphany marks at once the culmination of the Christmas mystery in Bethlehem and extends its scope and meaning in wonderful ways. It inaugurates something new in what I like to call the break-out from Bethlehem, the journey not to Bethlehem but from Bethlehem, a journey of the understanding. The Magoi from the East, from Anatolia, as Matthew styles them, present their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, “sacred gifts of mystic meaning”, signifying Christ as King, as God, and as Sacrifice. But in the mystery of Bethlehem, they, it seems, do not hang around but “depart into their own country another way: having been “warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod” in Jerusalem which conveys a sense of fear and danger. As T.S. Eliot suggests, in returning to their own countries and kingdoms, they are “no longer at ease”, but have been changed in some way by what they have sought for and seen in the child-Christ at Bethlehem.

Epiphany means manifestation, the making known of the essential divinity of Christ, on the one hand, but also the making known of the divine will and purpose for our humanity, on the other hand. Both aspects are present in the Epiphany story and in the other readings that belong to the Octave of the Epiphany, such as the commemoration of the Baptism of Christ, an explicit manifestation of Christ as the Beloved Son of the Father upon whom the Holy Spirit descends “like a dove”. His baptism by John is for us and signals the divine purpose of Christ’s coming to inaugurate a new relation to God; in him will be the renewing of our lives through our incorporation into Christ’s death and resurrection through our baptisms. Thus his baptism is at once a divine epiphany of the Trinity through the Incarnation and marks the beginning of new life in us, a new life which means as well the mission of the Church in making known to the world the meaning of Christ as the saviour for all, omni populo, hence the readings appointed for the Missionary Work of the Church Overseas.

There the Epistle reading from Romans highlights the concept of Revelation through Scripture and the proclamation of the Word of God through preaching while the Gospel complements it with the divine commission in Matthew to “go” and “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;” and “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”. Word and Sacrament go together and belong to the idea of epiphany. Something is made known to us which is also to be made manifest in us.

(more…)

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The First Sunday After The Epiphany

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

O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people which call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 12:1-5
The Gospel: St. Luke 2:41-52

Giovanni Serodine, Christ Among the DoctorsArtwork: Giovanni Serodine, Christ Among the Doctors, c. 1625. Oil on canvas, Louvre.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The Baptism of Our Lord

The collect for today, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O HEAVENLY Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ did take our nature upon him, and was baptized for our sakes in the river Jordan: Mercifully grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may also be partakers of thy Holy Spirit; through him whom thou didst send to be our Saviour and Redeemer, even the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson Isaiah 42:1-8
The Gospel: St. Mark 1:1-11

Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci, Baptism of ChristArtwork: Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci, Baptism of Christ, c. 1470-75. Tempera and oil on panel, Uffizi, Florence.

Print this entry

KES Chapel Weekly Reflections

KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 6 January

They presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Epiphany marks the end of Christmas, in one way, and the further extension of its mystery and meaning, in another way. The word, epiphany, means manifestation. It signals the idea of what is made known to us. In the Christian understanding, Epiphany celebrates the making known of the essential divinity of Christ. It is made known through the humanity of Christ.

It is difficult to know which is harder to understand: the things of God or the things of our humanity? The Christian view is that both are bound up in each other; we cannot know God apart from our relation to one another and the world, and we cannot know ourselves, our world, and one another apart from God. Epiphany, meaning the feast which culminates the festival of Christmas, and the doctrine and season which it inaugurates, illuminates the dialectic of the human and the divine but with a focus on the divine attributes of Christ as made known through his humanity.

The Magi are the magoi, the wise ones from Anatolia, from the East as Matthew tells us. It is a strong reminder to the West of how much is owed to the East. As such something universal is opened to view. Classically speaking, Epiphany proclaims that Christ’s holy birth is omni populo, for all people, a point made, to be sure, in the Christmas readings but here more than amply and strongly emphasized in the coming and going of the wise men. The Magi, after all, are the proverbial ‘come-from-aways’ and in our rather disturbed times which manifests a certain amount of allophobia (fear of the other) and or xenophobia (fear of the stranger), a kind of misanthropy, their coming is a welcome antidote to our preoccupations and concerns about ourselves in relation to the omicron variant of COVID-19. How? Because Epiphany makes manifest what is for all regardless of times and places, regardless of circumstances and events, and despite our fears and anxieties about ‘others’. It opens us out to a deeper insight into human dignity and purpose universally considered.

It is found in worship of which the gifts of the Magi are themselves the stellar expression. Here are “sacred gifts of mystic meaning”, gifts which teach and signify the meaning of Christ as King, as God, and as, well, what else? That is the question about the gift of myrrh. Gold and frankincense are foretold and forementioned by Isaiah, but myrrh? What are we to make of that?

(more…)

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The Epiphany of Our Lord

The collect for today, The Epiphany of Our Lord, or The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know thee now by faith, may be led onward through this earthly life, until we see the vision of thy heavenly glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 3:1-12
The Gospel: St. Matthew 2:1-12

Giotto di Bondone, The Adoration of the Magi, 1306Artwork: Giotto di Bondone, The Adoration of the Magi, 1306. Fresco, Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padua.

Print this entry

Sermons

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas

“Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass,
which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

Click here to listen to an audio file of the Service of Matins & Ante-Communion for the Second Sunday after Christmas.

The language and images that belong to the Christmas mystery illuminate and instruct. They do not hide from view the grim and dark realities of sin and evil in its variety of forms, yet they signal a profound note of positivity and joy which is largely concentrated in the idea and concept of Bethlehem. It is the place of our abiding in the mystery of Christmas for the space of twelve days. In and through the great cluster, even a confusion of images, Bethlehem has a powerful symbolic force as the place where the pageant of themes belonging to redemption and salvation meet and cohere in a radiancy of joy and awe.

While the Christmas mystery culminates with the coming of the Magi-Kings at Epiphany, the readings for the Sundays after Christmas enrich our understanding of the mystery of Christ’s holy birth. The Epistle reading from Galatians for the Sunday after Christmas Day affirms the reality of the Incarnation in terms of the sending forth of God’s Son, “made of a woman, made under the Law” to redeem and, even more, to adopt us as the sons and heirs of Christ. The Gospel from Matthew unfolds the story of Christ’s birth, highlighting the uncertainty and compassion of Joseph about Mary being “found with child of the Holy Ghost” who in “[thinking] on these things” is instructed by an angel who reveals to him the essential mystery of the birth of a Son whom Joseph shall call Jesus, meaning Saviour. Matthew offers a  further elaboration in parenthesis, quoting Isaiah, that Jesus is “Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us”.

The Second Sunday after Christmas follows upon the Octave Day which commemorates the Circumcision of Christ, a further affirmation of the humanity of Christ, who, as human, is man born of woman. As John Hackett nicely observes, “Christ is man born of woman to redeem both sexes”; it is a kind of testament to the concrete realities of the human condition. “Male and female he created them”. And while that is not everything about what it means to be human, it is not nothing; it is an important affirmation of the embodied nature of our humanity. Those propers, the appointed Collect and readings, are also appointed to be used on this Sunday.

The lesson from Isaiah is especially familiar with the ‘names’ of the child and son who “is born” and “given unto us” upon whom the governance of the world rests. The idea of name here takes us on a deeper meaning recalling the name of God given to Moses at the burning bush; not just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but “I Am Who I Am” which is further elaborated here in terms of names or titles which signal the divine attributes of power: “Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. They are all terms that contribute to the wonder of the babe of Bethlehem in his symbolic and essential being as God with us and God for us.

(more…)

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The Second Sunday After Christmas

The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962) does not provide a collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas, but specifies that the service for the Octave Day of Christmas “shall be used until the Epiphany.”

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Isaiah 9:2-7
The Gospel: St. Luke 2:15-21

Bernardo Strozzi, Adoration of the ShepherdsArtwork: Bernardo Strozzi, Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1615. Oil on canvas, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The Octave Day of Christmas and the Circumcision of Christ

The collects for today, The Octave Day of Christmas and the Circumcision of Christ, being New Year’s Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Albrecht Dürer, The Circumcision of JesusALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Of the Circumcision:

ALMIGHTY God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man: Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the New Year:

O IMMORTAL Lord God, who inhabitest eternity, and hast brought thy servants to the beginning of another year: Pardon, we humbly beseech thee, our transgressions in the past, bless to us this New Year, and graciously abide with us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Isaiah 9:2-7
The Gospel: St. Luke 2:15-21

Artwork: Albrecht Dürer, The Circumcision of Jesus (from The Seven Sorrows Polyptych), c. 1494-97. Oil on panel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.

Print this entry