Author: CCW

Prayers and liturgy

Robert Grosseteste, Bishop and Scholar

The collect for today, the commemoration of Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253), Bishop of Lincoln, Scholar (source):

Robert GrossetesteO God our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Robert Grosseteste to be a bishop and pastor in thy Church and to feed thy flock: Give to all pastors abundant gifts of thy Holy Spirit, that they may minister in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Acts 20:28-32
The Gospel: St. Luke 16:10-15

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Sermons

Sermon for Harvest Thanksgiving

“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world”

Michaelmas is a feast of intellection, we might say, a festival of the gathering of the thoughts of God; such are the angels as the intellectual principles of the universe in its diversity and unity. Similarly, Harvest Thanksgiving celebrates a gathering, the gathering of the visible fruits of creation in an intellectual way to God, the invisible source and principle of all that we see and feel and taste and smell. It is a particularly significant festival for our agricultural communities where there is some sort of real connection to the land and a proper concern for the good of the land.

Gathering the fruits and vegetables from the fields into the Church is an entirely spiritual activity. We aren’t feeding God, offering sacrifices, as if were, to some idol of our imaginations. We are honouring God as the source and truth of all that belongs to our lives physically and spiritually. This point cannot be emphasised enough. It is the counter to our materialism, on the one hand, and our complacency, on the other hand; a counter, too, to the deadly dualisms of our world and day. You cannot take the harvest for granted. While there is a physical aspect to our thanksgivings for food, for healing, and even for our social and political lives, thanksgiving itself is a profoundly spiritual and intellectual activity.

That is why the quintessential thanksgiving Gospel is actually the Gospel appointed for The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, which we heard five weeks ago. Look in your prayer books on page 240. Then look on page 308 and you find it again as appointed for Thanksgiving Day. That refers to the idea of a nationally appointed day of Thanksgiving, a thanksgiving for the rational principles that properly belong to our collective life without which our social and economic lives cannot flourish; itself a point worth pondering in our current confusions.

The Collect on page 307 wonderfully captures that larger sensibility. We “humbly thank” our merciful God and Father, “for all thy gifts so freely bestowed upon us.” Those gifts are clearly specified and are comprehensive in the sense that they pertain to every aspect of our lives. We thank God “for life and health and safety; for power to work and leisure to rest; for all that is beautiful in creation and in the lives of men.” Think and ponder on those words for a moment and see how they counter and challenge all forms of entitlement and complacency and every sense of whining and complaining. Notice how they open our eyes and our minds to whole different approach to life. Such ideas are only possible on the basis of the pageant of creation that Genesis 1 unfolds, that the Benedicite Omnia Opera sings, and that Isaiah proclaims in this morning’s lesson; all affirm the essential goodness of creation because of the goodness of God. But those ideas of thanksgiving, our thanksgiving for all manner of good things, are altogether secondary to our thanksgiving “for our spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord,” which ties together the themes of creation and redemption.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 8 – 14 October

Tuesday, October 9th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-8:00pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall
7:00pm Parish Council Meeting

Wednesday, October 10th
6:30-8:00pm Brownies – Parish Hall

Friday, October 12th
6:00-9:00pm Pathfinders & Rangers – Parish Hall

Sunday, October 14th, Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion

Upcoming Event:

Tuesday, October 16th
7:00pm Christ Church Book Club – Coronation Room: The Temptation of Forgiveness, by Donna Leon, and Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents, by Mark Sakamoto

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Prayers and liturgy

Harvest Thanksgiving Day

The collects for today, Harvest Thanksgiving Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving-kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O LORD, we pray thee, sow the seed of thy word in our hearts, and send down upon us the showers of thy grace, that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, and at the great day of harvest may be gathered by the holy angels into the heavenly garner; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson Isaiah 55:1-12
The Gospel: St. John 6:27-35

Thanksgiving is a special and wonderful celebration. It speaks to a deep-seated spiritual sensibility in our souls even in the confusions, uncertainties, and denials of all things religious and spiritual in our contemporary culture. Thanksgiving is fundamentally and essentially spiritual, especially in the Christian understanding.

Thanksgiving embraces at once Harvest Thanksgiving and National Thanksgiving, our thanks for the bounty of the harvest (whether or not there has been one!) and for the rational and spiritual freedoms that we enjoy (however much we ignore them!) in our nation and country. Those ‘thanksgivings’ are raised into the great thanksgiving, the Eucharist of the Son to the Father, re-enacted, recalled, and re-presented in “our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” in the service of the Holy Eucharist. We are fed with the bread of life, which is Jesus himself who has come down from heaven to give life to the world. That life is about our participation in the Son’s Thanksgiving to the Father, the Great Thanksgiving.

The giving of thanks to God, the giving of thanks for what we have, and the giving of thanks with one another and sharing with one another speaks to the highest freedom and dignity of our humanity. We give articulate praise to God for the harvest, for the nation, for our communities, and for one another but, above all, for God himself. “Blessed be God that he is God only and divinely like himself” as John Donne prays. We are in George Herbert’s rich phrase, “the secretaries of thy praise”. Such is our return to God, a redire a principia, a return to the principle of our life and being.

Fr. David Curry

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Prayers and liturgy

The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity

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

O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 4:17-32
The Gospel: St. Matthew 9:1-8

Alessandro Magnasco, Christ Healing a ParalyticArtwork: Alessandro Magnasco, Christ Healing a Paralytic, 1735. Oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris.

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Prayers and liturgy

William Tyndale, Translator and Martyr

Embankment Statue, William TyndaleThe collect for today, the commemoration of William Tyndale (c. 1495-1536), Priest, Translator of the Scriptures, Reformation Martyr (source):

O Lord, grant to thy people
grace to hear and keep thy word
that, after the example of thy servant William Tyndale,
we may both profess thy gospel
and also be ready to suffer and die for it,
to the honour of thy name;
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: St. James 1:21-25
The Gospel: St. John 12:44-50

Artwork: Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, William Tyndale statue, 1884, Victoria Embankment Gardens, London. Photograph taken by admin, 30 September 2015.

Inscription on bronze plaque:
William Tyndale
First translator of the New Testament into English from the Greek.
Born A.D. 1484, died a martyr at Vilvorde in Belgium, A.D. 1536.
“Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” – “the entrance of thy words giveth light.” Psalm CXIX. 105.130.
“And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.” I. John V.II.
The last words of William Tyndale were “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes”. Within a year afterwards, a bible was placed in every parish church by the King’s command.

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Prayers and liturgy

St. Francis of Assisi

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor (source):

O God,
who ever delightest to reveal thyself
to the childlike and lowly of heart,
grant that, following the example of the blessed Francis,
we may count the wisdom of this world as foolishness
and know only Jesus Christ and him crucified,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Galatians 6:14-18
The Gospel: St. Matthew 11:25-30

Jan van Eyck, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Turin)Artwork: Jan van Eyck, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, c. 1430-32. Oil on panel, Sabauda Gallery, Turin.

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KES Chapel Weekly Reflections

KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 3 October

Deo Gratias

The story of the Fall in Genesis 3 almost eclipses in its power and influence the intellectual grandeur of the pageant of creation in Genesis 1 and the gentle intimacy of the creation story of Genesis 2 that affirm the essential goodness of everything in creation and establish the dignity of our humanity in its relation to both God and everything else. The story of the Fall connects most clearly to the account of Michael and his angels fighting the dragon, “that old serpent, called the devil and Satan,” and overcoming them. Unde malum? From where does evil come? This is the question to which Genesis 3speaks so powerfully and movingly. But I have set for myself a problem. How to connect this story with the theme of this week, the theme of thanksgiving?

Perhaps through a wonderful 15th century English lyric. “Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond, Four thousand winter thoughte he not too long;/ And al was for an apple, an apple that he took,/As clerkes finden writen, writen in their book./ Ne hadde the apple taken been, the apple taken been,/ Ne hadde nevere Oure Lady ybeen hevene Queen./Blessed be the time that apple taken was:/ Therfore we moun singen Deo Gratias.” It is a recounting of the story of the Fall.

There it is. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God for this story, for the Fall of our humanity from an original harmony and unity with God and the created order. What can that mean? O felix culpa, which means O blessed fault or fall. The carol is a commentary on Genesis 3 but is arguing a profound and ancient theological idea well expressed by Augustine to the effect that God wills to bring good out of evil rather than not to have evil at all. A greater good is realized through the pageant of redemption which this chapter inaugurates, pointing us in the Christian understanding to Mary and Christ.

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Prayers and liturgy

Remigius, Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Remigius (c. 438-533), Bishop of Rheims, Apostle to the Franks (source):

O God, who by the teaching of thy faithful servant and bishop Remigius didst turn the nation of the Franks from vain idolatry to the worship of thee, the true and living God, in the fullness of the catholic faith; Grant that we who glory in the name of Christian may show forth our faith in worthy deeds; 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 4:1-6
The Gospel: St. John 14:3-7

Levieux, St. Remegius Cures Blind ManRemigius was consecrated bishop of Rheims at age 22. The pagan Clovis I, who had married the Christian princess Clothilde, began his reign as king of the Franks about 20 years later, in 481.

Before entering combat against German tribes at Tolbiac, Clovis prayed to “Clothilde’s God” for victory. His soldiers won the battle, and Clothilde asked Remigius to teach the king about Christianity. Clovis was amazed by the story of “this unarmed God who was not of the race of Thor or Odin”. In the words of Remigius, the king came “to adore what he had burnt and to burn what he had adored”.

In 496, Remigius baptised Clovis in a public ceremony at Rheims Cathedral. Three thousand Franks also became Christians. Under the king’s protection, Remigius was able to spread the gospel and build churches throughout Gaul.

Artwork: Reynaud Levieux, Saint Rimigius Cures the Blind Man, 17th century. Oil on canvas, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.

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Sermons

Sermon for Michaelmas Sunday

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb”

We are in the company of angels, no more blessed company to be with in these disturbing times and yet, angels? What are we, pseudo-enlightened moderns such as we are, to make of angels? Cutsy decorations for Christmas trees? Chubby cherubs with rosy cheeks? The more refined and aesthetically pleasing Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque angels? How do we think about angels?

The simple point is that you can only think them. You can’t see them. The visual imaginary, the way in which angels are depicted in art, is only as useful as it contributes to our intellectual and spiritual understanding of the angels. As such The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels yesterday – today is Michaelmas Sunday, we might say – is a strong reminder to us that there is more to reality than the merely physical, a strong reminder that the most important things in our lives are things that you cannot see. At the same time today’s service reminds us ever so strongly that the things you cannot see are made known through the things you can see. Such are the sacraments.

Blythe’s baptism this morning is a wonderful reminder of that spiritual truth. Through the water of death, the water of life, the water of the washing away of original sin and all sin, she is reborn and made “a member of Christ, the child of God, an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven” (BCP, Catechism, p. 544). Such is baptism. It is all grace perfecting nature and as such requires the renunciation of all that stands between us and God; in short, “the world, the flesh and the devil”as the Collect for Trinity XVIII puts it (BCP, p. 247). But only because “the devil and all his works,” what Michaelmas alludes to as “the great dragon”, “that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,” nicely gathering up a variety of biblical images for all that opposes the absolute truth and goodness of God, has been “overcome by the blood of the Lamb,” by the sacrifice of Christ. How can this be? we might ask, in the manner of Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night in the baptismal Gospel this morning. “How can a person be born again when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” Note the literalism of such questions, as if the empirical and the physical were literally all there is.

Michaelmas is a splendid reminder to us of the nature and the reality of the spiritual without which we have no way to think anything. The greatest and most important things in our lives are the things we cannot see, only think and feel, the things of intellect and spirit. You cannot see love. You cannot literally see a number, only the representations of number; you can only think them for they are mental realities. You cannot see a quark or a neutrino or any of the many other features of quantum physics. You cannot see words which are thoughts before they are spoken or written, only then can you see or hear them physically as it were. Think of the magic and wonder of reading. Black marks on a white background that somehow entrance and engage our minds with the thoughts and ideas they represent. There is a constant dialectic between what is seen and unseen.

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