Author: CCW

Prayers and liturgy

Robert McDonald, Missionary

The collect for a Missionary, in commemoration of The Venerable Robert McDonald (1829-1913), Archdeacon, Missionary to the Western Arctic, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, our heavenly Father, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst call thy blessed Apostles and send them forth to preach thy Gospel of salvation unto all the nations: We bless thy holy Name for thy servant Robert McDonald, whose labours we commemorate this day, and we pray thee, according to thy holy Word, to send forth many labourers into thy harvest; 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 12:24-13:5
The Gospel: St Matthew 4:13-24a

Robert McDonald was born in Point Douglas, Red River Colony (in present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba). He was the second of ten children born to a Scottish immigrant and his Ojibway wife. Ordained a Church of England priest in 1852, he ministered among the Ojibway people for almost ten years, mastering the Ojibway language and translating parts of the Bible.

McDonald, Tukudh HymnalHe was chosen to establish a Church Missionary Society mission at Fort Yukon, a settlement then believed to be in British territory but now located within Alaska. Reaching Yukon in October 1862, Robert McDonald was the first Protestant missionary designated for mission work in that territory. He ministered to the Gwitch’in and other aboriginal peoples in northwestern parts of North America for over forty years, during which time he baptised 2000 adults and children.

In 1870, he worked among peoples along the Porcupine River (Old Crow) and later settled in Fort MacPherson on the Peel River, in present-day Northwest Territories. He married Julia Kutuq, a local Gwitch’in woman, in 1876; together they had nine children. He was appointed Archdeacon of the Mackenzie Diocese in 1875.

Archdeacon McDonald developed the first writing system for the Gwitch’in language. (The Gwitch’in Athapaskan language is also known as Tukudh.) With the help of Gwitch’in people, including his wife Julia, he translated the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, and compiled a Tukudh hymnal. Finally, in 1911, he published a dictionary and grammar of Tukudh.

Soon after retiring in 1904, he returned to Winnipeg where he died in 1913. He is buried in the cemetery of St John’s Cathedral.

McDonald’s translation of the Book of Common Prayer is posted online here and his grammar and dictionary here.

More biographical information on The Ven. Robert McDonald may be found online at these sites:

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Prayers and liturgy

Augustine, Bishop and Doctor

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (source):

Mateo Cerezo, Vision of Saint AugustineO merciful Lord,
who didst turn Augustine from his sins to be a faithful bishop and teacher:
grant that we may follow him in penitence and godly discipline,
till our restless hearts find their rest in 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.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
The Gospel: St. Matthew 5:13

Artwork: Mateo Cerezo, Vision of Saint Augustine, 1663. Oil on canvas, Prado, Madrid.

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Prayers and liturgy

Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Feast of St. Bartholomew / Tenth Sunday after Trinity

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

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Sermons

Sermon for Feast of St. Bartholomew / Tenth Sunday after Trinity

“No one can say JESUS IS LORD, but by the Holy Spirit”

For centuries upon centuries, the Feasts of the Apostles were observed and celebrated even if they fell upon a Sunday, the only exceptions being in Advent, Lent, Holy Week, the Octave Week of Easter, and Whitsuntide (see BCP, p. 94) when such observances are transferred. The practice recognizes the centrality of the Apostolic Faith communicated to us through the life and witness of the Apostles. It is what we proclaim and profess in the Creeds. “I believe One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church,” as in the Nicene Creed at Mass, and “the Communion of Saints” in the Apostles’ Creed. In both Creeds, these statements follow upon “I believe in the Holy Ghost.”

Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew which happens to fall upon the Tenth Sunday after Trinity this year. I often find such conjunctions intriguing, instructive, and illuminating through the interplay of readings which invite us to a deeper reflection upon our life in the Body of Christ. At the very least they recall us to the radical meaning of what we profess in the Communion of Saints. This counters the overly individualistic aspects of so-called ‘personal faith’ which often betrays itself by overlooking or downplaying what we profess together. It is worthwhile remembering that “I believe” in the Creeds is actually “we believe” in the original Greek.

The Feast of St. Bartholomew complements and illustrates both the Epistle and Gospel readings for Trinity Ten; the one in terms of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the uniting principle of our faith in Jesus Christ, the other in terms of Jesus’ weeping over the city of Jerusalem, because of our “knowing not the things that belong to our peace,” our “not knowing the time of thy visitation,” and thus betraying the nature and purpose of prayer, famously making “the house of prayer, a den of thieves.” In other words, the betrayals through sin of what belongs to our corporate life in Christ.

But what about the readings for the Feast of St. Bartholomew itself? What do they teach and how are they connected to the readings for Trinity Ten? First, they remind us of the lists of the Apostles among which Bartholomew is named in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and as well here in the Acts 1. Just a list of names? Yes, in a way, but as collected together again in the Upper Room and here after the Ascension and just before Pentecost, they are a reminder to us of their presence with Christ in his Passion, and in the events of the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Sending Down of the Holy Spirit; essential creedal moments, we might say, that belong precisely to the idea of the Apostolic Faith which we profess and which enrolls us with them in that Faith. In the Revelation of St. John, though their specific names are not given, the foundation of the walls of the holy city, Jerusalem, have “on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,” as they are styled. A significant reference to Christ in his passion and sacrifice for us.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Month at a Glance, August 2025

Sunday, August 24th, St. Bartholomew/Trinity 10
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion

Sunday, August 31st, Trinity 11
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion

Fr. Curry is priest-in-charge for Avon Valley Parish and Hantsport from August 4th until September 8th 2025 while Fr. Tom Henderson is on vacation.

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Prayers and liturgy

St. Bartholomew the Apostle

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who didst give to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word; Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church, to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 1:10-14
The Gospel: St. Luke 22:24-30

Alessandro Casolani, Martyrdom of Saint BartholomewThe apostle Bartholomew, named in all three synoptic gospels, is generally identified with Nathanael, who is named only in the Gospel of St. John. (For more details, see here.) If this identification is accepted, we have a great deal of information on Bartholomew’s calling (St. John 1:45-51). Jesus described him as “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit”.

Nothing is known for certain of his post-New Testament ministry. There are conflicting accounts of his missionary activity in Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, and Egypt. Of these, Armenia has the strongest support, where he is said to have been skinned alive before being beheaded. The traditionally accepted place of his martyrdom is Albanopolis (present-day Derbent) near the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

Artwork: Alessandro Casolani, Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, 1604. Oil on canvas, San Niccolo al Carmine, Siena, Italy.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Tenth Sunday After Trinity

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

Giovanni Antonio Fumiani, Christ expels the Merchants from the TempleArtwork: Giovanni Antonio Fumiani, Christ expels the Merchants from the Temple, 1678. Oil on canvas, Chiesa di San Rocco, Venice.

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Prayers and liturgy

Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot, Doctor, and Poet

François Vincent Latil, Saint Bernard of ClairvauxThe collect for today, the Feast of Saint Bernard (1090-1153), Abbot of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church, Poet (source):

O merciful redeemer,
who, by the life and preaching of thy servant Bernard,
didst rekindle the radiant light of thy Church:
grant that we in our generation
may be inflamed with the same spirit of discipline and love
and ever walk before thee as children of light;
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 4:1-8
The Gospel: St. John 15:7-11

Artwork: François Vincent Latil, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (after Philippe de Champaigne), 19th century. Oil on canvas, Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris.

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Prayers and liturgy

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

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

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Sermons

Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity

“Now these things were our examples”

Examples of what exactly? Simply to think and do what is rightful as opposed to what is wrongful. Or, as Paul clearly puts it, “to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted,” before mentioning the problem of idolatry. All of this, including the Gospel, turns on the relation between thinking and doing, a question about the virtues and the vices in our souls.

Sanctification or holiness is the project especially of the Trinity season. The focus is on the virtues as the essential activities of our souls as infused by the grace of Christ. Thus the virtues become graces, aspects of the charity or love of Christ moving in us. That requires our thinking and our doing, especially our acting upon what has been made known by way of revelation. Both the Epistle and the Gospel emphasize the point made so clearly in the Collect that we “cannot do anything that is good without thee,” without God, and that only “by thee may we be enabled to live according to thy will.”

This is part and parcel of the core teaching of the Christian Faith. It complements and belongs to a rich and profound ethical tradition of teaching about the relation of the virtues of the soul as transformed into the forms of love. The virtues are the activities of our souls that belong to human excellence and perfection of character. The key point is the transformation of the cardinal or classical virtues into the forms of charity or love. What Paul and Luke present to us is the concept of the virtues as placed upon a new foundation, the foundation of charity or love; in short, Christ, in whom the end or perfection of our humanity alone is found. It cannot be attained by ourselves on the basis of our own power and intent.

This is the point of Paul’s reference to “these things” that are “our examples,” namely, the recapitulation of the Exodus story into the story of Christ. The reading begins and ends with the sacraments of baptism and communion, the very forms of our incorporation and life in Christ. Paul references the moments in the exodus in the wilderness of Sinai as signifying our spiritual life in Christ; at once anticipating it and participating in it. The cloud which protected and covered the people of Israel in the wilderness and the crossing of the Red Sea point to our redemption in Christ sacramentally understood: “our fathers … were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea,” thus, baptism, and “did all eat of the same spiritual food, and did all drink of the same spiritual drink,” thus, communion, both of which are explicitly tied to “the spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ.” This connects to one of the dominant metaphors for God in the Hebrew Scriptures, God as the Rock upon which everything depends, the Rock which in Moses’ song in Deuteronomy both begets and gives birth to all things, especially our humanity. Such imagery complements the profound revelation of God’s transcendent ‘Name’ to Moses in the burning bush as “I Am Who I Am” which is ultimately explicated by Jesus in terms of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

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