Author: CCW

Prayers and liturgy

Saint Philip and Saint James the Apostles

The collect for today, The Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James the Apostles with Saint James the Brother of the Lord Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that, following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: St James 1:1-12
The Gospel: St John 14:1-14

Aretino, Holy Apostles James and Philip

Artwork: Spinello Aretino, The Holy Apostles Saint James and Saint Philip with episodes of their lives, c. 1399. Fresco, Chiesa di San Domenico, Arezzo. Photograph taken by admin, 27 May 2010.

(This commemoration has been transferred from 1 May.)

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Monnica

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Monnica (c. 331-387), mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo (source):

Alvise Vivarini, St. MonicaO Lord, who through spiritual discipline didst strengthen thy servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we beseech thee, and use us in accordance with thy will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever.

The Epistle: 1 Timothy 5:3-10
The Gospel: St. Luke 7:11-17

Artwork: Alvise Vivarini, Saint Monica (detail), 1485-90. Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Mark the Evangelist

The collect for today, The Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark: Give us grace, that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 4:11-16
The Gospel: St Mark 13:1-10

Arkles, St. Mark

Artwork: Jason Arkles, Saint Mark, 2007. Marble, St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Via Maggio, Florence. Photograph taken by admin, 17 May 2010.

(This commemoration has been transferred from April 25.)

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Athanasius

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Athanasius (c. 293-373), Bishop of Alexandria, Theologian, Apologist, Doctor of the Church (source):

St. Athanasius, Mar Musa FrescoEver-living God,
whose servant Athanasius bore witness
to the mystery of the Word made flesh for our salvation:
give us grace, with all thy saints,
to contend for the truth
and to grow into the likeness of thy Son,
Jesus Christ 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 4:5-14
The Gospel: St. Matthew 10:23-28

Saint Athanasius is one of the most inspirational figures of the early church. His dogged and uncompromising defence of the full divinity of Jesus Christ against the Arian heresy saved the unity and integrity of the Christian religion and church. He saw that Christ’s deity was foundational to the faith and that Arianism meant the end of Christianity.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Octave Day of Easter

“The same day at evening … came Jesus and stood in the midst”

There is something quite intriguing and compelling, I think, about the accounts of the Resurrection presented to us in the Gospels. They show us how the idea of the Resurrection takes hold of the minds of the disciples and, by extension, our minds. Such is the living power of the Resurrection for each and every generation.

Today is the Octave Day of Easter. It is as if time has stopped and we are still in the moment of the great mystery of God’s great redemptive act, the act of the Resurrection. It is the same day as last Sunday. It is as if the liturgy has not stopped but has continued. That is the meaning of an octave, just like in music, where the first note and the eighth note are the same note except for the upward progression through the scale.

And so here we are in the mystery of the day of Resurrection, but it is the evening. Jesus comes and stands in the midst of the disciples. They are in fear and they are behind closed doors. There is the surprise and wonder of Christ’s sudden appearance. There is the greater surprise and wonder, I think, about what Christ says and does here. At the heart of it all is Christ in their midst.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 2-8 May

Tuesday, May 3rd
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies Mtg. in Parish Hall
7:30pm Christ Church Book Club – Coronation Room
Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi

Thursday, May 5th
1:30-3:00pm Seniors’ Drop-In

Friday, May 6th
11:00am Holy Communion – Gladys Manning Home

Saturday, May 7th
4:30-6:30pm Lobster Supper

Sunday, May 8th, Second Sunday After Easter
8:00am Holy Communion
9:30am Holy Communion at KES
10:30am Morning Prayer
4:30pm Evening Prayer at Christ Church

Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

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Prayers and liturgy

The Octave Day of Easter

The collect for today, The Octave Day of Easter, being The Sunday After Easter Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Almighty Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St John 5:4-12
The Gospel: St John 20:19-23

DecaniMonastery_ChristsEveningAppearance

Artwork: Christ’s evening appearance to the disciples behind closed doors, c. 1350. Fresco, Visoki Decani Monastery, Kosovo.

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King's-Edgehill School Sermons

Reflections for Choral Evensong with King’s-Edgehill School Cadet Corps

Reflections: Encounters

# 1

We meet this afternoon in this place of meeting. It is a place of celebration and a place of encounters. Our year at King’s-Edgehill, too, has been about encounters with ideas and actions, about encounters with God and with one another, about encounters with the things that challenge us and that take us beyond ourselves. Only so, can we be more and be more for others.

# 2

There have been the encounters with other athletes and other teams, encounters that are about contest and competition, about striving to win. No one wants to lose. And yet in the battles lost and won, there is a further encounter. We encounter things about ourselves, about character and responsibility, about compassion and strength, about determination and service. Dignity and respect are big terms that belong to the educational project at the school. They are learned in and through these encounters.

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Sermons

Sermon for Easter Tuesday

“Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures”

It is Luke’s recurring theme about the resurrection. It is about the opening of our minds through the understanding of the Scriptures. We saw that on the road to Emmaus. We see it here with Jesus “[standing] in the midst of his disciples.” Somehow we make sense of the resurrection through the interpretation of the Scriptures. Jesus is our exegete, our interpreter. This is itself a key insight into the Christian faith.

It is an astounding scene. We had, on Maundy Thursday, the institution of the Holy Communion at the last supper in the Upper Room. That intimate and intense event set in the context of the ancient Passover story takes on a whole new meaning through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Luke’s accounts of the resurrection convey a sacramental understanding that underscores the reality of human redemption.

“Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself,” Jesus says to the disciples before going on to ask if they have any food and taking a piece of broiled fish and a bit of an honey-comb. What is it all about? It is all testimony to the mystery and the reality of the resurrection. Christ is risen, body and soul. The body is not nothing. Neither is it everything. There is a mystery. The mystery is about human redemption. The mystery is about the larger understanding of our humanity that is opened out to us through Jesus and especially through the interpretation of the Scriptures.

In other words, this meal, too, with Jesus is a learning moment. He teaches them and us about the meaning of his passion and death and about his rising to life again from the dead. The further message that flows out from those events is that “repentance unto forgiveness of sins [is to] be preached in his name unto all nations.” It begins with the disciples in Jerusalem but it continues to the ends of the world and to the end of time. This is the resurrection and its meaning for us. We live in the power of the resurrection. It is about new life and new hope. It is about repentance and forgiveness.

Such things are lived out in the body. They are realised in the every day aspects of our life. We live the resurrection through repentance and forgiveness. For it is Christ who lives in us. If we are the witnesses to these things then we must live what we proclaim. We can only do it in his body, the Church.

For here we wrestle with the understanding of the Scriptures. For here we encounter the Word audible and the Word visible. For here we are fed and nourished in our souls and bodies with the Word proclaimed and the Sacraments celebrated. For here we learn what it means to be with Christ. If we will learn.

“Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures”

Fr. David Curry
Easter Tuesday, 2011

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Prayers and liturgy

Tuesday in Easter Week

The collect for today, Tuesday in Easter Week, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY God, who through thine only begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 13:26-41
The Gospel: St Luke 24:36-48

Rouault, Christ and Apostles
Artwork: Georges Rouault, Christ and Apostles, 1937-38. Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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