Prayers and liturgy

Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot, Doctor, and Poet

The 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

Giovanni da Milano, Appearance of the Virgin to St BernardArtwork: Giovanni da Milano, Appearance of the Virgin to St. Bernard (from Prato Polyptych), c. 1355-60. Tempera on panel, Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, Italy.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

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

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

Print this entry

Sermons

Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

“But some are fallen asleep”

In complete contrast to the Pharisee,” the Publican, standing afar off,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel parable, “would not lift up so much his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” God has only sinners to send to sinners to proclaim the great good news of human redemption in Christ. Some of you heard me say that though I doubt you remember. Today is the 23rd anniversary of my being among you and that was part of my first sermon here at Christ Church on August 15th, 1998. To be sure, I can hardly remember either! The fact that it is our granddaughter Anna’s birthday is, perhaps, much more memorable.

But that aside, there is a wonderful paradox and contradiction that confronts us in today’s readings and their conjunction with an intriguing and important theological and pastoral commemoration. August 15th marks the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, which in the Prayer Book calendar is referred to as The Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a literal translation of the Greek κοιμνσις and the Latin dormition but which also became known as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. The doctrine of the Assumption became Roman Catholic dogma as late as 1950. Yet the underlying idea is about the crucial role of Mary and that has strong support among Anglican and Protestant theologians.

The great paradox lies in this. In the Epistle, Paul repeatedly makes reference to things in the life of Christ “according to the Scriptures;” the phrase is used explicitly twice and alluded to at least twice more. It becomes an important doctrinal and creedal point captured in the idea that essential faith depends entirely on that which can only be proved by the received witness of the Scriptures. Yet the dogma of the Assumption of Mary has absolutely no scriptural ground or base whatsoever.

Nonetheless, it belongs to a profound creedal reflection on the role and place of Mary in the working out of human redemption. But because it has no explicit scriptural attestation, it cannot be required to be believed in our Anglican and Protestant understanding.

I want to probe the deeper connection between Mary’s Assumption or Dormition or Falling Asleep, to refer to its various terms, and the nature of our pilgrimage in faith in the Trinity season. Today’s readings provide an interesting complement to the place of Mary in the work of human redemption. The idea is that “where Christ is there shall we be also.” Such is the deep meaning of the “grace which has been bestowed upon [us],” realised most fully in Mary, “full of grace.” Such is the deep truth of her commemoration on this day.

(more…)

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

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

O GOD, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
The Gospel: St Luke 18:9-14

Maerten De Vos, The Pharisee and the Tax CollectorArtwork: Maerten De Vos, The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, c. 1580-1600. Pen and ink, Private collection.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Jeremy Taylor, Bishop

The collect for today, the commemoration of Jeremy Taylor (1613-67), Bishop of Down and Connor, Teacher of the Faith (source):

O holy and loving God,
who dwellest in the human heart
and makest us partakers of the divine nature
in Christ our great high priest:
grant that we,
having in remembrance thy servant Jeremy Taylor,
may put our trust in thy heavenly promises,
and follow a holy life in virtue and true godliness;
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: Romans 14:7-9,10b-12
The Gospel: St. Matthew 24:42-47

British Museum, Jeremy TaylorBorn and educated at Cambridge, Jeremy Taylor was ordained to the Anglican priesthood at the age of 20. His eloquent preaching brought him to the attention of Archbishop William Laud, who enabled him to be elected fellow of All Souls’ College, Oxford. Taylor also became chaplain to the archbishop and to King Charles I.

A chaplain to royalist troops during the Civil War, Taylor was captured and imprisoned three times by Cromwell’s men. After the Restoration in 1660, Charles II appointed him Bishop of Down and Connor, Northern Ireland.

Taylor was a prolific writer of theological and devotional works. Among his many books are The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living (1650) and The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (1651), generally known as Holy Living and Holy Dying.

A prayer of Jeremy Taylor:

O almighty and eternal God, there is no number of thy days or of thy mercies: thou hast sent us into this world to serve thee, and to live according to thy laws; but we by our sins have provoked thee to wrath, and we have planted thorns and sorrows round about our dwellings: and our life is but a span long, and yet very tedious, because of the calamities that enclose us on every side; the days of our pilgrimage are few and evil; we have frail and sickly bodies, violent and distempered passions, long designs and but a short stay, weak understandings and strong enemies, abused fancies, perverse wills, O dear God, look upon us in mercy and pity: let not our weaknesses make us to sin against thee, nor our fear cause us to betray our duty, nor our former follies provoke thy eternal anger, nor the calamities of this world vex us into tediousness of spirit and impatience: but let thy Holy Spirit lead us through this valley of misery with safety and peace, with holiness and religion, with spiritual comforts and joy in the Holy Ghost; that when we have served thee in our generations, we may be gathered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a holy conscience; in the communion of the catholic church; in the confidence of a certain faith; and the comforts of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope; and perfect charity with thee our God, and all the world; that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, may be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: “Prayers at the Visitation of the Sick”, Holy Dying, cited in Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayer, compiled by Christopher L. Webber (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2004), p. 83.

Artwork: Frontispiece to Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, 1651, British Museum.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Hippolytus, Doctor and Bishop

The collect for today, the commemoration of Hippolytus (d. c. 235), Doctor, Bishop in Rome, Martyr (source):

Jacques Callot, St. Hippolytus, MartyrO God, who hast enlightened thy Church by the teaching of thy servant Hippolytus: Enrich us evermore, we beseech thee, with thy heavenly grace, and raise up faithful witnesses who by their life and doctrine will set forth the truth of thy salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

With the Epistle and Gospel for a Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:24-27

Artwork: Jacques Callot, St. Hippolytus, Martyr, 1636. Etching, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Charles Inglis, Bishop

The collect for a Bishop or Archbishop, in commemoration of The Right Rev. Charles Inglis (1734-1816), first Church of England bishop of Nova Scotia, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Charles Inglis to be a Bishop in thy Church and to feed thy flock: We beseech thee to send down upon all thy Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, the abundant gift of thy Holy Spirit, that they, being endued with power from on high, and ever walking in the footsteps of thy holy Apostles, may minister before thee in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-44

Born in Ireland, Charles Inglis became in 1787 the first Bishop of Nova Scotia—the first bishop consecrated for any English colony.

Inglis Window, Hensley Memorial ChapelCharles Inglis travelled to North America in 1759 as a Church of England missionary to Dover, Delaware. In 1765 he went to Trinity Church, New York, as assistant to the rector, and was chosen rector in 1777. His ministry proved extremely controversial when he emerged as an outspoken Loyalist during the American Revolution. His life was threatened because he refused to omit prayers for the King and the Royal Family from the liturgy.

In 1783, Rev. Inglis and his family left the newly independent nation and returned to England, where he was consecrated the first Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, which at that time included Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward’s Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. He immediately sailed to Halifax and began his work of furthering the progress and unity of the Church of England in Canada.

Bishop Inglis undertook an ambitious programme of church construction across Atlantic Canada; in 1789, he himself laid the cornerstone for the original Christ Church in Windsor. He also played a leading role in the establishment in Windsor of King’s Collegiate School (1788, now King’s-Edgehill School) and King’s College (1789, now University of King’s College, Halifax).

(more…)

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

Laurence, Archdeacon and Martyr

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Laurence (d. 258), Archdeacon of Rome, Martyr (source):

Almighty God,
who didst make Laurence
a loving servant of thy people
and a wise steward of the treasures of thy Church:
inflame us, by his example, to love as he loved
and to walk in the way that leads to everlasting life;
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 9:6-10
The Gospel: St. John 12:24-26

Francisco Goya, Martyrdom of St. LaurenceArtwork: Francisco Goya, Martyrdom of St. Laurence, c. 1760-69. Oil on canvas, Private collection.

Print this entry

Prayers and liturgy

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

Print this entry