Prayers and liturgy

The Sixth Sunday After Trinity

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

Thomas Saunders Nash, The Sermon on the MountO God, who hast preparest for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
The Gospel: St Luke 6:27-36

Artwork: Thomas Saunders Nash (1891–1968), The Sermon on the Mount. Oil on canvas, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England.

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Prayers and liturgy

Stephen Langton, Archbishop

The collect for a Bishop or Archbishop, on the Commemoration of Stephen Langton (c. 1150-1228), Archbishop of Canterbury from 1207, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Stephen Langton 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 12:37-43

Southwark Cathedral, Stephen LangtonArtwork: Stephen Langton, stained glass, Southwark Cathedral, London. Photograph taken by admin, 20 October 2014.

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Prayers and liturgy

Thomas More, Martyr

The collect for today, the commemoration of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Lord Chancellor of England, Scholar, Reformation Martyr (source):

Almighty God,
who strengthened Thomas More
to be in office a king’s good servant
but in conscience your servant first,
grant us in all our doubts and uncertainties
to feel the grasp of your holy hand
and to live by faith in your promise
that you shall not let us be lost;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 3:13-16
The Gospel: St. Mark 12:13-17

A meditation of Thomas More, written in the Tower of London a year before he was beheaded:

Give me your grace, good Lord, to set the world at nought,
to set my mind fast upon you and not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths.
To be content to be solitary.
Not to long for worldly company,
little and little utterly to cast off the world, and rid my mind of the business thereof.
Not to long to hear of any worldly things,
but that the hearing of worldly fantasies may be to me displeasant.
Gladly to be thinking God,
busily to labour to love him.
To know own vility and wretchedness,
to humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God,
to bewail my sins passed;
for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity.
Gladly to bear my purgatory here,
to be joyful of tribulations,
to walk the narrow way that leads to life.
To bear the cross with Christ,
to have the last thing—death—in remembrance,
to have ever before my eye death, that is ever at hand;
to make death no stranger to me;
to foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell;
to pray for pardon before the Judge comes.
To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me;
For his benefits incessantly to give him thanks,
to buy the time again that I before have lost.
To abstain from vain confabulations,
To eschew light foolish mirth and gladness;
To cut off unnecessary recreations.
Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all–
To set the loss at nought for the winning of Christ.
To think my worst enemies my best friends,
for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good
with their love and favour as they did with their hatred and malice.

Frank Cadogan Cowper, Erasmus and Thomas More visit the Children of King Henry VII at Greenwich, 1499Source of meditation: For All the Saints: Prayers and Readings for Saints’ Days, compiled by Stephen Reynolds. Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, 2007, p. 215.

Artwork: Frank Cadogan Cowper, Erasmus and Thomas More visit the Children of King Henry VII at Greenwich, 1499, 1910. Oil on canvas, Parliamentary Art Collection, London.

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Prayers and liturgy

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

Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (in the Octave of St. Peter and St. Paul).

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Sermons

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (in the Octave of St. Peter and St. Paul)

“We have taken nothing”

Today’s Gospel illustrates at once the emptiness and the futility of our lives, on the one hand, and the fullness and the purpose of our lives, on the other hand. It suggests something about what it actually might mean to be “all of one mind,”as the Epistle begins, and, then, concludes after showing us exactly that it would mean to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” It has altogether to do with our attitude and relation to Jesus and to his Word. “At thy word I will let down the net,” Simon Peter says, even in the face of the empty toil and fruitless labour of the night and in the awareness of our nothingness. It is about blessings even in the face of suffering, “if ye be followers of that which is good.”

Our lives are empty and futile in themselves. This is a hard, but necessary and humbling lesson, but it is the counter to our folly and our pretension. Only “at thy word” can we “let down the net” and begin to discover what ‘fulfillment and purpose’ might mean for us in our lives. It is altogether about our being with Christ. And what is our attitude to finding ourselves in the presence of God revealed in Jesus Christ? It is what Simon Peter says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

This must trouble us. Why does he say this? Why doesn’t he rejoice in the sudden abundance of a rich catch of fish, the nets breaking with the fullness of the unexpected harvest? Because of a deep and profound spiritual insight, an insight which belongs to biblical wisdom. Simon Peter is aware of a power that is more than natural and more than human. He recognizes the reality of God in Jesus Christ. He gives expression to the deep biblical insight of the distance between God and man, the distance between God’s righteousness and truth and the unrighteousness and folly of human lives. The language is that of knowing oneself to be a sinner and therefore not presuming to stand on equal ground with God. It is the attitude of a humble yet philosophic piety. It is to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” You are in the presence of the Holy. It is not an entitlement. It is grace.

The Gospel story suggests that the real purpose of our lives and our lives as being fulfilled, to use the psychological language of our day, is about our being with Christ and acting in obedience to his word. “At thy word” is a phrase which echoes Mary’s response to the Angel Gabriel, “be it unto me according to thy word,” which is the condition for the richness and the wonder of the Word made flesh, the Incarnation of Christ, for us. We can have no fullness apart from Jesus. “Without me, ye can do nothing,” he says (Jn. 15.5). We can only enter into the will and purpose of God in the order of creation, redemption, and sanctification. Our lives, in other words, find their purpose and meaning in his Word. This is, of course, the reason for the Church. It is not by accident that the call of Simon Peter follows from this encounter. “Fear not,” says Jesus to him, “from henceforth thou shalt catch men,” anticipating his statement in Matthew  “that thou art Peter [Petros means rock], and upon this rock I will build my church” (Mt. 16.18).

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fifth Sunday After Trinity

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

GRANT, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 3:8-15a
The Gospel: St. Luke 5:1-11

Caravaggio, Calling of Saints Peter and AndrewArtwork: Caravaggio, Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew, c. 1603-06. Oil on canvas, Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace, London.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth

The collect for today, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth (source):

Almighty God,
by whose grace Elizabeth rejoiced with Mary
and greeted her as the mother of the Lord:
look with favour, we beseech thee, on thy lowly servants,
that, with Mary, we may magnify thy holy name
and rejoice to acclaim her Son our Saviour,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:39-56

Master M S, The VisitationArtwork: Master M S, The Visitation, 1500-1510. Tempera on limewood, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest.

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Prayers and liturgy

Confederation of Canada, 1867: Dominion Day

The collect for today, Dominion Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who providest for thy people by thy power, and rulest over them in love: Vouchsafe so to bless thy servant our Queen, and her Government in this Dominion of Canada, that thy people may dwell in peace and safety, and thy Church serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 2:11-17
The Gospel: St. Matthew 22:16-22

Canada FlagCanadian Red Ensign

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Prayers and liturgy

St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles

The collects for today, the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Apostles, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock: Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his manifold labours in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 1:1-9
The Gospel: St. Matthew 16:13-19

Mattia Preti, Martyrdom of St. PeterMartyrdom of St. Paul

Artwork: (left) Mattia Preti, Martyrdom of St. Peter, c. 1656-60. Oil on canvas, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, England.
(right) Mattia Preti, Martyrdom of St. Paul, 1654-61. Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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