Prayers and liturgy

Margaret of Antioch, Virgin and Martyr

The collect for a Virgin or Matron, on the Feast of Saint Margaret of Antioch (early 4th century), Virgin and Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD Most High, the creator of all mankind, we bless thy holy Name for the virtue and grace which thou hast given unto holy women in all ages, especially thy servant Margaret of Antioch; and we pray that the example of her faith and purity, and courage unto death, may inspire many souls in this generation to look unto thee, and to follow thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Saviour; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 9:36-42
The Gospel: St. Luke 10:38-42

Artwork: Ernest Hébert , Saint Margaret, c. 1877. Oil on canvas, Musée National Ernest Hébert, Paris.

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Prayers and liturgy

Swithun, Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Swithun (d. 862), Bishop of Winchester (source):

Almighty God,
by whose grace we celebrate again
the feast of thy servant Swithun:
grant that, as he governed with gentleness
the people committed to his care,
so we, rejoicing in our inheritance in Christ,
may ever seek to build up thy Church in unity and love;
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.

With the Epistle and Gospel for a Bishop or Archbishop, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-43

Artwork: Saint Swithun window, Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, England.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, Evening Prayer

“Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?”

The first lesson from The Second Book of Samuel (2 Sam. 7. 1-end) is theologically rich and suggestive. Key to the understanding of it are the various sense of the word “house,” various senses, ultimately, about the meaning of God being with us.

David has observed to Nathan the prophet that “I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” That image of God tenting among his people in the various journeys and conflicts belonging to conquest and settlement is an intriguing concept. It reaches, we might say, its fullest expression and meaning in the great prologue to John’s Gospel read at Christmas. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” is central to the Christian understanding of the Incarnation. Literally, it means tented among us, thereby picking up on a whole host of Old Testament images about God’s presence with his people and challenging our assumptions about temples and churches. In a way, they are nothing more than the tents of God’s being with us.

David is suggesting to Nathan that there is something wrong about the ark of God – the sign of God’s presence through the tablets of the Law conveyed in the ark or casket – being in a tent rather than a house. He is pointing to the idea of a temple for the ark, a temple to honour God; house as temple. God’s response to Nathan is to identify David desire, “would you build me a house to dwell in (house meaning temple)?” He points out that “I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.” Even more, God points out that he has never requested, commanded or suggested the idea that “a house of cedar” should be built for him.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity

“I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me
three days, and have nothing to eat”

Seven loaves of bread and a few small fishes. Compassion is dietary light, it might seem, perhaps a Gwyneth Paltrow special. Yet,  the story of the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness compels our attention. It is actually part of a kind of New Testament conundrum: there is the story of the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand almost juxtaposed, side by side. There are a host of intriguing differences which suggest some sort of larger design and purpose rather than incompetent mediocrity and forgetfulness, as if confused about a single event and how to tell it.

But without getting into the intricacies of comparing the accounts of Mark and Matthew in relation to Luke and John about these double miracles with differing figures – five thousand, four thousand, seven loafs, five loafs, seven baskets left over, twelve baskets left over, to mention a few – what does this story really signify?

I think it is captured in Mark’s succinct phrase. “I have compassion on the multitude,” Jesus says. In a way, these remarkable stories are all about the compassion of Christ, the Son of God, in whom we learn the love of God for our wounded and broken humanity, even more, for our humanity in its disarray, our humanity lost and hungry in the wilderness.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Seventh Sunday After Trinity

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

LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 6:17-23
The Gospel: St. Mark 8:1-9

Tissot, Miracle of the Loaves and FishesArtwork: James Tissot, The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, 1886-96. Watercolour, Brooklyn Museum.

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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):

Stephen Langton StatueO 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

Artwork: Statue of Stephen Langton, Exterior, Canterbury Cathedral.

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Events

Seraphina Concert

Christ Church is very pleased to announce that Seraphina will perform a concert on Saturday, July 20th, at 7:30pm. The concert is entitled “Road to the Isles: Chamber & Folk Music of Ireland, Scotland & England”. Tickets cost $10 ($5 for students) and may be purchased at the door.

Seraphina PosterClick here for a larger poster suitable for downloading and printing.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

“Jesus said, Love your enemies”

The Gospel reading for today ends where the reading for The Fourth Sunday after Trinity began, “be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Both Gospel readings are taken from the 6th chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, from what might be styled Christ’s Sermon on the Plain, in obvious allusion to Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. There are certain parallels and commonalities and I like the idea that what is conveyed on high is also present for us here below. Like The Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain also turns the world on its head. Everything, we might say, is being placed on an entirely radical and new foundation.

What is that radical and new foundation? It is grace conveyed principally here in terms of the theme of mercy which challenges, corrects and ultimately perfects all the limited forms of human interaction. To my mind, Christ’s command to “love your enemies” is utterly astounding and gives fuller meaning to the nature of the divine mercy which is meant to rule and govern our lives. Why? Because I cannot help but think that this is a distinctive and unique feature of the Christian Faith which goes to the radical meaning to the idea of God as love. It signals the radical idea of the overcoming of all that opposes the truth and goodness of God and makes that idea the governing reality of our lives.

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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):

O GOD, who hast prepared 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: Gustave Doré, Jesus Preaching On the Mount. Oil on canvas, Private collection.

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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.

Artwork: Peter Paul Rubens (after the portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger), Thomas More, 1630. Prado, Madrid.

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