Sermons

Sermon for Harvest Thanksgiving

“I am the bread of life”

Images of paradise abound in the festivals of harvest thanksgiving. Here we are in a corn field, it seems, surrounded by the rich bounty of the harvest, the fruits of nature and human labour. And yet, we are in the Church. Somehow what belongs to our human engagement with the created order also belongs to our worship of God.

Harvest Thanksgiving is actually a movable feast. It can take place anytime during the season of the Fall harvest. After all, the patterns of seed-time and harvest vary from place to place, from north to south, as it were, depending on climate and landscape. Not every year is the same as the previous in terms of the richness of the harvest. This year we have been blessed in the Valley, it seems, with a bountiful harvest. It is a bumper year for apples.

The Prayer Book readings often signal thanksgiving themes in the early Fall of the year that reflect the movable nature of harvest thanksgiving. The older medieval tradition of “the labours of the months,” depicted in sculpture and painting and in the decorated Books of Hours, the prayer books of the rich, illustrate that the labours of each month of the year varied according to place throughout Europe.

Tomorrow in Canada is designated as National Thanksgiving Day. It marks our thankful commemoration for the rational and spiritual freedoms which we are privileged to enjoy in this nation of Canada. That is important to remember. We should no more take our rational and spiritual freedoms for granted any more than we should assume that the harvest will always be good and plentiful, let alone that we are entitled to the good things of the land.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 11-17 October

Tuesday, October 12th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-8:00pm Brownies’ Mtg. – Parish Hall
7:30pm Parish Council Meeting

Wednesday, October 13th
6:30-7:30pm Sparks’ Mtg. – Parish Hall

Thursday, October 14th
1:30-3:00pm Seniors’ Drop-in

Sunday, October 17th, Trinity XX/Eve of St Luke
8:00am Holy Communion
9:30am Holy Communion at KES
10:30am Holy Communion – Family Service
4:30pm Holy Communion at Christ Church

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Prayers and liturgy

Harvest Thanksgiving

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

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving-kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson Isaiah 55:1-12
The Gospel: St John 6:27-35

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Prayers and liturgy

The Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity

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

Van Dyck, Christ Healing the ParalyticO GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 4:17-32
The Gospel: St Matthew 9:1-8

Artwork: Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Christ Healing the Paralytic, c. 1619, Buckingham Palace, London.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Denys

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Denys (d. c. 258), Bishop of Paris, Patron Saint of France, Martyr (source):

O GOD, who as on this day didst endow thy blessed Martyr and Bishop Saint Denys with strength to suffer stedfastly for thy sake, and didst join unto him Rusticus and Eleutherius for the preaching of thy glory to the Gentiles: grant us, we beseech thee, so to follow their good example; that for the love of thee we may despise all worldly prosperity, and be afraid of no manner of worldly adversity. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Lesson: Acts 17:22-34
The Gospel: St Luke 12:1-9

Bellechose, Martyrdom of St DenysArtwork: Henri Bellechose, Martyrdom of St Denis, 1416. Panel transferred onto canvas, Louvre, Paris.

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Prayers and liturgy

Robert Grosseteste

The collect for today, the commemoration of Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253), Bishop of Lincoln, Scholar (source):

Robert GrossetesteO God our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Robert Grosseteste to be a bishop and pastor in thy Church and to feed thy flock: Give to all pastors abundant gifts of thy Holy Spirit, that they may minister in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Acts 20:28-32
The Gospel: St Luke 16:10-15

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Events, Prayer Book Society

Sue Careless on Discovering the Book of Common Prayer

On Tuesday, October 26, at 7 pm, Sue Careless will visit St George’s Round Church, Halifax, to talk about her new book, Discovering the Book of Common Prayer: A Hands-On Approach, Volume III.

The following is a description of the series from the St Peter’s Publications website, where the books can be purchased:

This wonderful three-volume set of books was a project of The Prayer Book Society of Canada. … The author is Sue Careless, a freelance journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and the Toronto Star. The recipient of seven church press awards, she is news editor of the Anglican Planet and has contributed to the Anglican Journal, Christian Week, and Faith Today.

The Prayer Book Society of Canada commissioned Sue Careless to write this introduction to the BCP for those unfamiliar with it, whether long-time or new Anglicans, young or old. The first book of the three-volume series, on ‘Daily Prayer’, was published in 2003. It includes a general introduction to the Prayer Book and contains detailed information about the daily offices of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer … and much more. The second volume was published in 2006, with the sub-title ‘Our Life in the Church.’ It includes chapters about Baptism, the Catechism and Confirmation, and especially a great deal of information about the Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion) as found in the Book of Common Prayer. Volume Three was published in 2009, and has the sub-title ‘Special Occasions’. Among other topics, it deals with such special services as Holy Matrimony, the Ministry to the Sick, the Burial of the Dead, and Ordination.”

The Anglican Planet’s review of Discovering the Book of Common Prayer, Vol. 3 is posted here.

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Prayers and liturgy

William Tyndale

The collect for today, the commemoration of William Tyndale (c. 1495-1536), Priest, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr (source):

William TyndaleO Lord, grant to thy people
grace to hear and keep thy word
that, after the example of thy servant William Tyndale,
we may both profess thy gospel
and also be ready to suffer and die for it,
to the honour of thy name;
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: St James 1:21-25
The Gospel: St John 12:44-50

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Francis of Assisi

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor (source):

O God,
who ever delightest to reveal thyself
to the childlike and lowly of heart,
grant that, following the example of the blessed Francis,
we may count the wisdom of this world as foolishness
and know only Jesus Christ and him crucified,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Galatians 6:14-18
The Gospel: St Matthew 11:25-30

Romei, Glory of St Francis

Artwork: Giuseppe Romei, The Glory of Saint Francis, 1770. Fresco, Ognissanti, Florence. Photo taken by admin, 16 May 2010.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God”

Love constrains us to speak of love. It seems such a commonplace thought. Yet, I wonder if we do not altogether miss the absolutely extraordinary thing about this commonplace concept. I wonder if we do not altogether fail to see how special, how precious, how extraordinary Christ’s lesson is for us here in this gospel. It goes to the heart of the matter, to the heart that was willing to be pierced and broken for you and for me, indeed, for the whole world. That heart is the heart of Christ. That love is spoken and shown in the face of controversy and debate; in short, in the midst of the hostilities and animosities of our human hearts. “And yet the common people heard him gladly.” I hope that can be said of us.

Two things are extraordinary and noteworthy here. First, God commands us to love him. Secondly, Christ unites the love of God and the love of neighbour in himself. At first glance, such things may not seem so amazing. After all, they are words which we frequently hear: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength;” in short, with the whole of our being. “Hear O Israel,” says the One who is the Word of God himself.

To hear that Word is to be Israel, a people who are open to the Word of God, who are defined by that Word as a people of the Law. They come to be that people by that Word spoken in the Burning Bush, by that Word passing over them to free them from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke, by that Word delivering them from the Red Sea waters, by that Word sustaining them in the wilderness wanderings, by that Word establishing God’s will and covenant towards them in the Law. That self-same Word now proclaims that “the Lord our God is one Lord.” That unity is no mere oneness, no empty aloneness. It is fullness and the completeness of the divine life in itself. As Thomas Aquinas remarks, “the perfection of Christian life consists in charity.” That charity begins and ends with God.

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