The collect for today, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
The Gospel: St Luke 16:1-9
The collect for today, the commemoration of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), English MP, evangelical, abolitionist (source):
O God our deliverer,
who didst send thy Son Jesus Christ
to set thy people free from the slavery of sin:
grant that, as thy servant William Wilberforce
toiled against the sin of slavery,
so we may bring compassion to all,
and work for the liberty of all the children of God;
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: Galatians 3:23-29
The Gospel: St Matthew 25:31-40
Photo taken by admin, St John’s College, Cambridge, 18 July 2004.
The collect for a Martyr, in commemoration of Saint Olaf (995-1030), King and Patron Saint of Norway, Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD, who didst bestow upon thy Saints such marvellous virtue, that they were able to stand fast, and have the victory against the world, the flesh, and the devil: Grant that we, who now commemorate thy Martyr Olaf, may ever rejoice in their fellowship, and also be enabled by thy grace to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold upon eternal life; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 St Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St Matthew 16:24-27
Artwork: Saint Olaf, stained glass, St Olave’s Church, Hart Street, London. Photo taken by admin, 24 August 2004.
The collect for today, the Commemoration of Saint Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary (source):
Lord God, the Source and Goal of all creation, we bless you for your servant Anne, whose daughter Mary was the mother of our Lord. Grant us grace in our succeeding generations to honour the gift of life, that young and old together may learn the love whose fruit is life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
The Lesson: 1 Samuel 2:1-8
The Gospel: St Luke 1:26-33
Artwork: Albrecht Durer, Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, 1519. Oil and tempera on canvas transferred from panel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In the mercy of God’s “never-failing providence,” today is the Feast of St. James the Apostle as well as the Eighth Sunday after Trinity. The occasional intersection of the major Saints’ Days with our Sunday celebration of Christ’s Resurrection is, I think, most instructive. The commemoration of the Saints provides an illustration or example of what it means for us to participate in Christ’s redemptive work.
In the Maritimes, St. James is, we might say, a favourite saint. There are an enormous number of Churches, Anglican and otherwise, dedicated to the honour and memory of St. James. It is a feature of our Maritime and sea-faring traditions. St. James is one of the disciples whom Jesus calls from fishing to become a fisher of men. The Collect alludes to his calling. The Lesson from Acts indicates the radical cost of that calling. James is put to death by Herod the king. The Gospel teaches the meaning of that calling. It has to do with our going up to Jerusalem with Jesus.
Jesus explains exactly what it means to go up to Jerusalem. It means his passion, death and resurrection. What this means for us is seen in the lives of the saints, namely, our participation in Christ’s redemption of our humanity: drinking of the cup of which Christ drinks and being baptized into Christ’s baptism. We are consecrated to God by virtue of our incorporation into the death and resurrection of Christ. Suffering and glory are all part of that story. As Paul tells us in the Epistle for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, “we have received a spirit of sonship.” We are “the children of God and fellow-heirs with Christ”. But there is a cost: “if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” The martyr saints remind us of the suffering and the glory.
The collect for today, the Feast of St James the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
GRANT, O merciful God, that as thine holy Apostle Saint James, leaving his father and all that he had, without delay was obedient unto the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him; so we, forsaking all worldly and carnal affections, may be evermore ready to follow thy holy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lesson: Acts 11:27-12:3a
The Gospel: St Mark 10:32-40
Artwork: Camillo Rusconi, St James the Great, 1715-18. Marble, Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome. Photograph taken by admin, 29 April 2010.
The collect for today, the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which he profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Romans 8:12-17
The Gospel: St Matthew 7:15-21
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed Son did sanctify Mary Magdalene, and call her to be a witness to his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may be healed of all our infirmities, and always serve thee in the power of his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Lesson: Acts 13:27-31
The Gospel: St John 20:11-18
Artwork: Luca Signorelli, Saint Mary Magdalene, 1504. Tempera on panel, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Orvieto. Photo taken by admin, 31 May 2010.
The Collect is a loaded prayer. Through a set of images which are essentially organic in character, it gathers our lives into an understanding which is spiritual and substantial. It concerns the quality of our lives with God and as standing upon the truth of God revealed. The images of grafting, growing, nurturing and preserving follow upon an understanding of God as the “Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things.” That understanding enters into the meaning of these images. It makes them profoundly sacramental.
The Collect prays the understanding which the Scriptures reveal, particularly in the inter-relation between the Epistle and the Gospel. The Epistle suggests the meaning of the sacrament of Holy Baptism: we are grafted into the life of God without which we are dead in ourselves. We pray, too, that we may ever be kept in this living relationship. The Gospel speaks to us about the sacrament of Holy Communion: there is our growth and nurture in the goodness of God, “the author and giver of all good things,” through the compassion of Christ who feeds us in the wilderness and sets us upon our way, “he in us and we in him.” Grafted into “that pattern of teaching whereunto you were delivered,” as St. Paul puts it, we must live from that Word of God revealed.
That we are grafted not simply into the name of God but into “the love of thy name” suggests that Baptism marks the beginning of a dynamic relationship which has its continuing in the Eucharist. The fruit of these organic, spiritual, substantial and sacramental relationships is holy lives and a holy end. “But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.”
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
Artwork: Lambert Lombard, The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, 16th century. Oil on panel, Rockox House, Antwerp, Belgium.
