Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 8-14 February

Monday, February 8th
4:45-5:15pm Confirmation Class – Rm. 204, KES

Tuesday, February 9th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Sparks Mtg. – Parish Hall

Thursday, February 11th
1:30-3:00pm Seniors’ Drop-In

Sunday, February 14th, Quinquagesima
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Morning Prayer followed by Pot-Luck Luncheon and ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
5:00pm Fr. Curry preaches at Evensong, St. George’s, Halifax

Upcoming Event

Tuesday, February 16th, 4:30-6:00pm, Parish Hall: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

Saturday, February 20th, 6:00pm, Windsor Legion: West Hants Heritage Banquet – $20.00 per person.  Dr Henry Roper, President of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, will give a talk on Haliburton: Complexities and Contradictions

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Prayers and liturgy

Sexagesima

Feti, Parable of the SowerThe collect for today, Sexagesima (or the Second Sunday Before Lent), from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O LORD God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:21b-31
The Gospel: St Luke 8:4-15

Artwork: Domenico Feti, The Parable of the Sower, 1610-23. Oil on panel, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

The collect for today, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Malachi 3:1-6
The Gospel: St Luke 2:22-40

Giovanni Bellini, Presentation in the TempleArtwork: Giovanni Bellini, The Presentation in the Temple, c. 1462. Tempera on panel, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice.

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Sermons

Sermon for Septuagesima

“My soul cleaveth to the dust:
O quicken thou me, according to thy word”
(Psalm 119, pt 4, vs 25)

Dust and dirt? Quite a change from the emphasis of the Epiphany season on the essential divinity of Christ, it might seem. To be sure, with Septuagesima Sunday we mark a new beginning. We begin at the beginning. And that means, beginning, too, with dust and dirt, with the ground of creation, quite literally.

At Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, we begin reading from The Book of Genesis. In so doing, we enter into an ancient tradition. The tradition conveys ancient wisdom, namely, a profound reflection upon the mystery of Creation within the Revelation of God as Trinity.

We begin with Genesis only to find ourselves in the midst of the vineyard of creation in today’s gospel. But we begin with Genesis. It is, at once, a difficult and a necessary starting point. It is difficult because of the contemporary tendency to view the Book of Genesis in one of two ways, both of which are false. The first way is to read Genesis as a kind of scientific treatise, which it isn’t (this is the folly of creationism: bad science and bad religion). The second way is to read Genesis as a haphazard collection of fables and myths, which it isn’t.

The Book of Genesis does not propose a discovery of God; it begins with God. “In the beginning, God.” There is the proclamation of God as the absolute beginning after which everything else is secondary, after which everything else is derivative, after which everything else is a product. And while something of the Mind of the Maker, to use a famous phrase, is made known in what he makes, the Creator is not simply equated with what he makes. He is known as beyond and in control. It is his creation. The distinction between the Creator and the created is absolutely crucial.

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Prayers and liturgy

Notes on the ‘Gesimas

Epiphany ends and pre-lent begins. It makes, I hope, the winter seem shorter! Purely psychological, of course, but the pre-lenten Sundays with their impossible Latin polysyllabic names point us towards Spring and Easter. They help, in Loreena McKennit’s words “to drive the cold winter away,” at least notionally.

What curious names they are! Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. A kind of esoteric knowledge at its best, it might seem, and yet these are the terms which have been in common use for centuries upon centuries. More recently, they have been given up in favour of more prosaic terms but with more complex demands of computation and order, namely, the parade of Sundays in Ordinary Time. There is, I think, such a wealth of colour and feel to these more intriguing and exotic terms. What exactly do they mean? And what do they signify?

Septuagesima refers to the week of the seventieth day before Easter; Sexagesima to the week of the sixtieth day; Quinquagesima, to the week of the fiftieth day and stands on the brink of Lent itself, just a few days before Ash Wednesday. What do they signify? Historically they recall a time when the Quadragesima, the forty days of Lent, were computed differently, with fasting and repentance scheduled for certain but not all days of the week, hence seventy, sixty and fifty day periods in which the biblically based forty days of Lent were accomplished. But beyond that historical note, these Sundays have developed a special character of their own, spiritually and theologically. They are very much about the transformation of the older classical virtues of prudence, courage, temperance and justice into the forms of love through the power of the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

In short, they inculcate a more inward consideration of the journey of the soul in Lent.  Unusual, even curious names but which are well worth the trouble in giving them your fullest and prayerful attention.

Fr. David Curry

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 1-7 February

Monday, February 1st, Eve of Candlemas
7:00pm Holy Communion

Tuesday, February 2nd
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Sparks Mtg. – Parish Hall
7:30pm Christ Church Book Club – Coronation Room: “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young

Thursday, February 4th
1:30-3:00pm Seniors’ Drop-In

Sunday, February 7th, Sexagesima
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
4:30pm Evening Prayer at KES

Upcoming Events

Sunday, February 14th: Annual Parish Meeting & Luncheon, following the 10:30am service
Sunday, February 14th, 5:00 pm: Fr Curry preaches at Evensong, St George’s, Halifax
Tuesday, February 16th, 4:30-6:00pm: Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

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Prayers and liturgy

Septuagesima

The collect for today, Septuagesima (or the Third Sunday Before Lent) from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The Gospel: St Matthew 20:1-16

Artwork: Rembrandt, The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, 1637. Oil on panel, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

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Prayers and liturgy

Charles Stuart, King of England

The collect for today, the commemoration of Charles I (1600-1649), King and Martyr (source):

Van Dyck, Charles I KingKing of kings and Lord of lords,
whose faithful servant Charles
prayed for his persecutors
and died in the living hope of thine eternal kingdom:
grant us, by thy grace, so to follow his example
that we may love and bless our enemies,
through the intercession of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
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 Martyr:

The Epistle: 1 St Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St Matthew 16:24-27

Artwork: Anthony van Dyck. Charles I, King of England. 1636. Oil on canvas. Windsor Castle, Royal Collection, UK.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint John Chrysostom

The collect for today, the Feast of St John Chrysostom (347-407), Preacher, Doctor of the Church, Archbishop of Constantinople (source):

O God of truth and love,
who gavest to thy servant John Chrysostom
eloquence to declare thy righteousness in the great congregation
and courage to bear reproach for the honour of thy name:
mercifully grant to the ministers of thy word
such excellence in preaching
that all people may share with them
in the glory that shall be revealed;
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 Lesson: Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Gospel: St Luke 21:12-15

Saint John ChrysostomArtwork: Saint John Chrysostom, c. 9th century. Mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Polycarp of Smyrna

The collect for today, the Feast Day of St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Apostolic Man, Martyr (source):

Almighty God,
who gavest to thy servant Polycarp
boldness to confess the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ
before the rulers of this world
and courage to suffer death for his faith:
grant that we too may be ready
to give an answer for the faith that is in us
and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Revelation 2:8-11
The Gospel: St Matthew 20:20-23

Saint PolycarpChurch tradition holds that Polycarp was born c. AD 69 of Christian parents and was a disciple of St John the Apostle and Evangelist, who ordained him Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was arrested during a pagan festival in Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey) and brought before the Roman pro-consul.

[W]hen the magistrate pressed him hard and said, “Swear the oath, and I will release you; revile the Christ,” Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

But on his persisting again and saying, “Swear by the genius of Caesar,” he answered, “If you suppose vainly that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and feign that you are ignorant who I am, hear you plainly: I am a Christian. But if you would learn the doctrine of Christianity, assign a day and give me a hearing.”

He was burned at the stake for refusing to renounce Christ.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp was written down by the church of Smyrna and sent as a letter to the church at Philomelium. It is the first Christian martyrology. Several translations of the text can be accessed via this page.

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