Forgiving and giving
I am attempting my own version of the collects, and rework this one as:
Almighty everliving God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray,
and to give more than we desire or deserve;
pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things
of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those things
for which our prayer dares not ask;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
Please send me any comments and constructive suggestions about my version of the collect.
Let us pray (in silence) [that we may be open to God's goodness]
pause
Almighty and merciful God,
more ready to hear than we to pray,
giving more than either we desire or deserve;
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgive us those things
of which our conscience is afraid,
and give us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask,
except through your Son our Saviour
Jesus Christ
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
NZPB p.630a
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to
hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire
or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy
to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus
Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer USA (Proper 22, Sunday closest to October 5)
The Church of England's Common Prayer (as well as BCP USA) has kept closer to the BCP 1662 version:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
ICEL 1973 has it as:
Father,
your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
This collect has a lengthy history, present in Gelasian, Leonine, Gregorian Sacramentaries, where in this last it settled effectively on the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. There it is found in the Sarum missal
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui abundantia pietatis tuae
et merita supplicum excedis et vota;
effunde super nos misericordiam tuam,
ut dimittas quae conscientia metuit,
et adjicias quod oratio non praesumit.
and hence in 1549 BCP where its ending "and gevyng unto us that that our prayer dare not presume to aske, through Jesus Christe our Lorde" was closer to the Latin than the 1662 expansion. This Latin version has been maintained for the Missale Romanum, 2002, where ICEL has translated it into the Engish Roman Catholic version above. Once again Roman Catholics and Episcopalian Anglicans and others are praying different translations of the same collect for the same Sunday and week.
One might argue, especially if one is a liturgically archaeological purist, that the NZ version restores the original. Others may find "merits and mediation" felicitous alongside "desire or deserve" and "forgiving... and giving" (or "forgive... and give"). The archaeological argument is lost by NZ's changing "everlasting" to "merciful".
There is certainly a wealth of material to reflect on in our understanding of prayer, forgiveness, worthiness, merits, and mediation. What are we not worthy to ask for? How ready are we to pray?
The Church of England has realised that with the Revised Common Lectionary there is no longer a "theme" for the readings. The collect is not an introduction to themed readings, it is the core and conclusion of the Gathering of the Community. The prayer is general. Hence, once again, this collect is restored by them to its ancient position of Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (yes, the Church of England has gone back to the English counting from Trinity, rather than from Pentecost). This collect there, hence, is no longer attached to a set of readings.
The above discussion about versions and translations is also a reminder that in NZ there is no requirement (as with so much else here now) which collect one uses. One might use NZ's, or Common Worship's, and so on. All this is explored in more detail in Celebrating Eucharist Chapter 6 found on this site.