Trinitarian Lectionary Collects?

6 thoughts on “Trinitarian Lectionary Collects?”

1. 

   Joseph

   February 24, 2021 at 7:30 am

   It took me a while to get your point. At first I thought you were implying that only the Father is properly referred to as God, and that the Son (and the Spirit) should not be addressed or understood as God.

   But now I see that you are saying that the collects are defaulting to addressing Jesus when they are referring to God, which can be confusing. If you’re addressing Jesus, then it’s helpful and good to say you’re addressing Jesus / Emmanuel, and “Almighty God” when you’re addressing the Father, because these collects tend to leave the Father as an afterthought.

   Reply
   1. 

      Bosco Peters

      February 25, 2021 at 5:42 am

      Thanks for your comment, Joseph.

      There’s quite a lot on this site on the tradition of praying in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, to the First Person of the Trinity – seen normally in the central prayer of the Ministry of the Sacrament, the Eucharistic Prayer (The Great Thanksgiving) and the central prayer of the Ministry of the Word, the collect. The brief of the collection of collects in the lectionary booklet was to produce a set of prayers connected to the Revised Common Lectionary and addressed to God, the First Person of the Trinity, through Christ, in the Spirit. I explain this particular brief in my first paragraph. This set does not meet that criteria.

      Blessings.

      Reply
      1. 

         Joseph

         February 25, 2021 at 5:54 am

         Gotcha! I see it now. Thank you for gently pointing me to the piece I’d missed (mea culpa!)

         Even with a simple and clear directive of creating collects “To the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit”, the crafters of those prayers could not follow it for some reason.

         While my province of the Anglican Communion loves its liturgical experimentation and chaos, it’s hard to imagine just how much more chaotic things can end up becoming. Truly, it is the “Anglican Church of Or”! I hope that the next generation of liturgists recognize that rules make prayer better, just like rules can make poetry better.

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         1. 

            Bosco Peters

            February 26, 2021 at 9:47 am

            Thanks, Joseph. Which province are you part of? Blessings.

            Reply
2. 

   David Tannock

   February 25, 2021 at 10:57 am

   Not really connected to your main point, I think we Anglicans have trouble with the collects in part because the collect “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open . . .” tends to do the work of the collect of the day. Because this collect largely does the work of the collect as a gathering prayer we seem to like to have the collect of the day as a prayer which relates much more to the readings themselves or to the “theme for the day” (hopefully we have got away from that social studies approach to liturgy). Obviously the collect should relate to the liturgy of the day at the great feasts, etc., but otherwise I really like (i) the broad inclusive nature of the traditional collects; (ii) the sense that as I enter into the liturgy for the day my thoughts and feelings have been collected up in words which reach across centuries and denominations; (iii) the use of words which have been rubbed smooth through constant repetition because they have the substance to bear constant repetition; (iv) which do not make me think too rigidly in a particular direction according to some modern trend or ideological view; (v) prayers which acknowledge the generality of what I am bringing into this liturgical assembly as well as the particularity of what is about to be brought to me in the reading of Scripture; (v) prayers which settle my heart rather than turning on the busyness of my easily distracted mind. On the whole the new collects do fit the traditional five-fold collect structure (rather formulaically, sometimes), but I think your point is an important one because it suggests to me (as I read what you say, and maybe not accurately) that these collects do not always reflect a truly trinitarian heart.

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   1. 

      Bosco Peters

      February 26, 2021 at 9:56 am

      Thanks, David. I think we are much on the same page.
      I had not thought of the Collect for Purity (which I love) being behind some of the poor understanding of the Collect of the Day functioning as an Opening Prayer. The Collect for Purity is far less used now – and possibly even unknown to many younger/newer Anglicans. Your insight may point to those making liturgical decisions in our province (generally older/longer-term Anglicans) doing so unaware of the assumptions they may be bringing to this task.
      As to the Trinitarian dynamic of the prayers – as in the Eucharistic Prayer, I understand us being drawn into the inner life of God the Holy Trinity through the Incarnate Second Person. Traditional collects facilitate this movement.
      Blessings.

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