God's name


Let us pray (in silence) [that we praise, reverence, and serve God]

pause

Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal,
keep us under the protection of your good providence,
and help us continually
to revere and love your holy name;

through Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.

NZPB p.628c

For the "second Sonday [after Trinitie Sonday]" the First Prayer Book of Edward VI reads:

The Collect.

LORD, make us to have a perpetuall feare and love of thy holy name: for thou never faillest to helpe and governe them whom thou doest bryng up in thy stedfast love. Graunt this, &c.

This is a translation of the Latin Collect of the Sarum Missal for the same Sunday (Gelasian has it Sunday after Ascension Day; Gregorian Second Sunday after Pentecost):

SANCTI nominis tui, Domine, timorem pariter et amorem fac nos habere perpetuum: quia numquam tua gubernatione destituis quos in soliditate tuae dilectionis instituis. Per Dominum. Amen.

In 1662 this was revised to:

O LORD, who never failest to help and govern them who thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love; Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the RC Missal it is the collect for the twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, translated as:

Let us pray [that we may grow in the love of God]

Father,
guide and protector of your people,
grant us an unfailing respect for your name,
and keep us always in your love.

"Cranmer's version does not catch the illuminating metaphor of the original, which likens God's help and governance to that of a pilot or helmsman. We reverence and fear the pilot because he alone can bring us safely to our destination; we love him because he never abandons that care and concern for us from the moment we have placed ourselves in his hands." Massey Hamilton Shepherd, The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary.

The Church of England appears not to use this collect. The Episcopal Church (USA) uses it for Proper 7 (the Sunday closest to June 22, ie. where RC uses it, the twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time). The American BCP restores it closer to the Latin and Cranmer's (1549) understanding:

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your
holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom
you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

"Reverence" is still used, rather than "fear" (where RC has "respect"). There is benefit in reflecting on reverence, fear, love, providence, and the concept of God's " name" being God's nature, including God's self-revelation.

Although contemporary versions of traditional collects may benefit from an address other than "Almighty God", or "Lord", in this case the NZ address "Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal," takes one aback. The Trisagion ("Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, have mercy on us") is used at the start of Eastern Christian eucharists, as well as traditionally in the Western Good Friday liturgy. It has now been incorporated into the start of many Anglican liturgical rites for the eucharist. Although some of its images fit with the collect, in my opinion the same could have been achieved if the NZ revisers had simply made the address something like, "Strong and holy God,...":

Let us pray [that we praise, reverence, and serve God]

pause

Strong and holy God,
keep us under the protection of your good providence,
and help us continually
to revere and love your holy name;

through Jesus, the Christ, our Lord
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen
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