Let us pray (in silence) [that we may rejoice in sharing in Christ’s resurrection]
pause
O God,
in Christ’s humiliation,
you stooped down,
and raised up the fallen world in the resurrection,
grant to your faithful people a holy joy,
so that those whom you have freed
may delight in you eternally;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The above prayer is used by Roman Catholics (on this coming Sunday), and is in the Sarum Missal – but does not appear to have continued into the Anglican tradition.
Click on this link to find my history, commentary, and reflection on this collect: Ordinary 14, or see below.
Lectionary Readings Introductions
This site provides something different: many sites and books provide a brief summary of the reading – so that people read out or have in their pew sheet an outline of what they are about to hear. They are told beforehand what to expect. Does this not limit what they hear the Spirit address them? This site provides something different – often one cannot appreciate what is being read because there is no context provided. This site provides the context, the frame of the reading about to be heard. It could be used as an introduction, printed on a pew sheet (acknowledged, of course), or adapted in other ways. This is an experimental venture and I will see how useful it appears.
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
The frame of this story is the marriage of Isaac which will continue the promised saga on the one side, and Abraham’s marrying Keturah and his death on the other.
Zechariah 9:9-12
Zechariah Chapters 9 to 14 are very difficult to date. Judah is God’s bow and Ephraim God’s arrow (9:13-14) against Pheonicia, Philistia, and Syria in turbulent times. The donkey symbolises peace and humility over against the horse used in war.
Romans 7:15-25a
This difficult passage speaks of someone “of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.” (v14). Yet vv 22 and 25 speaks of delighting in and serving the law of God. The other side of the frame is Chapter 8 in which believers are promised the possibility of living a victorious life.
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
John the Baptiser sends his last message to Jesus. Jesus, who had joined John’s movement, compares his approach to that of John. The yoke that was placed on people was that which directed and ruled their lives. The Pharisees had 613 rules (mitzvot), positive “do this” (mitzvot aseh) or negative “don’t do that” (mitzvot lo taaseh). This was their yoke. Jesus’ regular metaphor of God as father fits in with the Mediterranean image of the patron – Jesus mediates between the patron and the client. Children were the most vulnerable. 30% died near childbirth. 60% died before age 16.
Today’s readings online (link off this site)
Other resources beyond this site:
Textweek
Resourcing Preaching Down Under
Reflection on the Collect
The above is my reworking for my Book of Prayers in Common in which I seek to provide a set of collects with history and commentary. Usually my rendering follows a more formal equivalent translation of the original. In this case I thought that a dynamic equivalent was preferable in rendering the powerful images for our contemporary context.
In the Gelasian Sacramentary, on the Sunday after the Octave of Easter, which we would now refer to as the Third Sunday of Easter, is this collect:
Deus, qui in filii tui humilitatem iacentem mundum erexisti, laetitiam concede fidelibus tuis, ut quos perpetuae mortis eripuisti casibus, gaudiis facias sempiternis perfruere.
Both gaudium and laetitia, can be translated as ‘joy’.
The prayer has clear overtones of Philippians 2. And there is a powerful descent-and-ascent dynamic. In many ways the prayer stands in wonderful dialogue with the Resurrection Icon
Deus – God
qui in filii tui humilitatem iacentem mundum erexisti – you who in the humility of your Son have raised up the ailing world
Iacentem – one lying; one lying ill, dead, in ruins.
humilitatem – humility
concede – grant
fidelibus – to the faithful
ut … gaudiis facias sempiternis perfruere – that you may make to thoroughly enjoy eternal joys
God has raised Christ, the ailing world (iacentem mundum), and the faithful who are snatched (eripuisti) from perpetual death (perpetuae mortis). This is done in the humility of God’s Son (in filii tui humilitatem).
In the Sarum Missal, for Second Sunday after Easter, this is slightly altered to:
Deus, qui in Filii tui humilitate jacentem mundum erexisti: fidelibus tuis perpetuam concede laetitiam; ut, quos perpetuae mortis eripuisiti casibus gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis. Per eundem…
And there is another slight variation for the 1962 Roman Missal:
Deus, qui Filii tui humilitate iacentem mundum erexisti:
fidelibus tuis sanctam concede laetitiam;
ut, quos perpetuae mortis eripuisti casibus,
gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis.
In the post-Vatican II Roman Missal it has been moved to the Monday of the fourth week of Easter and the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and changed to:
Deus, qui Filii tui humilitate iacentem mundum erexisti, fidelibus tuis sanctam concede laetitiam, ut, quos eripuisti a servitute peccati, gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis.
This was translated for ICEL 1973 as:
Father, through the obedience of Jesus, your servant and your Son, you raised a fallen world. Free us from sin and bring us the joy that lasts forever.
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation this collect for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time is rendered as:
God of power,
who raised up a fallen world
through the lowliness of your Son,
grant to your faithful people a holy joy,
so that those whom you have rescued from the slavery of sin may delight in the happiness that never ends.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.
The 2012 ICEL translation has it as:
O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness.
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