Let us pray (in silence) [that we may put God at the heart of our lives]
Pause
O God, [or Living God]
the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy;
enfold us in your gracious care and mercy,
that with you to govern and to guide us
we may so use your gifts in this fleeting world
that we do not lose the good that is eternal;
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 and Episcopalians/Anglicans (on this coming Sunday), and is in the Sarum Missal, and is used in the Church of England; and in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia – but on other Sundays.
Click on this link to find my history, commentary, and reflection on this collect: Ordinary 17 or see below.
Lectionary Readings Introduction
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.
Genesis 29:15-28
Jacob has fled from his older brother Esau whom he had tricked and then deceived into giving him his birthright and receiving his father’s blessing. He arrives at his uncle Laban’s at Paddan-aram.
1 Kings 3:5-12
King David has died, and his son, Solomon, has begun to reign at the start of this chapter. Solomon has made a marriage alliance with Egypt by marrying the pharaoh’s daughter. This is prior to the Deuteronomic reform, and “high places” continue alongside Solomon’s hoped for Jerusalem central shrine, the temple.
Romans 8:26-39
This week continues where we left off last week in the life in Christ for believers. The sure hope is worked out our current prayer life and our conviction that all will lead to the best: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” (Dame Julian of Norwich – 14th century mystic).
First fruits were seen to be a promise of the harvest to come. Ancient Mediterranean cultures were very conscious of their impotence before nature and within the Hebrew tradition could subscribe that to Adam.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
We have heard Jesus’ stories so often we can miss their surprise and punch-line. Who has the right to what is found? What do you live off if you sell everything you have? What will be the reaction of your village when you suddenly “find” a treasure in the new field you have just bought?
Today’s readings online (link off this site)
Reflection on the Collect
This is my rendering of the Latin Collect of the Sarum Missal for Trinity 4 (the place it also held from BCP 1549 onwards). In the Gregorian Sacramentary it was used for fourth Sunday after Pentecost (no. 1138):
Protector in te sperantium, Deus,
sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum:
multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam;
ut, te rectore, te duce,
sic transeamus per bona temporalia,
ut non amittamus aeterna.
Cranmer in 1549 had this as:
GOD the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothyng is strong, nothing is holy; increase and multiply upon us thy mercye; that thou being our ruler and guyde, we may so passe through thinges temporall, that we fynally lose not the thinges eternall: Graunt this heavenly father, for Jesu Christes sake our Lorde.
The initial phrase is the same as in a collect in the Gelasian sacramentary (no. 1548) and the Gallican Bobbio missal (no. 442).
Cranmer removed “good” it has been restored in NZPB, but not in BCP (USA) or Common Worship (CofE). NZ has reworked the result clause.
“Finally” in Cranmer’s made a (too?) strong division between “temporal” and “eternal”. The removal of “good” by him (restored by NZPB and by me, above) could suggest that we also find God in difficult, not so good times. But the return of “good” can highlight that the “temporal”/ “things of this present life” are also “good” – against the position that encourages a view that this world is a distraction, and we need to avoid it as much as possible, flee it, to focus primarily on a “spiritual” reality. It is to be hoped that the “good” version does not encourage such a dualistic view, in which someone would be so heavenly minded they were of no earthly use! The ambiguity of the word “service”, for worship and for work, is not an ambiguity we should seek to eliminate.
This is used by Roman Catholics on the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the same day as BCP(USA)’s provision.
NZPB:
Eternal God,
protector of all who put their trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy;
fill us with your mercy and your grace
that with you to rule and guide
we may so use the good things of this present life
that we do not neglect things of eternal worth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
NZPB p.639
Common Worship (CofE) Trinity 4:
O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide
we may so pass through things temporal
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
BCP (USA) Proper 12:
O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
Increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that, with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
For the RC 1970 revision, the final two lines were changed:
Protector in te sperantium, Deus,
sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum:
multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam;
ut, te rectore, te duce,
sic bonis transeuntibus nunc utamur,
ut iam possimus inhaerere mansuris.
(literally, the last two lines would be:
we may so use things that pass away
as to be able to adhere to that which will endure.)
ICEL (1973):
God our Father and protector,
without you nothing is holy,
nothing has value.
Guide us to everlasting life
by helping us to use wisely
the blessings you have given to the world.
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation:
O God,
protector of those who hope in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,
enfold us in your gracious care and mercy,
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may use wisely the gifts of this passing world
and fix our hearts even now on those which last for ever.
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.
ICEL (2011):
O God, protector of those who hope in you,
without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing in holy,
bestow in abundance your mercy upon us
and grant that, with you as our ruler and guide,
we may use the good things that pass
in such a way as to hold fast even now
to those that ever endure.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Further resources (off this site):
TextWeek
Preaching resources Down Under
Do follow:
The Liturgy Facebook Page
The Liturgy Twitter Profile
The Liturgy Instagram
and/or sign up to a not-too-often email
