Let us pray (in silence) [that what is good within us may flourish]
Pause
God of power and might, [or Faithful God]
source of all good,
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
and bind us more closely to you
so that you nourish the goodness you sow in us
and, by your watchful care,
you tend and guard the good you have nourished;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The above ancient prayer is used by Roman Catholics and Episcopalians/Anglicans and others. It has a long, shared history which you can find here with commentary and reflection: Ordinary 22, or below. The above is my rendering in my Book of Prayers in Common.
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.
Exodus 3:1-15
Moses is a person who shows curiosity – who wants to explore further. God identifies Godself as the verb to be! A further unusual demonstration that this is really God is promised in verse 12!
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Roman Catholics and those who use that version of the three year series, have a different related reading from Jeremiah:20:7-9. The context of both options is the sixth century BCE with the Hebrew people in exile in Babylon.
Romans 12:9-21
Roman Catholics and those who use that version of the three year series use verses from last week’s selection from this letter. In this text, Paul continues from last week with concrete, practical applications that follow on from his teachings presented earlier in the letter.
Matthew 16:21-28
If Matthew’s Gospel reflects a reasonable chronology in Jesus’ life, we see him joining John the Baptist, taking up and extending that mission when John the Baptist is imprisoned (to join John’s vision you had to go to the Jordan. With Jesus you don’t have to go to the vision – the vision will come to you. The sick and very poor in Jesus are welcomed into the new vision, whereas they could not have gone to the Jordan). On the execution of John the Baptist. Jesus reflected on his future and even leaving Hebrew territory. His friends have identified him with John and Elijah. Jesus knows the writing is on the wall. He also breaks the cultural understanding of honour.
Creation Season 2023
In the month of September, and concluding on the feast of St Francis on October 4, many people focus on creation. For Christians, creation is not merely an academic discussion about evolution or not – it is now, much more, seen as an essential part of mission, in partnership with others who share concern for what Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si, calls “our common home”.
This site is committed to the three year lectionary (RC) and its derivative, the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). Rather than departing from that lectionary, in previous years resources have been provided on this site for a “creation reading” of our shared biblical texts. This means that this site has such creation reflections for this year, Year A.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 28 August and 3 September:
The Exodus reading is full of creation images – flock, wilderness, mountain, fire, bush, and God being pleased that Moses is noticing. Then there is ground which is sacred. This is followed by the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey.
Jeremiah has an eating metaphor, and a deceitful brook, with waters that fail.
Paul writes to the Romans about hunger and thirst.
The Gospel reading talks about gaining the whole world, and about life.
The additional value of using the agreed, shared texts of our three-year lectionary, rather than abandoning the lectionary to pick other, “convenient”, creation proof-texts using a concordance, is that by staying with the lectionary texts we demonstrate that creation is an integral thread woven through the whole Bible.
Please add, in the comments below, any further creation insights from the lectionary readings, as well as other creation resources that will be useful this month. Some of these ideas will be added to the Creation Season resource page which I encourage you to also check out.
Reflection on the Collect
The above is part of my attempt to provide a set of collects with history and commentary. It is a prayer prayed by Roman Catholics, Anglicans/Episcopalians, and others – and on the same day.
In the Gelasian sacramentary this is the collect for the second of the sixteen Sunday Masses (no. 1182). In the Gregorian (no. 1147) it takes its position equivalent to the seventh Sunday after Trinity, where the Sarum Missal, and English Prayer Books have it.
Deus virtútum, cujus est totum quod est optimum : ínsere péctóribus nostris amórem tui nóminis, et præsta in nobis religiónis augméntum ; ut, quæ sunt bona, nutrias, ac pietátis studio, quæ sunt nutrita, custódias. Per Dóminum…
Cranmer 1549:
LORDE of all power and might, whiche art the author and gever of all good thynges; graffe [graft] in our hartes the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, norishe us with all goodnes, and of thy great mercy kepe us in the same; Through Jesus Christe our Lorde.
Cranmer has changed the Sarum preamble from “God of virtue/power whose is all that is best” to a paraphrase of James 1:17. Cranmer’s insertion of “true” before “religion” may be as relevant, if not more so, in our day as in his.
The Latin “nourish what is good, … guard/preserve what you have nourished” was altered in Cranmer. The NZ Prayer Book collect is directly lifted from the CofE Liturgical Commission preparing for ASB (except NZ has restored “God” for “Lord”). With deft simplicity the CofE commission restored the original intention.
God of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things,
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish in us all goodness,
and of your great mercy
keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen
NZPB p. 610a
BCP(USA) introduced a new phrase “bring forth in us the fruit of good works” increasing the farming/gardening metaphor.
The BCP (USA) version is:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
Graft in our hearts the love of your Name;
increase in us true religion;
nourish us with all goodness;
and bring forth in us the fruit of good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.
(Proper 17; Sunday closest to August 31)
God is source of and ultimate good – “the author and giver of all good things”. God sees that all is good. May the good in us flourish – by God. And kept, guarded, and preserved – by God. May we, as salt, which enhances the good and discourages the bad, work with God in this nourishing, flourishing, keeping, guarding, and preserving of all the good, fragile though it be, wherever we might encounter it.
The Common Worship (CofE) version is:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through 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.
Proper 17 (BCP USA) is the same Sunday as 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (RC and others).
ICEL’s earlier translation (1973) had:
Almighty God,
every good thing comes from you.
Fill our hearts with love for you,
increase our faith,
and by your constant care
protect the good you have given us.
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation:
God of hosts,
from whom every good gift proceeds, implant in our hearts the love of your name. Nurture within us whatever is good
by binding us more closely to you,
and in your watchful care
tend the good fruit you have nurtured.
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.
Current ICEL (2011):
God of might, giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
you may nurture in us what is good
and, by your watchful care,
keep safe what you have nurtured.
Resources beyond this site:
textweek resources
Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary readings
Preaching Resources from Down Under
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image source: Carrying the cross of Christ (Gabriel Loire)
“Although the figure carrying the cross represents Simon of Cyrene, the power of the image reminds us of Christ’s admonition to take up the cross and follow him. Photo by Lawrence OP.”
