Almighty everliving God, [or Compassionate God]
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray,
and to give more than we desire or deserve;
pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things
of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those things
for which our prayer dares not ask;
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 – and on the same day! It has a long, shared history which you can find here with commentary and reflection: Ordinary 27, 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 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
These dozen statements are differently divided to form “ten commandments” :
Isaiah 5:1-7
This poem dates from the early years of Isaiah’s ministry. A vineyard is a regular metaphor for a beloved in Hebrew poetry. It is also a regular metaphor for God’s people. The poem concludes with a play on words: mishpat (justice) mishpach (bloodshed), tesdaqah (righteousness) tse’aqah (cry).
Philippians 3:4b-14
A Hebrew born of Hebrews is possibly a claim to know the language. Rubbish is literally garbage or even human excrement.
Matthew 21:33-46
The Coptic version of this parable without its allegorical interpretation is found in the Gospel of Thomas 65. Galilean peasants regularly had their land owned by someone in a different country. If you owned the land, less than a fifth of what you produced would have ended up for your family. Far less in this context. Hence the desperation and the misjudgement when the son arrives that the owner is dead. Killing the son, they assume, will mean the vineyard is theirs.
Reflection on the Collect
This collect has a lengthy history, present in Gelasian, Leonine, and Gregorian Sacramentaries, where in this last it settled effectively on the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. There it is found in the Sarum missal:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui abundantia pietatis tuae
et merita supplicum excedis et vota;
effunde super nos misericordiam tuam,
ut dimittas quae conscientia metuit,
et adjicias quod oratio non praesumit.
It was rendered in the Book of Common Prayer 1549 (Trinity 12) as:
ALMIGHTIE and everlastyng God, which art alwayes more ready to heare then we to praye, and art wont to geve more than eyther we desyre or deserve; Powre downe upon us the aboundance of thy mercy; forgeving us those thynges wherof our conscience is afrayde, and gevyng unto us that that our prayer dare not presume to aske, through Jesus Christe our Lorde.
In BCP (1662) this became:
Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
The 1549 BCP “and gevyng unto us that that our prayer dare not presume to aske, through Jesus Christe our Lorde” was closer to the Latin than the 1662 expansion.
The Tridentine Missale Romanum had it as the collect for Pentecost 11. After Vatican II it was moved to Ordinary Sunday 27. The RC English translation of the collect (ICEL 1973) was:
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive us our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation…
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation:
Almighty and eternal God,
whose bounty is greater than we deserve or desire, pour out upon us your abundant mercy;
forgive the things that weigh upon our consciences and enrich us with blessings
for which our prayers dare not hope.
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 new RC translation (2011) rendered it as:
Almighty ever-living God,
who in the abundance of your kindness
surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you,
pour out your mercy upon us
to pardon what conscience dreads
and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.
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.
The Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer (1979) placed it on Proper 22 (actually the same day as Ordinary Sunday 27, but with a different counting system), giving it as:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray,
and to give more than we either desire or deserve:
Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask,
except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Once again Roman Catholics and Episcopalian Anglicans and others are praying different translations of the same collect for the same Sunday and week.
Other versions of it are:
Almighty and merciful God,
more ready to hear than we to pray,
giving more than either we desire or deserve;
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgive us those things
of which our conscience is afraid,
and give us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask,
except through your Son our Saviour
Jesus Christ
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
NZPB p.630a
The Church of England’s Common Prayer (as well as BCP USA) has kept closer to the BCP 1662 version:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of 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. Amen.
One might argue, especially if one is a liturgically archaeological purist, that the NZ version restores the original. Others may find “merits and mediation” felicitous alongside “desire or deserve” and “forgiving… and giving” (or “forgive… and give”). The archaeological argument is lost by NZ’s changing “everlasting” to “merciful”.
There is certainly a wealth of material to reflect on in our understanding of prayer, forgiveness, worthiness, merits, and mediation. What are we not worthy to ask for? How ready are we to pray?
The Church of England has realised that with the Revised Common Lectionary there is no longer a “theme” for the readings. The collect is not an introduction to themed readings, it is the core and conclusion of the Gathering of the Community. The prayer is general. Hence, once again, this collect is restored by them to its ancient position of Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (yes, the Church of England has gone back to the English counting from Trinity, rather than from Pentecost). This collect there, hence, is no longer attached to a set of readings.
The above discussion about versions and translations is also a reminder that in NZ there is no requirement (as with so much else here now) which collect one uses. One might use NZ’s, or Common Worship’s, and so on. All this is explored in more detail in Celebrating Eucharist Chapter 6 found on this site.
Resources beyond this site:
Textweek resources
Girardian Reflections on the lectionary readings
Preaching Resources Down Under
You can add your ideas and resources below.
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