Let us pray (in silence) [that what is good within us may flourish]
Pause
God of power and might,
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.
Resources beyond this site:
Textweek
Girardian Reflection on the Lectionary
Resourcing Preaching Down Under
There are some who commemorate today The Builders of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia/Ngā Kaiwhakaū o te Hāhi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tireni, ki ngā Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa. It is my conviction that we can do this and remain committed to the Revised Common Lectionary. If you struggle to make connections with the readings, you can sing, pray, preach, teach… about these builders.
Creation Season
This site is committed to the Revised Common Lectionary – if you cannot find creation elements in the readings, you can sing, pray, preach, teach… about care of creation.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 28 August and 3 September:
Song of Songs 2:8-13 Nature and its beauty is the primary metaphor here: the mountains, the hills, a gazelle, a young stag. winter, the rain, flowers, the earth, turtledove, land. The fig tree, the vines, and blossom.
Deuteronomy 4:1-9 The strong connection between the land and God’s will for us.
Psalm 45 More images of the beauty of nature and of beauty as described in comparison with nature.
Psalm 15 A hill that is holy…
James 1:17-27 Again, the primacy of nature in imaging our life: first fruits, produce, implanted…
Mark 7:1-23 our relationship with nature, with creation, with food, and how this expresses our deeper realities.
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.
Liturgy for the Creation Season
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
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.
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