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Trinitarian Lectionary Collects?

The NZ Lectionary booklet includes a trial set of collects. The intention of this trial set is to fit with the Revised Common Lectionary and to follow the traditional format of Trinitarian collects (that is, addressed to God, the First Person of the Trinity, through Christ, in the Spirit). I was one of several people asked to prepare a set of collects, and I was assigned the non-feast Sundays in Ordinary Time Year C [thank you to those of you who helped me by critiquing my original draft].

Clearly, the current year is not fulfilling this approach. NZ Anglicanism struggles, in some of the formal material, to hold to Trinitarian approaches. There is a tendency to turn things into a Maths equation: Jesus = God, therefore we can address Jesus as God and slide between the First and Second Person of the Trinity [Just one example: “… Strengthen us to do your work, and to be your body in the world…. through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,…” NZPB page 513]

This 2021 year of collects was also in the 2018 Lectionary booklet. They were produced in 2014 – so there has been plenty of time to make sure they are in the expected Trinitarian format. Here are some of the ones in the 2021 Lectionary booklet:

Christmas has the following collects:

Emmanuel, God with us,
you came among us as a vulnerable child,
…For you are alive and reign with the Father,…

Holy God,
the Angels revealed your presence to shepherds
…For you are alive and reign with the Father,

Holy God,
Word made flesh,
…For you are alive and reign with the Father,

Then there are:

Collect for The Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ
Almighty God,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the Baptism of the Lord
Beloved Son of God,
whose Way was revealed in humility, through water and Spirit;
you received a baptism of repentance.
Empower all who are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…
For you are alive and reign with the Father,…

Collect for the 2nd Sunday of the Epiphany
God of call and vocation,
you call the greatest and the least to follow you;
…For you are alive and reign with the Father,…

Collect for the Third Sunday of Epiphany
God of Good News, …
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany
Holy One of God,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Healing Jesus,
…For you are alive and reign with the Father,…

Collect for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exalted God,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
God of Light and Love,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father,…

Collect for Easter Day
Alleluia!
God of new beginnings,
your resurrection…
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the Day of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion
Loving God,
at the breaking of bread you are made known…
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Generous God,…
you show compassion to the hungry and needy,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father,…

Collect for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Holy God,…
you have shown us the bread that never perishes,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father…

Collect for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Eternal God,…
For you are alive and reign with the Father,…
.

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6 thoughts on “Trinitarian Lectionary Collects?”

  1. It took me a while to get your point. At first I thought you were implying that only the Father is properly referred to as God, and that the Son (and the Spirit) should not be addressed or understood as God.

    But now I see that you are saying that the collects are defaulting to addressing Jesus when they are referring to God, which can be confusing. If you’re addressing Jesus, then it’s helpful and good to say you’re addressing Jesus / Emmanuel, and “Almighty God” when you’re addressing the Father, because these collects tend to leave the Father as an afterthought.

    1. Thanks for your comment, Joseph.

      There’s quite a lot on this site on the tradition of praying in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, to the First Person of the Trinity – seen normally in the central prayer of the Ministry of the Sacrament, the Eucharistic Prayer (The Great Thanksgiving) and the central prayer of the Ministry of the Word, the collect. The brief of the collection of collects in the lectionary booklet was to produce a set of prayers connected to the Revised Common Lectionary and addressed to God, the First Person of the Trinity, through Christ, in the Spirit. I explain this particular brief in my first paragraph. This set does not meet that criteria.

      Blessings.

      1. Gotcha! I see it now. Thank you for gently pointing me to the piece I’d missed (mea culpa!)

        Even with a simple and clear directive of creating collects “To the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit”, the crafters of those prayers could not follow it for some reason.

        While my province of the Anglican Communion loves its liturgical experimentation and chaos, it’s hard to imagine just how much more chaotic things can end up becoming. Truly, it is the “Anglican Church of Or”! I hope that the next generation of liturgists recognize that rules make prayer better, just like rules can make poetry better.

  2. Not really connected to your main point, I think we Anglicans have trouble with the collects in part because the collect “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open . . .” tends to do the work of the collect of the day. Because this collect largely does the work of the collect as a gathering prayer we seem to like to have the collect of the day as a prayer which relates much more to the readings themselves or to the “theme for the day” (hopefully we have got away from that social studies approach to liturgy). Obviously the collect should relate to the liturgy of the day at the great feasts, etc., but otherwise I really like (i) the broad inclusive nature of the traditional collects; (ii) the sense that as I enter into the liturgy for the day my thoughts and feelings have been collected up in words which reach across centuries and denominations; (iii) the use of words which have been rubbed smooth through constant repetition because they have the substance to bear constant repetition; (iv) which do not make me think too rigidly in a particular direction according to some modern trend or ideological view; (v) prayers which acknowledge the generality of what I am bringing into this liturgical assembly as well as the particularity of what is about to be brought to me in the reading of Scripture; (v) prayers which settle my heart rather than turning on the busyness of my easily distracted mind. On the whole the new collects do fit the traditional five-fold collect structure (rather formulaically, sometimes), but I think your point is an important one because it suggests to me (as I read what you say, and maybe not accurately) that these collects do not always reflect a truly trinitarian heart.

    1. Thanks, David. I think we are much on the same page.
      I had not thought of the Collect for Purity (which I love) being behind some of the poor understanding of the Collect of the Day functioning as an Opening Prayer. The Collect for Purity is far less used now – and possibly even unknown to many younger/newer Anglicans. Your insight may point to those making liturgical decisions in our province (generally older/longer-term Anglicans) doing so unaware of the assumptions they may be bringing to this task.
      As to the Trinitarian dynamic of the prayers – as in the Eucharistic Prayer, I understand us being drawn into the inner life of God the Holy Trinity through the Incarnate Second Person. Traditional collects facilitate this movement.
      Blessings.

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