The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (And the Commemoration of Wm Tyndale, 6 October) - 2014

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.

Psalm 119.121-128

Feci judicium

121. I DEAL with the thing that is lawful and right : O give me not over unto mine oppressors.

122. Make thou thy servant to delight in that which is good : that the proud do me no wrong.

123. Mine eyes are wasted away with looking for thy health : and for the word of thy righteousness.

124. O deal with thy servant according unto thy loving mercy : and teach me thy statutes.

125. I am thy servant, O grant me understanding : that I may know thy testimonies.

126. It is time for thee, Lord to lay to thine hand : for they have destroyed thy law.

127. For I love thy commandments : above gold and precious stone.

128. Therefore hold I straight all thy commandments : and all false ways I utterly abhor.

The Collect.

O LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 12

Psalter: Psalm 98, 99 | 89, 59

Epistle Reading: Ephesians 3.8-21

Gospel Reading: St. Luke 7.11-18

Toon: “Here we recognise that the Church on earth needs both cleansing by the Divine Pardon and defence by the Divine Providence.

The Church, militant here on earth, is engaged in a spiritual war against the world, the flesh and the devil, and this is so even when it seems that the local society & government are partially supportive of the presence and aims of the Church of God. It is so easy for the refinements and ethos of the world to be absorbed by the Church and for them to affect her worship, her doctrine, her discipline, her ways of operation and so on, so that she is compromised and falls short of the fullness of her vocation.

Thus the Church not merely asks but beseeches (asks with intensity of feeling and conviction) the Lord our God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to help. In a vital sense this is what the Church does in part daily in her Morning and Evening Prayer and when she celebrates the Holy Communion. She confesses her sins and asks for the divine forgiveness. But this Collect contains a special, extra request because of a felt and real need. The Church needs the continued and continual Pity/Mercy of God both to cleanse her members and to defend them from all adversity, especially from enemies of the soul. And by members are meant both clergy and laity, bishops and doorkeepers.

Any society or organisation can get to the point where it begins to think that it is self-sufficient. The Church can begin to think that she is doing pretty well with a casual relation to God. But when she sees the true situation, that she is at war with real enemies of Christ & his Gospel, then she knows that she cannot continue as his army without his continued and continual succour. Further, she knows that she cannot stand firm today and tomorrow without his presence, help and goodness.

Today, it is common to speak of the secularisation of Christianity and of the accommodation of the agenda of the Church to that of humane and liberal society. And such is basically true of the denominations of the Western world. So this is surely a Prayer to be offered by all who know and feel that the Church in the West is far too much accommodated to the society and not sufficiently critical of its norms and ethos. We are to be in the world and for the world but NOT of the world” (http://www.pbs.org.uk/the-bcp/sixteenth-sunday-after-trinity).

William Tyndale 1536
Translator of the Bible
Commemorated Monday, October 6th, 2014

Almighty God, you planted in the heart of your servant William Tyndale a consuming passion to bring the Scriptures to people in their native tongue, and endowed him with the gift of powerful and graceful expression and with strength to persevere against all obstacles: Reveal to us your saving Word, as we read and study the Scriptures, and hear them calling us to repentance and life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.