The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity - 2014

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.

Psalm 119.153-160

Vide humilitatem

153. O CONSIDER mine adversity, and deliver me : for I do not forget thy law.

154. Avenge thou my cause, and deliver me : quicken me, according to thy word.

155. Health is far from the ungodly : for they regard not thy statutes.

156. Great is thy mercy, O Lord : quicken me, as thou art wont.

157. Many there are that trouble me, and persecute me : yet do I not swerve from thy testimonies.

158. It grieveth me when I see the transgressors : because they keep not thy law.

159. Consider, O Lord, how I love thy commandments : O quicken me, according to thy loving-kindness.

160. Thy word is true from everlasting : all the judgements of thy righteousness endure for evermore.

The Collect.

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully* accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

{*the 1549 BCP has, “may with free hearts accomplish…”}

Old Testament Reading: Ecclesiastes 9.4-10

Psalter: Psalm 116, 117 | 118, 83

Epistle Reading: Ephesians 5.15-21

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 22.1-14

Toon: “We address God the Father as both omnipotent, everlastingly and infinitely powerful, and as most merciful, abounding in mercy towards sinners such as we are. But that is not the end, for we also address him as possessing within himself towards his creatures bountiful goodness, an overflowing, inexhaustible reservoir of goodness from which it is his desire and determination to secure our true & everlasting good.

Of such a Lord God we not merely ask but we beseech that he will so watch over us in his superlative power, mercy and goodness that we shall be kept from all things [spiritual and physical, material and immaterial] that may hurt us as whole beings (as persons with body and soul). We desire to be preserved by the grace of God as whole creatures from any harm intended against us by the world, the flesh and the devil. There is a divine, unifying connection between body & soul and harm to the one affects the other.

The desire to be free from harm is not for self-satisfaction or for a sense of self-worth; rather it is so that we are alert and ready in mind, heart and will to do what God commands and calls us to do as his servants in his world for his glory. We are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world ñ being and doing that which we are taught by the Holy Ghost to be the will of God for us today. And, further, we are to do what the Lord commands and requires of us cheerfully, rejoicing! As the appointed Epistle declares: Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart.

And all our prayer is offered to the Father through the Incarnate Son, the only Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ who is the Lord. It is to his Messianic Banquet that sinners are called, as the appointed Gospel declares” (http://www.pbs.org.uk/the-bcp/twentieth-sunday-after-trinity).