Sunday after Christmas-Day - 2013

The Sunday after Christmas-Day.

Psalm 121

Levavi oculus

I WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills : from whence cometh my help.

2. My help cometh even from the Lord : who hath made heaven and earth.

3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

4. Behold, he that keepeth Israel : shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5. The Lord himself is thy keeper : the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand.

6. So that the sun shall not burn thee by day : neither the moon by night.

7. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil : yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

8. The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this time forth for evermore.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

[Then shall follow the Collect of the Nativity, which shall be said continually unto New-year’s Eve.]

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 9.2-7

Psalter: Morning-2, 8; Evening-89

Epistle Reading: Galatians 4.1-7

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 1.18-25

St. Irenaeus: “On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself, who is Emmanuel from the Virgin, is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says: “For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing,” showing that the “good thing” of our salvation is not from us, but from God. And again: “Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Then he introduces the Deliverer, [saying,] “The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.” And Isaiah declares this also, [when he says:] “Be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be comforted, fear not: behold, our God has given judgment with retribution, and shall recompense: He will come Himself, and will save us.” Here we see, that not by ourselves, but by the help of God, we must be saved” (“Against Heretics,” III.20.3).

The Sunday after Christmas Day-2012

The Sunday after Christmas-Day.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

[Then shall follow the Collect of the Nativity, which shall be said continually unto New-year’s Eve.]

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 9.2-7

Psalter: Morning-2, 8; Evening-89

Epistle Reading: Galatians 4.1-7

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 1.18-25

Barbee and Zahl:

“[This Collect] reminds us of our status as God’s “children by adoption and grace,” while Christ alone is His “only begotten Son.” It is, of all the Prayer Book Collects, the most profoundly theological. Here in one superb prayer are contained both the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ in time and in our souls” (10).

St. Irenaeus:

“On this account, therefore, the Lord Himself, who is Emmanuel from the Virgin, is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says: “For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing,” showing that the “good thing” of our salvation is not from us, but from God. And again: “Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Then he introduces the Deliverer, [saying,] “The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.” And Isaiah declares this also, [when he says:] “Be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be comforted, fear not: behold, our God has given judgment with retribution, and shall recompense: He will come Himself, and will save us.” Here we see, that not by ourselves, but by the help of God, we must be saved” (“Against Heretics,” III.20.3).

And Can It Be that I Should Gain?

Charles Wesley, 1738 (alt. 1990)

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Humbled Himself (so great his love),
And bled for all his chosen race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Primus Pilus II

The First Sunday of Advent-2012

The First Sunday of Advent.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

[This Collect is to be repeated every day, with the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas-Eve.]

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 28.14-22

Psalter: Morning-8, 50; Evening-96, 97

Epistle Reading: Romans 13.8-14

Gospel Reading: Matthew 21.1-13

Barbee and Zahl: “The Collect for Advent I (and enjoined to be read each day of Advent in the 1662 revision) was composed by Archbishop Cranmer for the 1549 Prayer Book. Like other Reformation Collects, it is based on the Epistle (Romans 13:8-14) and Gospel (St. Matthew 21:1-13) which follow” (2)

“The Collect for the First Sunday of Advent ( . . . ) ties together not only the first coming and the final coming of God – the two advents of Christ – but it binds together our human present with the future, which is even now rushing towards us. ( . . . )

The point of this first prayer devised by Cranmer for the Christian year is that our present life is the incubator for our future and enduring life. And every moment of this life is accompanied by Him who visited the planet in great humility.

Do you see your life as a unity, a kind of oneness, even in the midst of rags and patches, its experienced many-ness? You are even today the person who was born with your name years ago and you are at the same time the person who will live forever in the Kingdom of God. Your life has inexhaustible  meaning” (3).

St. Athanasius: “There were thus two things which the Saviour did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation” (“The Incarnation of the Word” III.16).

Who Is This, So Weak and Helpless?

(by Bp. Wm How)

1. Who is this, so weak and helpless, Child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable sheltered, Coldly in a manger laid?
’Tis the Lord of all creation, Who this wondrous path has trod;
He is Lord from everlasting, And to everlasting God.

2. Who is this, a Man of Sorrows, Walking sadly life’s hard way,
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping Over sin and Satan’s sway?
’Tis our God, our glorious Savior, Who above the starry sky
Is for us a place preparing, Where no tear can dim the eye.

3. Who is this? Behold him shedding Drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected, Mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
’Tis our God, Who gifts and graces On His church is pouring down;
Who shall smite in holy vengeance All His foes beneath His throne.

4. Who is this that hangs there dying While the rude world scoffs and scorns,
Numbered with the malefactors, Torn with nails, and crowned with thorns?
’Tis our God Who lives forever ’Mid the shining ones on high,
In the glorious golden city, Reigning everlastingly.

Primus Pilus II

Mike