Proper Prayers for Easter 3C (5 May 2019)

Propers for the Third Sunday of Easter (RCL Easter 3C)

Acts 9.1-6; Psalm 30; Revelation 5.11-14; John 21.1-19

Collect of the Day

O God, your Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread.  Open the eyes of our faith, so that we may see him in his redeeming work, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  [1]

or

Eternal and all-merciful God, with all the angels and all the saints we laud your majesty and might. By the resurrection of your Son, show yourself to us and inspire us to follow Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.  [2]

or

Risen Christ, you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:  strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace, to the glory of God, who raises the dead to life. Amen.  [3]

or

God of the new fire and feasting at daybreak:  come to us in the dullness of routine and the pain of betrayal; call to us in the way of the cross and the joy of resurrection; through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Amen.  [3]

or

God of life, in your risen Son you reveal your abiding presence among us and summon those reborn in baptism to lives of worship and service.  Fill this assembly with reverence as we come before you in prayer. Grant us courage and zeal in bearing witness before the world to your Son, Jesus Christ, the first-born from the dead, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.  Amen.  [4]

or

God of victory over death, your Son revealed himself again and again, and convinced his followers of his glorious resurrection.  Grant that we may know his risen presence, in love obediently feed his sheep, and care for the lambs of his flock, until we join the hosts of heaven in worshippingyou and praising him who is worthy of blessing and honour, glory and power, for ever and ever.  Amen.  [6]

Prayer over the Gifts

Creator of all, you wash away our sins in water, you give us new birth by the Spirit, and redeem us in the blood of Christ.  As we celebrate the resurrection, renew your gift of life within us.  We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the risen Lord. Amen.  [1]

or

Blessed are you, O God, ruler of heaven and earth.  Day by day you shower us with blessings.  As you have raised us to new life in Christ, give us glad and generous hearts, ready to praise you and to respond to those in need, through Jesus Christ, our Saviourand Lord.  Amen.  [2]

Proper Preface of Easter

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; we give you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord; for he is the true paschal lamb who has taken away the sin of the world.  By his death he destroyed death, and by his rising to life again he was won for us eternal life.  Therefore, joining our voices with the hole company of heaven, we sing our joyful hymn of praise to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, for the glorious resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the true Paschal Lamb who gave himself to take away our sin, who in dying has destroyed death, and in rising has brought us to eternal life.  And so, with Mary Magdalene and Peter and all the witnesses of the resurrection, with earth and sea and all their creatures, and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:  [2a]

Prayer after Communion

Author of life divine, in the breaking of bread we know the risen Lord.  Feed us always in these mysteries, so that we may show your glory to all the world.  We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  [1]

or

Life-giving God, in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection you send light to conquer darkness, water to give new life, and the bread of life to nourish your people.  Send us forth as witnesses to your Son’s resurrection, so that we may show your glory to all the world, through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.  Amen.  [2]

Easter Blessings

I

May Almighty God, who has redeemed us and made us his children through the resurrection of his Son our Lord, bestow upon you the riches of his blessing.  Amen. 

May God, who through the water of baptism has raised us from sin into newness of life, make you holy and worthy to be united with Christ for ever.  Amen. 

May God, who has brought us out of bondage to sin into true and lasting freedom in the Redeemer, bring you to your eternal inheritance.  Amen. 

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you for ever.  Amen.   [7]

II

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always.  Amen.  [7]

 

Sources

[1]       The Book of Alternative Services 1985

[2]       Evangelical Lutheran Worship 2006

[2a]     Evangelical Lutheran Worship:  Leaders Desk Edition 2006

[3]       Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion 2016

[4]       Opening Prayers:  Collects in Contemporary Language 1997, 1999, 2001

[5]       Prayers for an Inclusive Church 2009

[6]       Revised Common Lectionary Prayers 2002

[7]       The Book of Occasional Services2018

N.B.  When a word or phrase appears is italicized in a liturgical text, it is an alteration made by the Ven. Richard Geoffrey Leggett to the original text.

A Sermon by Tasha Carrothers on John 20.19-31

Dear Friends,

Today our Honourary Assistant Curate, Tasha Carrothers, preached on the Gospel of John.  Here's a link to an audio recording of her sermon.

Click here to listen to Tasha's sermon as preached at the 10.00 a.m. Eucharist.

Blessings,

Richard +
Vicar

Proper Prayers for Easter 2C (28 April 2019)

Propers for the Second Sunday of Easter (RCL Easter 2C)

Acts 5.27-32; Psalm 118.14-29 or Psalm 150; Revelation 1.4-8; John 20.19-31

Collect of the Day

Almighty and eternal God, the strength of those who believe and the hope of those who doubt, may we, who have not seen, have faith and receive the fullness of Christ’s blessing, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen. [1]

or

O God of life, you reach out to us amid our fears with the wounded hands of your risen Son.  By your Spirit’s breath revive our faith in your mercy, and strengthen us to be the body of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.  [2]

or

Risen Christ, for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:  open the doors of our hearts, so that we may seek the good of others and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace, to the praise of God, the Source of all life.  Amen.  [3]

or

O God, our beginning and our end:  accept our doubts, heal our desire for certainty and, by your Spirit’s gentle touch, make us a people forgiven and forgiving; through Jesus Christ, the Giver of Peace.  Amen.  [3]

or

God of life, source of all faith, through the waters of baptism you have raised us up in Jesus and given us life that endures.  Day by day refine our faith, so thatwe who have not seen the Christ may truly confess him as our Lord and God, and share the blessedness of those who believe.  Grant this through Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.  Amen. [4]

or

Alpha and Omega, our beginning and our end, you break through the locks of gated communities and hardened hearts:  accept our doubts, heal our desire for certainty and, by your Spirit’s gentle touch, make us a people forgiven and forgiving; through Jesus Christ, the Giver of Peace.  Amen.  [5]

or

O God, you raised up Jesus Christ as your faithful witness and the first-born of the dead.  By your Holy Spirit, help us to witness to him so that those who have not yet seen may come to believe in him who is, and was, and is to come, for we pray in his name.  Amen.  [6]

Prayer over the Gifts

God of grace, you have freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Accept all we offer you this day, and strengthen us in the new life you have given us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  [1]

or

Blessed are you, O God, ruler of heaven and earth.  Day by day you shower us with blessings.  As you have raised us to new life in Christ, give us glad and generous hearts, ready to praise you and to respond to those in need, through Jesus Christ, our Saviourand Lord.  Amen.  [2]

Proper Preface of Easter

Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of heaven and earth; we give you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord; for he is the true paschal lamb who has taken away the sin of the world.  By his death he destroyed death, and by his rising to life again he was won for us eternal life.  Therefore, joining our voices with the hole company of heaven, we sing our joyful hymn of praise to proclaim the glory of your name.  [1]

or

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, for the glorious resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the true Paschal Lamb who gave himself to take away our sin, who in dying has destroyed death, and in rising has brought us to eternal life.  And so, with Mary Magdalene and Peter and all the witnesses of the resurrection, with earth and sea and all their creatures, and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:  [2a]

Prayer after Communion

Father, we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands the bread of life.  Strengthen our faith so that we may grow in love for you and for each other; through Jesus Christ the risen Lord.  Amen.  [1]

or

Life-giving God, in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection you send light to conquer darkness, water to give new life, and the bread of life to nourish your people.  Send us forth as witnesses to your Son’s resurrection, so that we may show your glory to all the world, through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.  Amen.  [2]

Easter Blessings

I

May Almighty God, who has redeemed us and made us his children through the resurrection of his Son our Lord, bestow upon you the riches of his blessing.  Amen. 

May God, who through the water of baptism has raised us from sin into newness of life, make you holy and worthy to be united with Christ for ever.  Amen. 

May God, who has brought us out of bondage to sin into true and lasting freedom in the Redeemer, bring you to your eternal inheritance.  Amen. 

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you for ever.  Amen.   [7]

II

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always.  Amen.  [7]

 

Sources

[1]       The Book of Alternative Services 1985

[2]       Evangelical Lutheran Worship 2006

[2a]     Evangelical Lutheran Worship:  Leaders Desk Edition 2006

[3]      Trial Use Collects for Years A, B & C and Seasonal Prayers over the Gifts and after Communion 2016

[4]       Opening Prayers:  Collects in Contemporary Language 1997, 1999, 2001

[5]       Prayers for an Inclusive Church 2009

[6]       Revised Common Lectionary Prayers 2002

[7]       The Book of Occasional Services 2018

N.B.  When a word or phrase appears is italicized in a liturgical text, it is an alteration made by the Ven. Richard Geoffrey Leggett to the original text.

The Work of the Bees: An Easter Reflection (21 April 2019)

The Work of the Bees

As Easter Reflection

RCL Easter C

21 April 2019

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Easter.

Luke 24.1-12

                  ^24.1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb^{, 3}but when they went in, they did not find the body.  ⁴While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.  ⁵The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.  ⁶Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  ⁸Then they remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.  ¹⁰Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.  ¹¹But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.  ¹²But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

            Many of us this past week were caught up in the scenes of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  Perhaps we had our own moments of strong emotions when the steeple fell, while others found themselves re-living memories of their own visits to the Cathedral and its environs.  In the aftermath of the fire I know that friends have found some comfort in the knowledge that many of the precious works of art, the relics of the saints and the stained glass windows were either rescued or survived the flames and smoke.

            In the days after the fire millions of dollars were pledged for the re-building of the Cathedral.  The in-pouring of such promises of support generated both praise and criticism. Some voices were raised to ask why the wealthy were willing to open their wallets to fund the restoration of a cultural icon, while they manoeuver energetically to avoid paying taxes that might be used to fund social projects.  Religious voices were heard to ask whether it was appropriate to spend so much money on one building when there are literally thousands of churches throughout France that require significant repairs and renovations.

            For me, as the vicar of a congregation that makes its home in a historic building, I watched the drama of the fire and listened to the debate that is still raging from a particular perspective.  It is the vocation of any church to serve both as a place of worship and as a place of public assembly and service.  Our buildings are witnesses to continuity as well as bases for the Christian community to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly among those with whom we live and work.  At our best we are living signs of God’s love for the world made known in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

            Just two days ago, though, I learned something that gave me a deeper understanding of the fire.  Some of you may know that there is an initiative in Paris to stem the decline of bees in the city.  So, on the rooftops of many buildings, there are bee hives.  On the roof of Notre Dame there are three bee hives housing more than 180,000 bees.  As the flames drew nearer to their location, the beekeeper could only look on helplessly. Once the fire was extinguished, he tried to gain access to the roof but was denied.  Two days ago other beekeepers took pictures of the roof which showed that not only had the hives survived but the bees had not been harmed by the temperature of the fire which came as close as 10 metres to the hives.

            The news that the bees had survived took me back to a late Saturday night in April of 1979.  I was participating in my first Easter Vigil as a student in theological college.  In the darkness of the Wisconsin night we kindled a fire and lit the Paschal Candle.  We processed up the central aisle of the Chapel of Saint Mary the Virgin stopping three times to proclaim ‘The light of Christ.  Thanks be to God.’  Then the candle was placed near the high altar and the deacon began to sing the Exsultet.

            The Exsultet is one of the oldest hymns in the Christian tradition.  It tells the whole story of salvation beginning with creation and ending with the resurrection of Jesus.  All this history is embodied in the tall, slender candle. The deacon, at one point, sings, ‘Therefore, O holy Father, accept the evening sacrifice of this lighted candle, which your holy Church makes before you, and offers to you by the hands of your servants, the work of the bees your creatures.’  The resurrection is not just for humanity.  It is for the bees and all of creation.

            I remember the smell of beeswax overcoming the powerful aroma of the incense rising from the thurible I was carrying.  I remember the deacon’s song celebrating God’s life pouring into the world to heal the wound caused by human sin and our tragic tendency to choose self-interest over the common good.  I remember realizing that the resurrection of Jesus was not something to be explained but something to be experienced.  In the words of the Exsultet I heard God’s voice singing to me and to all who were present that night asking us to open our eyes so that we could see the resurrection all around us.

            On Easter some people may expect a preacher to provide proof that God raised Jesus from the dead.  All I can say to such seekers is this:  Look around you.  For two thousand years religious and political powers have sought to silence our proclamation that Christ is risen, whether by ridicule, persecution or social censure.  But we are still here, the continuing embodiment on earth of the life of the risen Christ. All I can say to such seekers is this: Look around you.  Consider the lives of men and women who for two thousand years have dared to live in the faith that life is stronger than death and that goodness is stronger than evil.  And here we are, raising our voices in praise and giving ourselves in service to those so-called civil society often considers ‘collateral damage’ in North American culture’s fixation with the acquisition of more things, both tangible and intangible.

            I take heart that as Notre Dame was burning, Christians from all over the world were praying and singing hymns on the other side of the river Seine. Prayers were offered for the firefighters and for the success of their efforts to bring the fire under control. A few prayers, I’m sure, were offered in hopes of a miraculous intervention.  But the prayers of one man were that the bees would be safe.  Bees give life and beauty to all of us, but they also make wax.  I know that Christ is risen, that the Lord is risen indeed, because there will be wax for next year’s Paschal Candle at Notre Dame.  Its light will pierce the darkness and the deacon will sing an ancient song to open our eyes to Christ’s risen life all around us even as the bees work quietly over our heads.           

Breathe Out. Breathe In.

Breathe Out, Breathe In

Reflections on Philippians 2.1-11

Palm Sunday

14 April 2019

Holy Trinity Cathedral

New Westminster BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 14th of April.

Philippians 2.1-11

                  ^2.1If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ²make my joy complete:  be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  ⁴Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  ⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

                  ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.

                  ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

            Thursday afternoons you will usually find me at the Diamond Centre at Vancouver General Hospital participating in a cardiac wellness program.  My hour-long class begins with warm-up exercises, three ten-minute sessions on the various equipment in the gym and then a cool-down period.  We are taught to breathe out when flexing our muscles rather than a tendency on the part of most of us to hold our breaths and to breathe in during the relaxation phase of the exercise.  Often during the cool-down portion of our class we will spend a few minutes quietly breathing in and out, concentrating on deep breathing using our diaphragms, a form of easy meditation.

            Think on it for a moment.  Each time we breathe out, we help our body cleanse itself of the potential toxic effects of carbon dioxide.  We empty our lungs of what is harmful to us in order to breathe in the oxygen and nitrogen that gives life to our bodies.  Thousands of times each day, countless times during our lives, we breathe out and then breathe in, a rhythm of emptying and filling that can include the wider world in which we live and move and have our being.

            In 1987 the Faculty of Vancouver School of Theology collectively breathed out our commitment to academic traditions and practices that were hundreds of years old and breathed in a new commitment to a way of offering theological education that challenged us then and continues to challenge the whole church to this day.  We agreed to embark on a journey in partnership with indigenous communities throughout North America who wanted clergy leaders who had been trained to honour the cultures of indigenous peoples as well as their stories and their ways of learning.  Our partners wanted their clergy leaders to be trained, as much as possible, within the communities they served rather than disappear for three years to study in Vancouver or some other urban setting.

            So we designed a program that made use of on-line courses, classic extension courses, summer school courses and tutorials led by local tutors.  Some of our colleagues in other institutions thought we were foolish.  Others thought we were sacrificing the academic traditions in which we had been trained.  But we breathed out what was not life-giving to our indigenous students and we breathed in what had the potential to be life-giving.

            We actively recruited allies through the Anglican and Episcopal churches in North America.  One of those allies was the then Bishop of Alaska who came to Vancouver for visit to learn more about the program.  I was assigned to be his host and guide.  On the appointed day I dressed in a very professorial way and waited for the Bishop to arrive.  Time passed with no Bishop in sight.  So I finally went downstairs to Reception.  I passed by a man in his forties, dressed in a lumberjack shirt and sporting a beard and a ponytail.  We smiled at each other and I went on the receptionist.  I asked her to keep an eye out for the Bishop and to call me when he arrived.  Behind me a quiet voice said, ‘Oh, here I am.  I might be a little late.’  I turned with to shake his hand and came face to face with a man in his forties, dressed in a lumberjack shirt and sporting a beard and a ponytail --- the Bishop of Alaska. Years later he would become and still is our National Indigenous Bishop, Mark MacDonald.  

            Mark had breathed out the trappings of office that sometimes hinder bishops in their ministry.  He then breathed in a more life-giving persona that allowed him to reach out to people where they were.

            Friends, on this Palm Sunday we begin our annual journey from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, through the tumult of a week filled with intrigue and fear, betrayal, condemnation and death, to the resurrection and its proclamation that ‘Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death’ and that ‘victr’y is ours, victr’y is ours, through God who loves us.’ [1]  During this week Jesus breathes out ‘equality with God’ as a barrier to reaching out to us and to all humanity.  He breathes in ‘human likeness’ so that you and I and all our sisters and brothers can ‘. . . be of the same mind, having the same love, [be] in full accord and of one mind.’

            We breathe out ‘selfish ambition [and] conceit’. We breathe in ‘mind of Christ’ so that we can ‘look not to [our] own interests, but to the interests of others’. We breathe out injustice, arrogance and self-centredness.  We breathe in justice, humility and loving-kindness.  With each breath we become more and more our true selves, the beloved community gathered to be transformed, whether as individual believers or as a community of faith, not for ourselves alone but for the sake of world.

            Bishop Nicholas Knisely writes in his little Lenten devotional book, Lent Is Not Rocket Science, a reflection on breathing out and breathing in.

            [If] you work out all the math, it turns out that each breath we take contains many of the same air molecules that Jesus breathed during his lifetime.  You and I are literally, with each breath, breathing the same air as Our Lord.  And, by extension, the same air that was breathed by every saint, known and unknown, who ever lived --- and every sinner as well.[2]

The air of laughter, of tears, of heroes, and of scoundrels surrounds us at every moment of our lives, filling our lungs and giving us life.[3]

Have the same breath within you as was in Christ Jesus who breathed out exploiting his relationship with God.  Have the same breath within you as was in Christ Jesus who breathed in our human nature. Breathe out.  Breathe in.  With each breath become more like Christ Jesus who gives life to every cell in our bodies so that the glory of God, the compassion of Christ and the wisdom of the Spirit might fill the whole earth or at least that small space that surrounds each one of us.

---

[1]Evangelical Lutheran Worship#721.

[2]Knisely 2013, 89.

[3]Knisely 2013, 90.

Something Extravagant for God in the Here and Now

On Sunday, 7 April 2019, Archbishop Melissa Skelton came to Holy Trinity Cathedral for her archiepiscopal visit.  It was a joyous occasion --- even in Lent!

She preached a wonderful sermon and here's a link so that you can listen to it for yourself:

Click here to listen to Archbishop Melissa's Sermon.

Blessings,

Richard +