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The First Collect for Pentecost

In the 2019 Prayer Book, the Day of Pentecost, or Whitsunday, is one of the few days in the calendar (along with Christmas, Easter Day, and Holy Saturday) that has two Collects of the Day to choose from.  This is not entirely unprecedented.  In pre-reformation history, different collects existed for different masses to be held at different times of the day.  In the development of the Anglican Prayer Book tradition, additional collects have been drawn in, and Pentecost (and its subsequent days) is one of those days that has attracted more than one collect to celebrate it.

But in the 1662 Prayer Book, there is only one:

GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end.  Amen.

This is essentially identical to the first collect in our book:

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

What we have here is, I think, a little different from the focus that modern evangelicals normally take on the Pentecost account.  Typically today we link the term “pentecostal” to the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues, and the the powerful “move” of the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ’s Church.  But this collect redirects that to a particular focus.  We are not simply celebrating a spiritual gift, we are celebrating the spiritual fruit that results from that gift.  The speaking in many languages was not the point of Pentecost; the point of Pentecost was the preaching of the Gospel to all nations.  Using multiple languages was simply a necessary means under the circumstances of the moment.

So let’s break down this collect a little bit.

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people

Think back to the Gospel of St. John, and what Jesus taught about the Spirit in chapters 14-16.  There he introduces us to the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who would lead the apostles “into all truth.”   This is a teaching work, something that often gets missed when one gets caught up in the subject of charismata – supernatural charismatic gifts of the Spirit in a post-1900 Pentecostal context.

by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:

In Acts 2, the Spirit descended upon the apostles like tongues of flame.  We tend to talk about “being on fire for the Lord”, and the burning zeal of evangelism, more often than we talk about that flame being a source of light.  This collect reminds us of an interpretive approach that Pentecostalism sometimes is prone to miss: the gift of the Holy Spirit unto the people of God is about enlightenment, teaching, receiving knowledge… as Jeremiah prophesied, they will all “know the Lord.”

Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things,

Having “a right judgement” is biblical wisdom language.  It refers to the ability to make right, or good, decisions based upon knowledge of God’s Law.  This is very much like the Old Testament Pentecost, which celebrated the giving of the Law of Moses at Mount Sinai.  People were to know that Law, and keep it, and that was wisdom.  But in the New Covenant from Christ, we receive the Law of Christ not on tablets of stone, but written on our hearts by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The New Pentecost is similar to, but infinitely better than, the Old Pentecost.  By the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can know Christ and follow in his ways.  This collect directs us to pray for that very walk.

and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;

Worship is never far from biblical and liturgical injunctions.  We are to rejoice in God, specifically here in the Spirit’s “comfort.”  This is a reference to the Spirit being called the Comforter (or Helper in the ESV translation) in John chapters 14, 15, and 16.  The Greek word behind this is παρακλετε, paraclete, which can also be rendered Advocate, Mediator, or Intercessor.  This word can be used in a courtroom setting – one who aids someone else’s legal defense – but it is unclear how particular the biblical use of this word was intended to be.  The Holy Spirit helps us in many ways, after all, not just in pleading our innocence-in-Christ before the Father.

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The collect ends as most do, acknowledging the fullness of the holy Trinity.

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Evening Prayer on the Day of Pentecost

Here’s a little surprise, or bonus, for this evening: I’ve recorded the Daily Office of Evening Prayer for Pentecost evening!

Outline so you can have your books (2019 Prayer Book, ESV Bible, and a Hymnal) ready and follow along:

  • Opening Sentence (BCP 55)
  • Confession of Sin (BCP 41)
  • The Invitatory (BCP 43)
  • Abide with me (Hymnal)
  • Psalm 145 (BCP 461)
  • First Lesson: Acts 2
  • Canticle: Magnificat (BCP 45)
  • Second Lesson: Acts 10:34-end
  • Canticle: Nunc dimittis (BCP 46)
  • Apostles’ Creed (BCP 46)
  • The Prayers (BCP 47)
    • Collect for the Day of Pentecost #1 (BCP 614)
    • Collect for Resurrection Hope (BCP 49)
    • Prayer for Mission #1 (BCP 51)
  • Anthem: Hail thee, festival day (Hymnal)
  • One-minute Reflection
  • Additional Prayers (BCP 675-680)
    • #98 For the Acceptance of Prayer
    • #99 For the Acceptance of Prayer
    • #100 For the Answering of Prayer
    • #108 After Public Worship
    • #115 For the Coming of God’s Kingdom
  • The Great Thanksgiving (BCP 51)
  • Closing Prayers (BCP 52)
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3-Step Spirituality in Ezekiel 3

Yes, yes, this is a liturgy blog, not a Bible Study blog, but I’m a pastor, not just a priest, so some crossover is going to be inevitable from time to time.

But, to encourage you to watch this anyway, I actually do use the liturgy as an illustration for the biblical point I was exploring.  If you sometimes struggle to teach your congregation about the liturgy, this may be an example of one way of employing it in your preaching.

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Introduction to Ascensiontide & Pentecost

Time for another video!  The quarantine lifestyle has thrown a lot of my previous plans off track so this is a bit later than I would have liked, but at least it’s ready before the Day of Pentecost.  Here is a video introduction, especially for those new to the Prayer Book tradition, to the mini-season of Ascensiontide and the great holy day of Pentecost.

Subject Index:

  • 00:00 Name & Meaning
  • 04:18 Major Themes
  • 08:20 Outline in traditional Prayer Books
  • 11:55 Outline in the 2019 Prayer Book
  • 16:35 Other liturgical features in the 2019 Prayer Book
  • 19:37 Closing Prayer: for the Sunday after the Ascension

For further reading:

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Saint Augustine of Canterbury Day

May 26th is the commemoration of Saint Augustine of Canterbury, who is an immensely significant figure for Anglicans.  He was the first Archbishop of Canterbury.  He was the leader of a mission to re-evangelize the British Isles after the Anglo-Saxon invasion had pushed the old Celtic churches somewhat to the margins.  Sometimes today we romanticize Celtic Christianity, but it needs to be remembered that their unique traditions and style of spirituality did wane over time, and the land later to be known as England was not truly “won for Christ” for the long haul until Augustine’s second wave of evangelists beginning at the end of the 6th century.

St. Augustine had been sent by Pope Gregory the Great, and entrusted with the difficult task not only of evangelizing the warlike Saxon kings but also reconciling his new churches with the old Celtic ones.  It would be over 60 years later, at the Synod of Whitby, that the Anglo-Saxon Church finally settled a peaceful accord between the Augustinian churches and the Celtic churches.  In this sense, Augustine represents a sort of “catholicizing” influence on the English church, pulling local traditions more into alignment with the rest of the Church across the world.  I wrote about this last year, too.

By the way, much of what we know about Augustine and his mission, we owe to the Venerable Bede.  So it’s kind of fitting that their feast days are next to each other in this order!

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The Venerable Bede

If you have an interest in medieval English history, Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England, or the now-ubiquitously-popular concept of “Celtic Christianity”, there is one giant of literature that you have to get to know: the Venerable Bede.  His body resides in Durham Cathedral and you can read a bit about him on their website if you like.  As that page notes, Bede’s “most famous work is The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the first ever written history of England.  Completed in 731, it is a key source for understanding early British history, details about St Cuthbert’s life and the arrival of Christianity.”

It is from his writings that we have the oldest-preserved poem in English, Cædmon’s Hymn (which I had to memorize in Anglo-Saxon and translate for an exam in college), and from his students we have another gem of a poem that he recited on his deathbed:

Before the journey that awaits us all,
No man becomes so wise that he has not need
to think out, before his going hence,
What judgment will be given to soul
after his death: of evil or of good.

He died 1,285 years ago tomorrow, but his commemoration day is today.  The reason for that is tomorrow is the commemoration of another saint, August of Canterbury, whose feast is traditionally of a higher “rank” than Bede’s.  Although the Prayer Book tradition only acknowledges two ranks of saints days (the red-letter days appointed with Collects and Lessons, versus the black-letter days listed in the calendar and left as optional commemorations) we still follow the old precedent of celebrating Augustine on May 26th and moving Bede up a day… and besides, it’s easiest to have just one saint per day.

But let’s go back to that poem.

It is, first of all, a reflection upon death and judgment.  It is not simply a momento mori (remembrance of death) like became popular in medieval piety over the centuries, but a remembrance of judgement and eternity.  No one should grow presumptuous (or worse, lethargic) about the state of one’s soul.  Before we die, we all must contemplate eternity, we all most think on our sinfulness and on God’s grace.  Bede does not say we should live in fear, as some accuse medieval Romanism of preaching, nor does he swing in the direction of easy-peasy pop-evangelicalism that focuses on God’s loving-kindness and tends to forget about our sinfulness.  He does not swerve in either direction, but stays simply in the middle: one must be mindful of judgment.

This poem navigates the balance between different sorts of biblical texts, such as:

  • Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).
  • Judgement begins at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17).
  • They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:28).

I wish I knew more about Bede himself.  Hopefully I’ll make some time to his Ecclesiastical History in the coming year or two.  For now, though, this should be a good spiritual introduction to Bede’s sort of sober spirituality.

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An Ascension Hymn: Crown him with many crowns

Last year we looked at the song See the conqueror mounts in triumph, so let’s look at a different one today.

Crown him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon the throne;
Hark! how the heav’nly anthem drowns
All music but its own;
Awake, my soul, and sing
Of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless King
Thro’ all eternity.

This stanza is steeped in imagery primarily from the book of the Revelation.  The lamb (that was slain) upon a throne, thousands of worshipers singing in unison through all eternity… some pretty grand and epic descriptions adorn that book and this verse of the hymn.

Each of the following verses of the hymn explore a different epithet for Christ.

Crown him the Son of God
Before the worlds began…

This is paired with Crown him the Son of Man, giving us a summary of orthodox christology: Jesus is a one person with two natures in their entirety, fully God and fully man.

Crown him the Lord of life,
Who triumphed o’er the grave

This is where the Ascension gets mentioned – His glories now we sing, Who died and rose on high… This is all part of the joyful proclamation of his victory over death itself.

Crown him of lords the Lord,
Who over all doth reign

This is the hardest to sing because we’re used to the phrase “the Lord of lords” but it’s switched around a bit.  The meaning is the same, though: his kingship extends over all creation because he is the incarnate Word who now lives in realms of light.

Crown him the Lord of heav’n,
Enthroned in worlds above;
Crown him the King, to whom is giv’n
The wondrous name of Love.
Crown him with many crowns,
As throne before him fall;
Crown him, ye kings, with many crowns,
For he is King of all.

There are other verses and versions out there, but this should suffice to give one a picture of what this hymn is doing.

One curiosity about these lyrics that is worth mentioning, however, is the fact that this is not a prayer.  Most old hymns are, but this one is not.  It speaks of Christ in the third person – crown him.  From a lyrical perspective this is a devotional hymn; the singer is addressing a human audience, one’s fellow worshipers, one’s own soul.  If you are appointing this song for a worship service, take this fact into account.  It would make a good hymn of response (like to a reading, or an anthem after a sermon or something else), but doesn’t strictly fit the bill for a hymn of praise or adoration, as it never directly addresses God himself.  This hymn exhorts the hearers to extol God, rather than actually extols God outright. Obviously it praises God most highly by implication, but it’s important to be honest about the function and content of the words we sing.

Anyway, sung to the tune DIADEMATA, this is an unforgettable hymn, unabashed to kneel before Jesus and afford him the fullness of fealty that our earthly images can muster.

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Ascension Day – Antecommunion

For Ascension Day under the COVID-19 closure, I thought it would be nice to try something different.  Please forgive the box of kid’s toys in the background, and my hair’s a bit of a mess (I’m taking advantage of social distancing to regrow my hair into a ponytail while nobody has to look at it).  This is a reflection of the simple reality that worshiping at home can be difficult.  Nevertheless, whatever the challenges, the prayers of the Church never cease!

If you want a generic outline for Antecommunion, you can view or download one here: Antecommunion leaflet

The hymn I sang after the Peace (in the place of the Offertory) is See the conqueror mounts in triumph, #151 in the Book of Common Praise 2017.

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Evening Prayer Audio: Eve of the Ascension

For a special treat I decided to prepare an audio recording of Evening Prayer today

To follow along, here’s the outline:

  • Opening Sentence: Hebrews 9:24 (BCP 55)
  • Confession through Invitatory (BCP 41-43)
  • Evening Hymn: O blest Creator of the light (2017 hymnal #240)
  • Psalm 104 (BCP 403)
  • OT Lesson: Ecclesiastes 6
  • Canticle: Magnificat (BCP 45)
  • NT Lesson: 3 John
  • Canticle: Nunc Dimittis (BCP 46)
  • The Apostles’ Creed (BCP 46)
  • The Prayers (BCP 47)
    • The Collect of the Day: Ascension Day (BCP 613)
    • Collect for Protection (BCP 50)
    • The 2nd Prayer for Mission (BCP 51)
  • The Anthem: O Jesus, crowned with all reknown (2017 hymnal #148)
  • Homily: Being Rich Is Pointless?
  • Occasional Prayers #48-51 (BCP 660)
  • The General Thanksgiving (BCP 51)
  • The Grace (BCP 53)