Epiphany Six
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany: February 12, 2012
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in thee:
Mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the
weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing
without thee, give us the help of thy grace, that in keeping
thy commandments we may please thee both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with
thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the
weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing
without thee, give us the help of thy grace, that in keeping
thy commandments we may please thee both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with
thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Liturgical churches have a “prayer of the day” that is offered early in worship, at a point that liturgists may consider the end of the Entry Rite or the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word. Given that our worship generally proceeds as opening hymn, acclamation, collect for purity, song of praise, then collect for the day, the prayer that originally seems to have been meant to unify us, collect our attention, and focus our thoughts on God comes too far along in worship to accomplish its likely original intent. This makes it obvious why, during times of liturgical reform, the reformers always work to simplify the entry rite, which over years of use invariably will have garnered more and more elaborations, accretions.
Rubrics of the current Book of Common Prayer do provide options for simplifying, by using two words, shall and may. A shall item of worship is required, a may item is optional. In Rite Two, for example, the customary opening hymn and collect for purity are optional; the acclamation, song of praise, and collect for the day are required. All this can make liturgy preparation quite interesting, even exciting.
So much for the liturgy lesson. The above prayer for tomorrow is quite ancient, apparently 5th or 6th century, dating from the Gelasian, Gregorian, Gallican, and Sarum sacramentaries, used by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in our first (1549) prayer book, and ever since for various Sundays. It is in my earliest memories. Prayer, beauty, liturgy, memory, worship, tradition and spirituality for many, myself included, it reminds us that we can do no good thing nor please God without the inspiring grace of God. In that lex orandi lex credendi, the prayer is also a statement of our theology.
In my heart:
The First Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
O GOD, the strength of all those who put their trust in thee; Mercifully accept our prayers; and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
TW+