Collect for Today
Farragut, Is That You?
Proper 18 The Sunday closest to September 7
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as
you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength,
so you never forsake those who make their boast of your
mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength,
so you never forsake those who make their boast of your
mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Though dating from the Leonine sacramentary, which was in use from the fourth through the seventh centuries, this collect has not been in our prayerbooks before the current edition according to Hatchett (Commentary on the American Prayer Book). Aptly, considering our lectionary for September, the scriptural allusion is from the Letter of James 4:6, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” which is also at 1 Peter 5:5 and ultimately from Proverbs 3:34, where it is part of wise advice to one addressed as “my son.”
However, anyone who has known disappointment in prayer and felt truly forsaken might challenge and be skeptical of the theological assertion “you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy.” Any such person might also feel in holy company with the One who from the Cross cried out the opening words of Psalm 22 “אֵלִי אֵלִי, לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי“ -- “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me ...”
The weak and foolish rationalization that “sometimes God says ‘no‘“ may let the Deity off the hook but is scarcely comforting to one who is suffering, or whose loved one is suffering, from causes that seem beyond human knowing and control. The collect thus confronts and conflicts with life’s experience. Terminal disease that human skill has not yet conquered ... battlefield infection ... dying in childbirth ... polio ... measles ... malaria ... progeria ... pneumonia ... heart disease ... pancreatic cancer ... ebola hemorrhagic fever ... glioma ... anger ... certitude ... hatred ... pride ... starvation ... selfishness ... greed ... battle ... war ... divine image ...
The collect dashes incautiously into a theological minefield.
T