A prayer before Advent

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

This prayer is based on Jeremiah xxiii. 5. and S. JOHN vi. 5.
 
This, as we now have it, is the Collect of a transition Sunday. We owe this to our Reformers, who, by skilfully altering “The fruit of the Divine work” into “The fruit of good works,” and by introducing the “plenteous reward,” have made it clear that they at least intended us to regard Advent as the consummation of the Christian life. All our Trinity Seasons of growth in good works are to be tested at the Final Advent, and there shall be a plenteous reward for those who have been God’s faithful people in the final “Well done, good and faithful servants.” This thought was lacking in the ancient service books, which, as has been said, regarded this Sunday as wholly of Advent and prayed only for greater grace.
There is still, however, no less obvious reference than previously to the Advent subject, and indirectly also to the Epistle and Gospel. These have taught us that the promise of the First Advent given as in the Epistle was completely fulfilled as recorded in the Gospel. The First Advent is the pledge of the Second Advent. We, therefore, pray in view of that solemn event :—
     A.   For Quickened Wills.
The will is the man, and God will not force the will lest He destroy in us this very image of Himself. We. pray, therefore, that He would stir and rouse our wills into free action, by His Spirit, by His promises, and especially by His promise of the second coming of Christ (cf. Hebrews x. 24, 25).
     B.   For Greater Fruitfulness.
Our fruitfulness is indeed, according to the ancient Collect, “The fruit of the Divine action,” but it is none the less ours, for it depends upon our wills to allow the seed of grace room to grow and bear fruit in the garden of our hearts, lives, characters, and dispositions.
     C.   For the Final Reward.
The reward will be according to our works, and plenteous fruitfulness shall be plenteously rewarded, but the will, the fruit, and the reward are all “Through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  -Rev. P. M. Scott, D.D.

Meditaion on Minor Propers Jer 29:1, 4-14 & Titus 3:1-8. 23rd Sunday in Trinitytide

Remember the old folk hymn that was made popular years ago by Burl Ives? "I am a poor wayfaring stranger, Just passing through this world below ..."
Well, that's the background to today's readings. Jeremiah is writing to a captive people. They've been taken away from their true home and forced to live in exile in a strange land.
St. Paul has similar thoughts as he writes to the Church. He had often said things about our being strangers and pilgrims, with our citizenship in heaven. Both readings start from the same assumption: that we are not really where we belong, but that we are where God has put us for now. Against that background, Jeremiah and Paul give us strikingly similar advice as to how we are to behave in this strange land.
"Build ye houses," says Jeremiah, "and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

You're going to be here for quite a while. Settle in, and, even though this isn't permanent, be the best citizens you can be, and, in doing so, be an influence toward God's ways
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
We are strangers, but we are not rebels. We seek to build, not to destroy. We seek peace, not endless strife.

St. Paul tells us to
"... be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,"
It is hard to remember in a world that proclaims government of the people, by the people, and for the people, that it is not the job of a Christian people
to rule, but rather to serve, and it is not rights we seek, but God's will in our own lives, and the spreading of God's Word and His love by the way we live our lives.
St. Paul continues, challenging us:
"To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men."

Does this sound like the way politics is being done in our land in the name of Christ? Or is it so that we have opposing camps, each claiming to be advancing Christian principles, and yet hurling invective, calling names,
making accusations, shouting in anger? Isn't that a good description of current politics? As a matter of fact, it sounds like church politics too. We Anglicans seem not able to stop shouting at each other. Where is the gentleness and meekness that the Apostle is calling for? Certainly there is right and there is wrong, but there is a right way and a wrong way to promote truth. If the spreading of truth is done in such a way that we are biting and devouring one another, have we perhaps used truth to promote a lie?
"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, "
Our Lord has offered us forgiveness, and calls upon us to forgive. He offers us mercy, and requires us to show mercy.
He is patient and longsuffering with us, for which we should be very thankful indeed, and expects us to be patient.
We believe truth, but we need also to live the truth. As St. Paul; said,
"This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men."
And, if we will hear Him, and do all that we are able to follow Him, and tearfully repent when we fail Him, then we can claim the words of Jeremiah:
"Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive."


Let us pray.
Almighty God, who alone gavest us the breath of life, and alone canst keep alive in us the holy desires thou dost impart; We beseech thee, for thy compassion's sake, to sanctify all our thoughts and endeavours; that we may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without thy blessing. And grant that, having thre eyes of the mind opened to behold things invisihble and unseen, we may in heart be inspired by thy wisdom, and in work be upheld by thy strength, and in the end be accepted of thee as thy faithful servants; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
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Collect for the 22nd Sunday in Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

A PRAYER FOR THE PERSEVERANCE OF GOD.
We pray that God may enable us for perseverance or continual godliness.
     A.   The Church God’s Household.
The same description of the Church occurs in the Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, the Sunday of Patience, a similar Collect dealing with a very similar subject. God’s patience is manifest in His household. In that household the servants all are children, and the children servants, and God is Father though Master, and Master though Father.
     B.   A Prayer for God’s Perseverance with Us.
We pray that He would keep us with His Fatherly care, and that He would protect us from all adversities, for only thus can we hope to obtain that for which we next pray.
     C.   A Petition for Our Own Perseverance.
We pray that we may be devoutly given to serve in good works. The Master’s care must be repaid by willing service. If He perseveres with us we must persevere in all our duties, both to Him and our fellow-servants. Oh, for such continual recollection of our position and duties as members of the family of God!
by the Rev. Prebendary Melville Scott, D.D. from The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.A Devotional Exposition of the Continuous Teaching of the Church Throughout the Year,S.P.C.K., London, 1902.

20th Sunday in Trinitytide CHEERFUL SERVICE.

To “serve God and be cheerful,” the motto of Bishop Hacket, expresses the teaching of this very characteristic Sunday, which follows so naturally upon the Gospel of last Sunday—“Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” The Sunday of Renewal is most fitly followed by the Sunday of Cheerful Service, a service only possible for “liberated minds,” which is the literal meaning of the phrase in the ancient Collect, now translated as “cheerfully.”
 

THE EPISTLE. (EPH. v. 15.) THE JOY OF SERVICE. S. Paul brings before us the duty of joy, for we must not mistake peremptory duties for optional privileges. No such word as “privilege” exists in the Bible, for whatever we can attain in the Christian life it is our bounden duty to attain.
This short Epistle contrasts two apparently opposite views of religion.
     A.   The Seriousness of Religion.
The Christian life demands—
     (1)   Intense Caution.
In a world of so many inward and outward enemies the Christian must “look carefully how he walks,” and employ caution and wisdom in all the relations of life. Many eyes are upon him, especially One.
     (2)   Active Diligence.
We have fallen on evil days, and it is our duty to make them better. We are therefore to redeem the time, or, more accurately, “to buy up the opportunity,” at any expense of effort and self-denial. Everything is so against us that we must make the most of every passing help, influence, and means of grace. Our sails must be so set as to catch every transient breath of favourable wind. We must be alive also to every opportunity for doing good. We must endeavour to discover the will of God and act upon it, avoiding the folly of ignorance and the greater folly of disobedience. We shall thus be able both to gain and impart good.
     B.   The Happiness of Religion.
This happiness is a thing commanded, for it is as much our duty to be “filled with the Spirit” as not to be “drunk with wine.” Certain features of this happiness are to be noted.
     (1)   Its Source
Is the Spirit of God. We are to seek for satisfaction, not in the wine of earth, but in the wine of Heaven, and are not to be content with any mere taste of it, but to be filled.
     (2)   Its Expression.
This joy will find a vent in holy intimacies and friendships, for we are to speak of it “one to another” (R.V.). It will show itself in the melody of Christian song, and in the melody of the heart no less than of the voice. Its inspiration will be gratitude “to the Lord,” Who has redeemed us, and thus will be like that of the songs of Heaven. The revellers in the wine of earth sing, and shall not we; we are to sing in the Church on High, shall we not begin here?
     (3)   Its Thankfulness.
This is an essential element in Christian joy, for we are to be thankful always and for all things, for everything which the Father sends is good and for our good.
     (4)   Its Self-Restraint.
This joy must not lead us to forget plain duty, as do the joys of revelry, for we are “to submit ourselves one to another.” It is not inconsistent with the utmost reverence, for amid all the joys of service we are to remember that our Master is One to be feared as well as rejoiced in. These two views of religion as here described are not inconsistent. To take religion seriously is the only way
to find it a happy service, without misgiving and without remorse. A little religion will make us sad, but much will bring the joy of Heaven. Heaven is only this Epistle carried out to the letter.
 

THE GOSPEL.   (S. MATT. xxii. 1.)   THE FEAST OF JOY. We are at once reminded of the parable of the Great Supper (S. Luke xiv. 16), the Gospel for the Second Sunday after Trinity. There is much in common between the two parables, but there is a degree of difference, and each is appropriately placed by our Church. The Gospel of the earlier Sunday illustrates our response to the loving invitation of God, this the call to rejoice. The good man who made a supper is here the King seeking the happy service of His people. There was the sin of ingratitude, here the deeper sin of rebellion, and the penalty of the outer darkness. The invitation was a call to happiness, and to enter into the joys of their Lord, but it was the invitation of a King.
Two points may be singled out for special notice.
     A.   The Reason of Refusal.
We cannot understand the refusal of happiness, still less the angry treatment of the servants. What was the cause of this bitter refusal? The answer is plain. They would have none of the feast because they would have none of the King. Each man would go to his own farm or to his merchandise to show his independence of the King. But more than this, they were roused to active opposition of insult and violence.
This was the case with the Jews—and it is often the case now. Men reject the offer of happiness, because it means service, a will and heart given to God. Thus they resist, and try to kill the messenger conscience, and to discredit all other God’s messengers. Let such opposition teach us that religion must be a very real thing, or men would not be so indisposed to accept it.
     B.   The Rejection of the Guest.
Why was this one guest rejected? Evidently his lack of education was no impediment, for such is not to be sought among the highways and hedges. His character was no objection, for bad
and good were alike invited. What was, then, the wedding garment which he had not on? Evidently he came without the desire to be glad in that which was the joy of the King. The same disobedience which made others refuse, made him, though present, to be unfit.
The garment of renewal offered in Christ, and explained in the Gospel for last Sunday, was rejected. If any are cast into the outer darkness it will be because they will not put on the new man. If we miss the joy of service it is because we will not serve.
 

THE COLLECT.  A PRAYER FOR CHEERFUL SERVICE. There is such intimate connection between Collect and Epistle, the doctrine of the one suggesting the petitions of the other, that we may regard the Collect as the Epistle done into a prayer.
There are three main petitions
     A.   For Preservation.
We pray against all hurtful things which may hinder us from cheerful service, and especially as taught by the Epistle, from the carelessness which gives no heed to watchful circumspection, from the indolence which fails to redeem the time, and from the self. indulgence wherein is excess. In days which are evil we must ever pray to be kept from all things that may hurt us.
     B.   For Preparation.
We pray for such preparation of body that we may avoid all temptations to excess, and for such preparation of soul that we may understand what the will of the Lord is. We need this twofold readiness, for the spirit may hinder by unwillingness, and the flesh by weakness.
     C.   For Performance.
We pray that, thus guarded and guided, we may cheerfully accomplish the things which God would have us do, whether pleasing or trying, in the joyful spirit described in the Epistle. We are not to be like Jonah, or even Moses, but like Him Whc was ever about His Father’s business.

by the Rev. Prebendary Melville Scott, D.D. from The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.A Devotional Exposition of the Continuous Teaching of the Church Throughout the Year,S.P.C.K., London, 1902.