A Christmas collect

O God who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thine only Son, Jesus Christ; Grant, that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our Judge, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

The Church of Ireland BCP 1926, PECUSA BCP 1928 and Canadian BCP 1962 offer this collect for use on Christmas Day. When there are two celebrations of the Holy Communion, the collect (with accompanying readings) "may be used at the first". The collect is also offered in the English Prayer Book as Proposed in 1928, for Christmas Eve. It was a restoration of the 1549 provision "At the First Communion", the collect itself being that of 1549.

Procter and Frere note that this 1549 collect was a translation of the collect for the Mass of the Vigil in pre-Reformation Latin rites. As with the majority of Prayer Book collects, it is rooted in the ancient prayer of the Latin churches of the West, usually from the Leonine, Gelasian and Gregorian sacramentaries of the 7th-8th centuries: in this case, it is the collect given in the Gelasian Sacramentary for Vigilia Natalis Domini. Offered in resonant, dignified vernacular, within the BCP of national churches, it exemplifies the Anglican tradition as at once Catholic and Reformed.

The collect is a wonderful example of how the Prayer Book tradition could and can renew itself. Elements set aside from within the Prayer Book tradition, or elements which cohere with it, can be grafted on without disordering the rhythms and patterns of Common Prayer.

It also demonstrates how Common Prayer could and can be experienced across provinces and nations, and in different eiterations of the BCP. While there are obvious differences between Ireland's BCP 1926, PECUSA's 1928, and Canada's 1962, the vast majority of texts within each are common, providing a shared experience of Common Prayer in Belfast and New York and Winnipeg, Fermanagh and Maine and Prince Edward Island.

This is a beautifully crafted collect, which - amidst the darkness of a Midnight Eucharist or an early Communion on Christmas morning - draws us into Christmas joy and hope.

That opening phrase, "makest us glad", captures the festivity of Christmas after the solemnity of Advent. It encapsulates the experience of the Christmas season - the Gospel accounts of the Nativity, Christmas Communion, carols, feasting, kith and kin.

We "joyfully receive him for our Redeemer". This reference to "joy", directly following "makest us glad", emphasises the character of the festive season and our experience of it. Christmas joy, gladness, festivity are not banished as 'worldly', but caught up in prayer as an expression of and participation in the redeeming grace of the Incarnation.

What, then, of the closing petition? We are reminded that "he shall come to be our Judge". It echoes the appointed epistle from Titus 2, which holds together "the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men" and the eschatological "glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ".

In holding together these advents of the Lord, the collect unfolds the fullness of salvation bestowed in the Incarnation of the Word. Thus "we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come to be our Judge". Here is a profound statement of our redemption, echoed in the carols of the season. The joy of Christmas Day is a foretaste of the renewal of all things.

This theological richness has a deeply Augustinian flavour. In Sermo LI, Augustine stated:

Christmas is fast approaching. And now that Christ has aroused our seasonal expectations, He'll soon fulfill them all.

A defining characteristic of the collects of the Prayer Book tradition is the manner in which they gather up patristic teaching to shape the Church's prayer. This is so with the collect for the first Communion of Christmas Day, sharing Augustine's joy and hope in the once and future appearings of our Lord.

As such, the collect also functions as transition from Advent to Christmas. It carries us over from the days of Advent into the festive season, while ensuring that we behold the unity of divine purpose in both advents and manifestations. The collect thus embodies the sanctifying experience of sacred time.

The richness and resonance of this collect contributes to the joy of a Prayer Book Christmas. May it be a prayer which bears fruit in and through our celebration of the festive season.

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

1928 practices and the 1979 book: unthinking conservatism or popular piety?

Those responsible for Earth & Altar - a new blog emanating from a group within TEC - are to be congratulated for an excellent contribution to wider Anglican discussion and debate. The commitment to "an expansively conceived credal orthodoxy as fully compatible with LGBTQ inclusion, gender equality, and racial justice" is an important part of a wider retrieval of creedal orthodoxy within what we might call the post-liberal generation. It is in this spirit that I want to respond to a recent post on the site by Andrew McGowan , Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School. Against the background of another round of "ill-defined" liturgical revision in TEC, he understandably urges that a fuller reception of the 1979 BCP should occur before further reforms. In doing so, however, he takes aim at what he describes as "clinging to the ritual structures of 1928" while using the text of 1979. We ...

laudable Practice

Search This Blog