Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII). Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in this week in the Church Calendar are also known as Ember Days.
The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Bishop of Winchester, spiritual writer, and Sergei of Radonezh (1392), Russian monastic reformer and teacher of the faith.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Luke 9: 1-6 (NRSVA):
1 Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money – not even an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. 5 Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ 6 They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
Today’s Reflection:
The story of the Twelve being called and sent out in mission and ministry, ‘to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal,’ is an appropriate Gospel on the first of the Ember Days in September.
Ember Days have often been associated with prayer and fasting and Common Worship describes them ‘as days of prayer for those to be made deacon or priest.’ Traditionally they have been observed on the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays within the weeks before the Third Sunday of Advent, the Second Sunday of Lent and the Sundays nearest to 29 June and 29 September.
Common Worship suggests: ‘Ember Days may also be kept even when there is no ordination in the diocese as more general days of prayer for those who serve the Church in its various ministries, both ordained and lay, and for vocations.’
This traditional association explains why the invitations sent out to ordinations are known as Ember Cards.
In sending the Twelve out in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus ‘gave them power and authority’. What is the nature of that ‘power and authority’, and where do we find that in ministry and discipleship?
As I ask these questions, I turn this morning to a prayer by Lancelot Andrewes, who is commemorated in the Church Calendar on this day. This prayer is framed beside his tomb in Southwark Cathedral:
Thou, O Lord, art the Helper of the helpless,
the Hope of the Hopeless,
the Saviour of them who are tossed with tempests,
the Haven of them who sail, be thou all to all.
The glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us;
prosper thou the work of our hands upon us;
oh! prosper thou our handiwork.
Lord, be thou within us, to strengthen me,
without us to keep us, above us to protect me,
beneath us to uphold me, before us to direct us,
behind us to keep us from straying,
round about us to defend us.
Blessed be Thou, O Lord our Father, forever and ever.
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 25 September 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Our God is Able.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday in reflections by the Revd Thanduxolo Noketshe, priest in charge at Saint Mary and Christ Church, Diocese of North East Caribbean and Aruba, Province of the West Indies.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 25 September 2024) invites us to pray:
Father God, we pray for all who are fearful for their futures today. Cover them with your grace and peace.
The Collect:
Lord God,
who gave to Lancelot Andrewes many gifts of your Holy Spirit,
making him a man of prayer and a pastor of your people:
perfect in us that which is lacking in your gifts,
of faith, to increase it,
of hope, to establish it,
of love, to kindle it,
that we may live in the light of your grace and glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Lancelot Andrewes revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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