Patrick Comerford
The Season of Lent began last Wednesday with Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and we began this week with the First Sunday in Lent (Lent I, 18 February 2024).
This year, I am taking time each morning in Lent to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Common Worship.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;
2, today’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Early English pre-Reformation saints: 8, Saint Birinus (650), Bishop of Dorchester, Apostle of Wessex
Birinus (650), Bishop of Dorchester, Apostle of Wessex, is commemorated in Common Worship on 4 September.
Saint Birinus was born in the mid sixth century, probably of northern European origin, but he became a Benedictine monk and a priest in Rome. Feeling called by God to serve as a missionary, he was consecrated bishop, and was sent to Britain by the pope.
He intended to evangelise inland where no Christian had been before. But, arriving in Wessex in 634, he found such prevalent idolatry that he looked no further to begin work.
One of his early converts was King Cynegils, and after that the gained much support in his mission, as well as the town of Dorchester, near Oxford, for his see. He died ca 650, and became known as the ‘Apostle of the West Saxons’.
The episcopal see of the kingdom of Wessex or the West Saxons was transferred from Dorchester to Winchester in 660. Dorchester again became the seat of a bishop ca 875, and the bishop’s seat was moved to Lincoln in 1072. Today, the Bishop of Dorchester is an area bishop in the Diocese of Oxford.
The churches in the Milton Keynes area associated with the early work of Saint Birinus include All Saints, Calverton, and Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Newport Pagnell.
Luke 11: 29-32 (NRSVA):
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! 32 The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!’
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 21 February 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 ‘Stories of Hope, Ukraine – Two years on …’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Rachel Weller, Digital Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (21 February 2024, International Language Day) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland (ECACP) and its local parishes as they reach out to those in need.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
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:
Lord God,
you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven;
by it you nourish our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love:
teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread,
and enable us to live by every word
that proceeds from out of your mouth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Felix (647), Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles
Tomorrow: Saint Aidan (651), Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary
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
No comments:
Post a Comment