Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (24): 24 December 2018

‘The dawn from on high will break upon us’ (Luke 1: 78) … the light of a winter dawn on Beacon Street in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Today is Christmas Eve and we have arrived at the end of the Advent season. Christmas begins later this evening [24 December 2018], and I am celebrating the Christmas Eucharist this evening at 8 p.m. in Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry, and at 10 p.m. Castletown Church, Kilcornan, Co Limerick.

But we are still in Advent, this time of anticipation and waiting for the coming of Christ, this morning.

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I have been spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary began this week with yesterday’s reflection on Anglican Heritage by Bishop Dato’ Dr Charles Samuel, Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of West Malaysia.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Monday 24 December 2018, Christmas Eve:

Give thanks for 200 years of the Anglican Church in Malaysia and for its influence throughout the Anglican Communion.

‘To give light to those who sit in darkness’ (Luke 1: 79) … lights on a dark winter night on Bore Street in Lichfield last month (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 1: 67-79, which is familiar to many as the canticle Benedictus. The priest Zechariah, father of Saint John the Baptist, is filled with the Holy Spirit, has his voice restored and speaks the prophecy that concludes, ‘By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

The reflection for today suggests:

As we prepare for the joy of tomorrow, pray that God’s healing light and love may be revealed in the darkest places.

Readings morning (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

II Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-11, 16; Psalm 89: 2, 19-27; Acts 13: 16-26; Luke 1: 67-79.

The Collect (morning):

Almighty God,
Make us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
you have given us a pledge of eternal redemption.
Grant that we may always eagerly celebrate
the saving mystery of the incarnation of your Son.
We ask this through him whose coming is certain,
whose day draws near,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Series concluded.

‘He has brought down the powerful … and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things’

The Visitation … a panel in the 19th century altarpiece from Oberammergau in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 23 December 2018

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

11 a.m., United Group Service, the Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Castletown Church, Kilcornan (Pallaskenry), Co Limerick.

Readings: Micah 5: 2-5a; the Canticle Magnificat (Luke 1: 46-55; Hymn 712, CD 40); Hebrews 10: 5-10; Luke 1: 39-45.

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit

This has been a very short Advent. There are four Sundays in Advent, but this year had Advent had just three weeks.

So, I got caught again – I was so late in sending Christmas cards that many are probably not going to arrive until well into the New Year.

I kept on ignoring all the advertising from An Post claiming Christmas begins when the first card is sent. But that sounds as ridiculous as saying Easter begins with the first crème egg.

Once again, too, we have all got caught in preparing for Christmas, so much so that many of us forgot about Advent as a time of waiting, a time of preparation, a time of anticipation.

We have been busy preparing ourselves in December, busy with the cards and the carols, the songs and the shops, Santa and the decorations. But Advent is important in itself too.

The Advent Wreath and the four candles in a ring around the white candle– three purple and one pink candle –remind us, week-after-week, of those who prepared us in the past for the Coming of the Christ Child: first the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, including Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob; then the prophets of the Old Testament; then it was Saint John the Baptist.

Then, today, the fourth and final candle reminds us of the Virgin Mary as she anticipated and prepared for Christ. We are reminded of that with the Canticle Magnificat, normally appointed for Evening Prayer, and the Gospel reading, both telling us the story of Mary and her visit to her cousin Saint Elizabeth.

The Virgin Mary stands with the Christ Child, a Christmas scene carved by Mary Grant in the centre of the west door of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)


The great German theologian and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), in an Advent sermon in London 85 years ago in 1933, said the canticle Magnificat ‘is the oldest Advent hymn.’ He spoke of how the Virgin Mary knows better than anyone else what it means to wait for Christ’s coming.

When the Virgin Mary visits her cousin Saint Elizabeth, they are both pregnant – one with the Christ Child, the other with Saint John the Baptist.

When she arrives, although he is still in his mother’s womb, Saint John the Baptist is aware of the presence of Christ and the unborn child leaps for joy.

Saint Elizabeth too recognises that Christ is present, and she declares to Mary with a loud cry: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.’

The Virgin Mary responds immediately with the words we now know as the Magnificat, one of the best loved canticles. We sang it as Hymn 712, ‘Tell out, my soul.’

So we see, side-by-side, two women, one seemingly too old to have a child, but destined to bear the last prophet, linking the Old Testament and the New Testament; and the other, seemingly too young to have a child but about to give birth to a new beginning, a new age that is not going to pass away.

I find it sad that the Virgin Mary can be divisive for those in the Protestant and Catholic traditions, in the wider Church and within Anglicanism.

There are numerous cathedrals and churches in the Church of Ireland and throughout the Anglican Communion dedicated to Saint Mary, including Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, and many Anglican cathedrals have Lady Chapels.

Article 2 of the 39 Articles is a traditional Anglican affirmation of the Virgin Mary’s title as Theotokos, the God-bearer or Mother of God: ‘The … Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man …’ Any other interpretations quickly lead to the heresies of Arianism, Nestorianism or Monophysitism.

The divisions among Anglicans over the place of the Virgin Mary are probably founded on perceptions of Mariology within the Roman Catholic tradition. On the other hand, many of my neighbours who come out with statements that reflect what they have been told since childhood – such as ‘You don’t believe in Mary’ – are surprised when they are told the canticle Magnificat is a traditional part of Anglican Evensong ever since the Reformation.

The Virgin Mary of the canticle Magnificat and of the Visitation is a strong and revolutionary woman, unlike the Virgin Mary of the plaster-cast statues and the Rosary.

The Mary I see as a role model for belief and discipleship is the Mary who sets off in a hurry and a flurry to visit her cousin Elizabeth, the Mary with a gob on her who speaks out of turn when she comes out with those wonderful words we hear when she sings the Canticle Magnificat.

What a contrasting pair these two cousins, Mary and Elizabeth, are!

How much they speak to so many of the dilemmas we have in Irish society today!

Elizabeth is the older woman. She has been married for years. Because of social and family pressures, she had started to become embarrassed that after all those years of marriage she has not become pregnant.

In those days – even in many places to this day – this was an embarrassing social stigma. She had no son to inherit her husband’s lands, his family position, the place of Zechariah as a priest in the Temple in Jerusalem.

She reminds us too of Sarah, who is so embarrassed at the thought of becoming pregnant in her old age that she laughs in the face of the three visitors, she laughs in the face of the living Triune God.

Today, a woman who became pregnant at her stage of life might not laugh. She might quake with fear. She might ask for amniocentesis or an amniotic fluid test.

And yet Elizabeth takes control of her situation. She turns a predicament into an opportunity, a crisis of a pregnancy so late in life into a blessing for us all.

She is so filled with joy when her cousin Mary arrives that as soon as she hears the knock on the door, as soon as she hears the sound of Mary on her doorstep, her joy is infectious, so infectious that even the child in her womb leaps with joy in her womb.

Elizabeth’s action is radical. Life is tough enough for her. Her husband has been struck dumb. A dumb priest was unlikely to be able to continue to earn a liturgical living in the Temple in Jerusalem. How was she now going to provide for her child when he was born?

But Elizabeth’s action is even more radical than that.

How many women of her age, and her respectable background, would have been so quick to rush out and welcome her much younger, single and pregnant cousin?

How many women would have worried: ‘What if she stays here and has the child here? Could we ever live with the shame?’

How many women might have suggested instead that Mary goes off and finds a home where they can find someone else to take care of her child when he is born?

Instead, Elizabeth welcomes Mary with open arms. Elizabeth’s joyful greeting, ‘Blessed are you among women …,’ echoes the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel (see Luke 1: 28), ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’

It is almost as if Elizabeth is saying: ‘It doesn’t matter what others think of you. It doesn’t matter how other people are going to judge you. I love you.’

Which is precisely what God is saying in the Incarnation, in the precious gift of the Christmas: ‘It doesn’t matter what others think of you. It doesn’t matter how other people are going to judge you. I love you.’

Mary for her part is such a wonderful, feisty person. She is, what might be described in the red-top tabloids today as ‘a gymslip Mum.’ But, instead of hiding herself away from her family, from her cousins, from the woman in her family who is married to a priest, she rushes off to her immediately, to share her good news with her.

And she challenges so many of our prejudices, and our values, and our presumptions today. Not just about gymslip mums and unexpected or unplanned pregnancies, but about what the silent and the marginalised have to say about our values in society today.

And Mary declares:

‘He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

It is almost like this is the programme or the agenda we can expect when the Christ Child comes among us on Christmas Day.

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

An icon of the Visitation by the Romanian icon writer Mihia Cocu in the Lady Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 1: 39-45 (46-55):

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

[46 And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’]

‘The Visitation’, by James B. Janknegt

Liturgical colour: Violet (Purple).

The Collect:

God our redeemer,
who prepared the blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
Grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Advent Collect:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
you have given us a pledge of eternal redemption.
Grant that we may always eagerly celebrate
the saving mystery of the incarnation of your Son.
We ask this through him whose coming is certain,
whose day draws near,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Advent Wreath:

The Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) offers this prayer for lighting the Fourth (Purple) candle on the Advent wreath:

Lord Jesus, your mother Mary
carried you with tender determination
on the dangerous road to Bethlehem.
May the same flame of love
that drove her on, now bring
courage and hope
to all who carry and nurture children today.

Penitential Kyries:

Turn to us again, O God our Saviour,
and let your anger cease from us.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your salvation is near for those that fear you,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Introduction to the Peace:

In the tender mercy of our God,
the dayspring from on high shall break upon us,
to give light to those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1: 78, 79)

Preface:

Salvation is your gift
through the coming of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and by him you will make all things new
when he returns in glory to judge the world:

Blessing:

Christ the sun of righteousness shine upon you,
gladden your hearts
and scatter the darkness from before you:

Hymns:

158, God rest you merry, gentlemen (CD 9)
712, The Canticle Magnificat, Luke 1: 46-55 (CD 40)
174, O little town of Bethlehem (CD 11)
198, The first Nowell the angel did say (CD 12)

The Virgin Mary and the Christ Child in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield, in the style of the Italian ceramicist Lucca della Robbia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

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

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (23): 23 December 2018

The Visitation … a panel in the 19th Century neo-Gothic altarpiece from Oberammergau in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is the Fourth Sunday in Advent, and we have almost reached the end of the Advent season this year. Later this morning [23 December 2018], there is only one service in this group of parishes, and I am presiding and preaching at the Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2) at 11 a.m. in Castletown Church, Kilcornan, Co Limerick.

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary begins this week prays with a reflection on Anglican Heritage by Bishop Dato’ Dr Charles Samuel, Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of West Malaysia:

‘Anglicanism in Malaya (now Malaysia) began with the arrival of the British India Company in 1786. Construction of the first Anglican church, Saint George the Martyr in Penang – was completed in 1818 – and the first service was held on Christmas Day. At first, church services were mainly attended by prominent British families and army personnel. However, SPG [now USPG] and other Christian organisations took an interest in spreading the gospel and the church opened its doors to the community, so that Anglicans became a living denomination.

‘The early pioneers did not know what would come of the seed they had planted. But now see how that seed of faith has grown and spread so that today we have a thriving Anglican presence not only in Malaysia, but throughout East Asia and South East Asia.

‘The Anglican Church and the other traditional denominations are the better known churches in Malaysia and they are well respected. And, in a country where Christians face forms of silent persecution, it is important to note that the Christian community is united, which is a testament to our faith and an acknowledgement that we are a family in Christ.’

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Sunday 23 December 2018, the Fourth Sunday of Advent:

Loving Father, as we celebrate the birth of your Son,
Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus our Saviour,
So we pray for Christians the world over.
May we be renewed in faith, hope and love.

‘The Visitation’, by James B. Janknegt

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Immanuel’, referring to the seventh and last of the seven O Antiphons in the final week of Advent:

Latin:

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.

English:

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 1: 39-45, which is familiar as the canticle Magnificat, recommended in the Revised Common Lectionary as a canticle today [23 December 2018, Advent IV] and as part of the longer version of the Gospel reading.

The reflection for today suggests:

Pray to become a messenger of hope, give thanks for all who encourage us and help us live life fully.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Micah 5: 2-5a; the Canticle Magnificat or Psalm 80: 1-8; Hebrews 10: 5-10; Luke 1: 39-45 (46-56).

The Collect:

God our redeemer,
who prepared the blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
Grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
you have given us a pledge of eternal redemption.
Grant that we may always eagerly celebrate
the saving mystery of the incarnation of your Son.
We ask this through him whose coming is certain,
whose day draws near,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (22): 22 December 2018

‘Pray for the world’s poor, the weakest and most marginalised. Remember God cherishes them. Seek to love God in them. Pray to be shown him in them’

Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary this week prays with reflections from Bangladesh, and began the week on Sunday with an article by Paul Senoy Sarkar, Programme Officer for Shalom, which is the development organisation of the Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Saturday 22 December 2018:

In this Advent season, in remembering the Nativity, give thanks for USPG-supported maternity health programmes run by the Church of Bangladesh.

‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’ (Luke 1: 46-47) … The icon of ‘Christ Crucified, Risen and Lord of All’ above the nave altar in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Rex Gentium’ (‘O King of the Nations’), referring to the sixth of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent:

Latin:

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

English:

O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 1: 46-56, which is familiar as the canticle Maginificat, recommended in the Revised Common Lectionary as a canticle tomorrow [23 December 2018, Advent IV] and as part of the longer version of the Gospel reading.
The reflection for today suggests:

Pray for the world’s poor, the weakest and most marginalised. Remember God cherishes them. Seek to love God in them. Pray to be shown him in them.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

I Samuel 1: 24-28; Psalm 113; Luke 1: 46-56.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (21): 21 December 2018

‘Mary meets Elizabeth’ (1996), by Dinah Roe Kendall, in ‘Allegories of Heaven: an artist explores the greatest story ever told’ (Carlisle: Piquant, 2002)
Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary this week prays with reflections from Bangladesh, and began the week on Sunday with an article by Paul Senoy Sarkar, Programme Officer for Shalom, which is the development organisation of the Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Friday 21 December 2018:

Pray that the Christian community might be able to contribute as salt and light in Bangladesh’s political situation.

The Virgin Mary stands with the Christ Child, a Christmas scene carved by Mary Grant in the centre of the west door of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford / Lichfield Gazette)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Oriens’ (‘O Rising Sun,’ but often translated in English as ‘O Dayspring’ or ‘O Morning Star’), referring to the fifth of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent:

Latin:

O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

English:

O Morning Star, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 1: 39-45. The reflection for today suggests:

Pray for all who are expecting children, for all they look forward to and hope for. Pray for new parents delighting in their new-born children.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Zephaniah 3: 14-18; Psalm 33: 1-4, 11-12, 20-22; Luke 1: 39-45.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (20): 20 December 2018

‘In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth’ (Luke 1: 26) … the Archangel Gabriel in the Annunciation icons by the Bethlehem Icon School in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary this week prays with reflections from Bangladesh, and began the week on Sunday with an article by Paul Senoy Sarkar, Programme Officer for Shalom, which is the development organisation of the Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Thursday 20 December 2018:

Pray for all minority faith groups in Bangladesh, especially the Hindu community, which is often a target for political and religious violence.

‘O Clavis David’ … King David (left) and King Solomon (right) in a window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne in Saint Michael’s Church, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Clavis David’ (‘O Key of David’), referring to the fourth of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent:

Latin:

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit;
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

English:

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 1: 26-38. The reflection for today suggests:

As Mary listens to the Angel’s message and says ‘yes’ to God, pray that this Christmas the Church will say the same ‘yes’.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Isaiah 7: 10-14; Psalm 24: 1-6; Luke 1: 26-38.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (19): 19 December 2018

‘O Radix Jesse’ … the Tree of Jesse (1703), an icon in the Museum of Christian Art in Iraklion, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary this week prays with reflections from Bangladesh, and began the week on Sunday with an article by Paul Senoy Sarkar, Programme Officer for Shalom, which is the development organisation of the Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Wednesday 19 December 2018:

Pray for strength for church leaders in Bangladesh’s three dioceses: Dhaka, Kushtia and the recently established Diocese of Barisal.

‘O Radix Jesse’ … the large ‘Jesse Tree’ window by Clayton and Bell in the North Transept of Lichfield Cathedral illustrates the Biblical genealogy of Christ, crowned in the upper section of the centre light with the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Radix Jesse’ (‘O Root of Jesse’), referring to the third of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent.

Latin:

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem Gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

English:

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 1: 5-25. The reflection for today suggests:

Remember God’s power to call us even in the middle of our routines, or when we’ve given up hoping for much. Ask God for direction and the gift to follow it.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Judges 13: 2-7, 24-25; Psalm 71: 3-8; Luke 1: 5-25.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

Singing a version of ‘Silent Night’ that has interesting Irish links

The Revd Stopford Augustus Brooke (1832-1916) … the Irish-born translator of another version of ‘Silent Night’

Patrick Comerford

Over the past few days, I have written about the popular carol ‘Silent Night’ [see here and here, its author Father Joseph Mohr, and its translator, Bishop John Freeman Young. This ever-popular carol, as written by Joseph Mohr, was first sung in German in Mohr’s church in an Austrian village 200 years ago, on Christmas Eve 1818.

But yesterday, at the school assembly in Rathkeale, we sang another, once popular translation of Stille Nacht by the Irish poet and one-time Anglican priest, the Revd Stopford Augustus Brooke (1832-1916).

Stopford Augustus Brooke was born on 14 November 1832 in the rectory near Letterkenny, Co Donegal, where his father was the curate and his maternal grandfather, the Revd Joseph Stopford, was then the rector. He was the eldest son of the Revd Dr Richard Sinclair Brooke (1802-1882), curate of Kinnity in the Diocese of Killaloe (1829-11832), curate of Conwal (Letterkenny), Co Donegal (1832-1835), curate of Abbeylexi (1835), and later the first incumbent of the Mariners’ Church, Dún Laoghaire, then Kingstown (1836-1862). His mother, Anna (1812-1903), a daughter of the Revd Joseph Stopford of Courtown, Co Wexford, and Rector of Conwal (1810-1833).

Stopford Brooke was educated at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1856, MA 1862), where he won the Downes Prize and the Vice Chancellor’s Prize for English verse. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1857, and his first appointments were in London as curate of Saint Matthew’s, Marylebone (1857-1859), and Kensington (1860-1863). He then became Chaplain to the British Embassy in Berlin (1863-1865) and chaplain to Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Victoria, wife of the Emperor Frederick III and mother of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

With his brother Edward he made long tours of Donegal and Sligo in 1869, and spent much time at Kells, Co Meath, studying Irish antiquities. By then, he was the minister at Saint James’s Chapel (1866-1875), an Anglican proprietary chapel in York Street, later Duke of York Street, London, where he attracted ‘a large and fashionable congregation.’

In February 1867, Brooke wrote, ‘These Tories haunt me. They take pews, they write me letters, they put their daughters under me, and all my radicalism goes down their thrapple without a wry face.’ Here in 1872, Brooke preached a course of sermons on ‘Theology in the English Poets.’

While he was there, despite his radical political and theological views, Brooke was appointed a Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in 1872.

After the chapel closed in 1875, Brooke took services and preached at the Bedford Chapel in Bloomsbury, where he continued to attract large congregations. In 1875, he became chaplain in ordinary to Queen Victoria. But in 1880, he seceded from the Church, saying he could no longer able to accept the doctrines and teachings of the Church of England. He continued as an independent preacher for some years at the Bedford Chapel, until it was demolished by the Bedford Estate in 1896.

From then on, Brooke had no church of his own, but his eloquence and powerful personality continued to have an impact on a wide circle.

Brooke had a keen interest in literature and art and was known as a critic. In 1890-1891, he took a leading role in raising the funds to buy Dove Cottage, once William Wordsworth’s home in Grasmere. Dove Cottage is now run by the Wordsworth Trust.

Brooke delivered the inaugural lecture at the Irish Literary Society in London in 1893 on ‘The Need and Use of Getting Irish Literature into the English Tongue.’ In his lecture, he argued that an Irish national poetry would ‘become not only Irish, but also alive to the interests and passions of universal humanity.’

Brooke married Emma Wentworth-Beaumont (1830-1874) in 1858, and they were the parents of six daughters and two sons. Their eldest daughter was the social reformer Honor Brooke. Their sons included the Revd Stopford Brooke (1859-1938), a Unitarian minister and Liberal MP for Bow and Bromley (1906-1910). Another daughter, Maud, married the Irish writer TW Rolleston (1857-1920), from Shinrone, Co Offaly; Brooke and Rolleston edited A Treasury of Irish Poetry in the English Tongue (1900).

Brooke was strongly influenced by John Ruskin, who introduced him to the art of Florence and Venice, and he agreed with many of Ruskin’s social theories. Brooke’s letters also point to his friendships in the literary and artistic circles of his day, including Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, James Martineau and Matthew Arnold, and the Belfast-born statesman James Bryce.

Brooke’s father died at Herbert Street, Dublin, in 1882. Brooke was a brother-in-law of Thomas Welland, Bishop of Down and Connor (1892-1907), and also an elder cousin of the Irish historian and nationalist Senator Alice Stopford Green (1847-1929).

He died on 18 March 1916, and was buried at Saint John-at-Hampstead Churchyard in Hampstead, London.

On leaving the Church of England, Brooke published for the use of his congregation Christian Hymns, a collection of 269 hymns. This includes his ‘Still the night, holy the night,’ Christmas Carol No 55 in three stanzas of eight lines, a translation from the German carol by Joseph Mohr. This translation, which we sang yesterday, was included in two earlier editions of the Church Hymnal of the Church of Ireland.

Still the night, holy the night by Stopford Augustus Brooke:

Still the night, holy the night
Still the night, holy the night!
Sleeps the world; hid from sight,
Mary and Joseph in stable bare
watch o’er the child belovèd and fair,
sleeping in heavenly rest,
sleeping in heavenly rest.

Still the night, holy the night!
Shepherds first saw the light,
heard resounding clear and long,
far and near, the angel-song,
‘Christ the Redeemer is here!’
‘Christ the Redeemer is here!’

Still the night, holy the night!
Son of God, O how bright
love is smiling from thy face!
Strikes for us now the hour of grace,
Saviour, since thou art born!
Saviour, since thou art born!

A Christmas crib in a Rathkeale shop window (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (18): 18 December 2018

The Saint Joseph window in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Athlone, designed in 1937 by Richard Joseph King (1907-1974) of the Harry Clarke Studios … each frame tells a story from the life of Saint Joseph or other biblical Josephs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary this week prays with reflections from Bangladesh, and began the week on Sunday with an article by Paul Senoy Sarkar, Programme Officer for Shalom, which is the development organisation of the Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Tuesday 18 December 2018:

Pray for wisdom and encouragement for the Church of Bangladesh as it seeks to share God’s love with those who are vulnerable or marginalised.

Winter reflections on Minster Pool beside Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Adonai’, referring to the second of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent:

Latin:

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

English:

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Today’s suggested reading is Matthew 1: 18-25. The reflection for today suggests:

Reflect on the role of Joseph, think about your family. Pray for the hard choices and decisions we have to make sometimes. Pray for everyone whose loyalties are divided.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Psalm 72: 1-2, 12-13, 18-19; Matthew 1: 18-24.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

How one Christmas Carol brought hope at a time of war

Waiting for ‘Silent Night’ … the Christmas Crib in the centre of Rathkeale (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

At the school carol service in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, next Friday [21 December 2018], we are going to sing a variety of carols and songs. Some are old hymns, some are new songs. Some many of us are familiar with, others are new and people are going to hear them for the first time.

What is your favourite Christmas carol?

Why?

[Discussion]

One of the most popular Christmas carols but one we’re not going to sing next Friday, is ‘Silent Night,’ which was first heard 200 years ago on Christmas Eve 1818.

‘Silent Night’ was written in German 200 years ago by a young priest, Father Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), and a teacher, Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863), and it was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at Saint Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, a village in Austria.

Two families of folk singers from the German-speaking area in the Tyrol, the Strassers and the Rainers, included this song in their shows.

They sang it in concerts for the Austrian Emperor and the Tsar of Russia Tsar, Soon the song was well-known across Europe and America. and then 21 years after it was first performed, they sang it for the first time in the US, in New York in 1839.

But it was being sung in German, and it was translated into English for another 20 years, until 1859, when it was translated by an Episcopal priest, John Freeman Young (1820-1885) of Trinity Church, New York City. He later became Bishop of Florida.

Bishop Young’s translation into English only includes half of the original song, three of Father Mohr’s six verses.

But his English translation of Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!, under the title Silent Night, Holy Night, is now sung everywhere, in hundreds of languages.

Bishop Young died of pneumonia in New York on 15 November 1885.

Over the years, Father Mohr’s name was forgotten, and many people thought this must be the work of a famous composer, like Haydn or Mozart or Beethoven.

People forgot about Father Mohr and his friend the teacher, Franz Xaver Gruber, until 1995, about 20 years ago.

Bishop Young’s work in translating it was forgotten until over 60 years ago, in 1957.

Now they’re famous. UNESCO listed the song in 2011 … this one song is as culturally important throughout the world as Irish hurling.

But even though all these men were forgotten, 100 years after ‘Silent Night’ was written, everyone knew, and it was very popular in both English and German. So, on Christmas Eve 1914, as the guns fell silent on the eve of the first Christmas in World War, the German soldiers in the trenches in Belgian sang out the words of Stille Nacht, and the British and Irish troops responded by singing Bishop Young’s version of Silent Night.

The story is so famous that it is told in the song ‘A Silent Night Christmas 1915,’ written by Cormac MacConnell, and one of the songs Tommy Fleming included in his concert here in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, the Saturday before last Saturday [8 December 2018].

Watch this video clip to see how one song made a difference to war and peace 100 years ago:



Questions and discussion:

Why did this one Christmas carol make a difference?

Is Christmas message about peace

Silent Night, No 182, Church Hymnal (5th ed):

Silent night, holy night,
all is calm, all is bright
round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night,
shepherds quake at the sight;
glories stream from heaven afar,
heavenly hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Saviour is born!
Christ the Saviour is born!

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love’s pure light;
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.



This reflection was prepared for a school assembly in Rathkeale on 17 December 2018

Praying in Advent with USPG and Lichfield Cathedral (17): 17 December 2018

Saint Matthew in a spandrel beneath the dome of the Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

The USPG Prayer Diary this week prays with reflections from Bangladesh, and began the week on Sunday with an article by Paul Senoy Sarkar, Programme Officer for Shalom, which is the development organisation of the Church of Bangladesh.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Monday 17 December 2018:

Pray for Pulin (see article) as he continues to train and develop his livelihood skills with the support of the Church of Bangladesh’s USPG-supported Shalom programme.

‘As you read the very mixed heredity of Jesus, think about your family, its story and background. Jesus shares our nature and the limitations we all face’ … a hassock seen in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s reflection is headed ‘O Sapientia’ (‘O Wisdom’), referring to the first of the O Antiphons in the final week of Advent.

The ‘Late Advent Weekdays,’ from 17 to 24 December, mark the singing of the Great Advent ‘O Antiphons.’ These are the antiphons for the canticle Magnificat at Evensong, Evening Prayer or Vespers, and they mark the forthcoming birth of the Messiah. They form the basis for each verse of the popular Advent hymn, O come, O come, Emmanuel.

These antiphons, all beginning with ‘O ...,’ were sung before and after the Canticle Magnificat at Vespers from 17 to 24 December, the seven days before Christmas. They are addressed to God, calling on him to come as teacher and deliverer, and they are woven through with scriptural titles and images describing God’s saving work in Christ.

This tradition was developed in the Sarum Rite in mediaeval England, and was reflected in The Book of Common Prayer, where the Anglican Reformers retained the title O Sapientia (‘O Wisdom’) as the designation for 16 December. It is now desgnated for 17 December:

Latin:

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

English:

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Today’s suggested reading is Matthew 1: 1-17. The reflection for today suggests:

As you read the very mixed heredity of Jesus, think about your family, its story and background. Jesus shares our nature and the limitations we all face.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Genesis 49: 2, 8-10; Psalm 72: 1-5, 18-19; Matthew 1: 1-17.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.

‘Want to keep “Christ” in Christmas?’ Trying to answer the Advent challenge

The Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist … a fifth century mosaic in the Neonian Baptistry in Ravenna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 16 December 2018

The Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday

11.30 a.m.: Saint Brendan’s, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry, the Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2).

Readings: Zephaniah 3: 14-20; Canticle Song of Isaiah (CD 43, No 6), Philippians 4: 4-7; Luke 3: 7-18.

‘God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’ … (Luke 3: 8-9) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

In the four weeks of Advent, we recall the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (Advent I), the Prophets (Advent II), Saint John the Baptist (Advent III) and the Virgin Mary (Advent IV).

This morning, as we think about the message of Saint John the Baptist as the Forerunner of Christ, the readings remind us of the promises proclaimed by the prophets, and Saint Paul’s promise to the Philippians of Christ is coming again.

Zephaniah invites Jerusalem to rejoice because salvation is at hand. Isaiah promises a future in which we ‘will draw water from the waters of salvation.’ Saint Paul promises the Church in Philippi that ‘the Lord is near.’ And Saint John the Baptist proclaims that ‘one who is more powerful than I is coming’ as he proclaims ‘the good news to the people.’

Zephaniah is one of the 12 ‘Minor Prophets’ in the Old Testament. His name means ‘Yahweh has hidden,’ ‘Yahweh has protected,’ or ‘Yahweh hides.’

Zephaniah was the great-great-grandson of Hezekiah, who had been the king of Judah (715-687 BC). In Chapter 3, he speaks of the people of Jerusalem and their crimes. They have failed to listen to God, to accept his advice, to trust in him or to draw near to him. He has destroyed other nations as a warning to Jerusalem, but Jerusalem has ignored this warning.

In spite of this, in this morning’s reading (Zephaniah 3: 14-20), the prophet invites Jerusalem to rejoice because salvation is at hand. God has intervened, and he now dwells with his people and protects them.

God’s promise of coming home to the new Jerusalem means oppressors are vanquished, the lame are saved, the outcast become insiders, shame is turned into praise, misfortunes are reversed, in a promise that is for ‘all the peoples of the earth.’

Our Canticle, ‘The Song of Isaiah’ (Isaiah 12: 2-6), is in a similar vein to our reading from Zephaniah. God will gather the remnant, the remaining faithful, from throughout the world, when the Messiah comes.

In our epistle reading (Philippians 4: 4-7), Saint Paul urges his readers to behave towards one another with gentleness. In a well-known blessing, he promises that God’s peace will protect them. This peace ‘surpasses all understanding,’ it is beyond the grasp of the human mind and brings with it more than we can ever expect: ‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (verse 7).

In our Gospel reading (Luke 3: 7-18), we hear Saint John the Baptist deliver a message of forgiveness of sins and the advent of a new relationship between the people and God.

He addresses the crowds, telling them they are vipers and accusing them of being baptised without any intention of starting a new, ethical, life.

Saint Luke gives four examples of behaviour that exemplifies a new life:

We should see to it that those who are poor have clothes and those who are hungry have food to eat.

We should not pile on debts on those who cannot pay them.

We should not oppress others.

And if we are comfortable ourselves, then we should be satisfied with our lot.

Perhaps Saint John is also reminding us that we must constantly question our own behaviour and be open to God’s way and God’s will.

At the time, people were expecting the Messiah to come at any moment. Perhaps they hoped that Saint John the Baptist was going to restore Israel’s fortunes and that God’s power would triumph in the here and now.

But Saint John tells them that the baptism he offers is vastly inferior to the Baptism of Jesus, and that even he will be found unworthy when Christ comes.

What do we expect when Christ comes? And how are we going to celebrate this?

The great German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once wrote: ‘Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.’

There is a popular posting on social media for the past two weeks that asks: ‘Want to keep “Christ” in Christmas?’

And the reply is: ‘Feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, love the outcast, forgive the wrongdoer, inspire the hopeless.’

It seems like a good summary of the message of the Prophets and the challenge of Saint John the Baptist. But, as we move into the last week or so of Advent, it seems to me to be a good summary of the message of Christ and the message of Christmas too.

And so, may all we think, say and do, be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist … a fresco in a church in the mountain village of Maroulas, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 3: 7-18:

7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’

10 And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ 11 In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ 12 Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ 13 He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ 14 Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

‘The Holy City’ … a colourful picture by Thetis Blacker in the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine in Limehouse in London’s East End (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Liturgical colour: Violet (Purple) or Pink.

The liturgical provisions suggest that Gloria is omitted in Advent, and it is traditional in Anglicanism to omit Gloria at the end of canticles and psalms during Advent.

Penitential Kyries:

Turn to us again, O God our Saviour,
and let your anger cease from us.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Show us your mercy, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your salvation is near for those that fear you,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Third Sunday of Advent, 16 December 2018 (Pink Candle):

Saint John the Baptist

Lord Jesus, your cousin John
prepared the way for your coming.
Bless all who speak out against
injustice and wrong:
so may the light of your truth
burn brightly, and the world become
a fairer and just home for all.
(A prayer from USPG)

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Advent Collect:

The Advent Collect is said after the Collect of the Day until Christmas Eve:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Introduction to the Peace:

In the tender mercy of our God,
the dayspring from on high shall break upon us,
to give light to those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1: 78, 79)

Preface:

Salvation is your gift
through the coming of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and by him you will make all things new
when he returns in glory to judge the world:

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father,
we give you thanks for these heavenly gifts.
Kindle us with the fire of your Spirit
that when Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Blessing:

Christ the sun of righteousness shine upon you,
gladden your hearts
and scatter the darkness from before you:

‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 4: 7) … a sculpture in Saint Bene’t’s Church, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Hymns:

281, Rejoice, the Lord is King! (CD 17)
Canticle: Song of Isaiah (CD 43, No 6)
135, O come, O come, Emmanuel (CD 8)
136, On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry (CD 8)

‘On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry’ (Hymn 136) … the Baptism of Christ by Saint the Baptist depicted at the Duomo in Florence (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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