Collect for Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP)

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Collect for Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. It asks God, whose power is chiefly shown in mercy, to give grace for persevering obedience and for participation in the promised heavenly inheritance.

Text of the Collect

O GOD, who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[1]

The collect begins with a claim about God before it asks for anything from God. Divine power is not displayed chiefly as domination, but "in showing mercy and pity." The prayer therefore places Christian obedience inside mercy from the start.

The petition asks for "such a measure of thy grace." Grace is not treated as a religious ornament added to natural strength. It is the gift by which the faithful run "the way of thy commandments" and so move toward the promises of God. The final phrase, "heavenly treasure," gives the collect an eschatological horizon: the end of Christian obedience is not self-improvement, but participation in the good things God has promised in Christ.

Historical Source

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere give the Latin source of the collect among the Trinitytide collects:

Eleventh. Deus, qui omnipotentiam tuam parcendo maxime et miserando manifestas; multiplica super nos gratiam tuam, ut ad tua promissa currentes coelestium bonorum facias esse consortes.

[2]

The modern Anglican source index identifies the prayer's English Prayer Book history more specifically:

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

1662, from the Latin, 1560

"O God, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity..."

Drawn into English at the Restoration from the Latin Prayer Book of 1560.

[3]

This history explains why the 1928 American collect is close to the 1662 English text while also showing a small American textual difference: the 1928 form omits "most" before "chiefly" and uses the American spelling "showing." The theological movement remains the same: God's almighty power is made known in pardon, pity, grace, obedience, and promised glory.

The official Church of England 1662 text reads:

O God, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[4]

The 1662 comparison is useful because it shows both continuity and revision. The American 1928 collect is not a newly composed devotional prayer; it is a received Western collect, brought into English in the Restoration Prayer Book and retained in the American Prayer Book tradition.

Mercy, Grace, and Obedience

The Common Prayer commentary from the Prayer Book Society of Canada interprets the first clause through the appointed Epistle and Gospel:

God's mercy moves him to pardon sinners; his pity moves him to help them. The conversion and salvation of a sinner is a work of God's mercy which shows his greatest power, namely the power to forgive sins.

[5]

The same commentary connects the collect directly to the two appointed readings:

Our Epistle shows the almighty power of God in reclaiming, subduing, pardoning, and inspiring Saul who was a blaspheming persecutor of the Church. As St. Paul says in today's Epistle, "by the grace of God I am what I am." Our Gospel story of the Pharisee and Publican teaches us that God is ready to show the almighty power of his mercy whenever he is approached with true penitence and humility.

[6]

Read clause by clause, the collect moves from God's merciful character to the believer's need for grace, from grace to obedient running, and from obedience to inheritance. It refuses two distortions at once: mercy is not permissiveness, because grace sets the faithful in the way of the commandments; obedience is not self-salvation, because the way can only be run by grace.

Appointed Epistle

The appointed Epistle is 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. It begins with the apostolic gospel received, preached, and held fast:

BRETHREN, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

[7]

The collect's petition for grace is not vague benevolence. In the Epistle, grace comes through the preached gospel of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. The "gracious promises" are grounded in the apostolic proclamation that Christ died "for our sins" and rose again "according to the scriptures."

Paul then interprets his own apostolic life as the work of grace:

And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.

[8]

Paul is the Epistle's living commentary on the collect. God's power is seen not in rewarding the already worthy, but in reclaiming a persecutor, giving him grace, and making that grace fruitful. The collect's "measure of thy grace" is therefore grace for pardon and for transformed labor.

Appointed Gospel

The appointed Gospel is Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican:

JESUS spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

[9]

The publican's prayer is the Gospel's sharpest echo of the collect's first clause:

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

[10]

The Gospel makes the collect pastoral and penitential. The publican does not run the way of the commandments by trusting in himself; he begins with mercy. Yet mercy does not leave him where he is. He goes down justified, which is the first mercy needed for any true obedience.

St. Basil reads the parable as a warning against turning grace into self-approval:

And that Pharisee, overbearing, and swollen with pride in himself, not alone trusting in himself, but speaking ill of the publican, and this even in the presence of God, lost the glory of his uprightness, because of the sin of his arrogance.

[11]

Basil's reading guards the collect against moral pride. "Running the way of thy commandments" is not the Pharisee's self-congratulation, but obedience born from mercy and sustained by grace. The Church prays for grace precisely because even obedience can be corrupted when it is separated from humility.

Liturgical and Theological Use

In the 1928 BCP, this collect belongs to the Communion propers for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity and may shape Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and weekly devotion according to the Prayer Book's ordinary use of the collect of the day. Its themes are especially characteristic of Trinitytide: the Church, having confessed the faith in the great feasts, now asks for grace to live that faith in repentance, obedience, and hope.

The collect is a compact Anglican account of salvation and sanctification. Mercy pardons; pity helps; grace enables; obedience runs; promise draws the runner forward; and heavenly treasure names the inheritance toward which the whole Christian life is ordered. With Paul and the publican, the Church learns to say that all good comes from grace, and that the power of God is chiefly known where sinners are forgiven, humbled, and made partakers of his promise.

See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), "Collect for Eleventh Sunday after Trinity," in "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," under "The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity," printed pp. 204-205 and page labels Sec2:ccx-Sec2:ccxi; 1928 Common Prayer Standard Book PDF. The collect text was compared word for word with the Society of Archbishop Justus transcription and checked against the Society of Archbishop Justus 1928 BCP Propers PDF, page label 59.
  2. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised and rewritten edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), Additional Note to chapter XIII, p. 553, "The following are the originals of the Collects for the Sundays after Trinity"; Project Canterbury transcription by Charles Wohlers.
  3. ↑ New Every Morning Anglican Fellowship, "Sources of the Seasonal Collects," section VIII, Trinitytide, "The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity"; Sources of the Seasonal Collects.
  4. ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer, "The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity," "The Collect"; official Church of England online text.
  5. ↑ Prayer Book Society of Canada, Common Prayer: A Commentary on the Prayer Book Lectionary, vol. 4, Trinity Sunday to the Twelfth Sunday After Trinity (Charlottetown, PEI: St. Peter Publications, n.d.), pp. 159-160, excerpt for "The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity"; Lectionary Central transcription, reprinted with permission of the publisher.
  6. ↑ Prayer Book Society of Canada, Common Prayer: A Commentary on the Prayer Book Lectionary, vol. 4, Trinity Sunday to the Twelfth Sunday After Trinity (Charlottetown, PEI: St. Peter Publications, n.d.), pp. 159-160, excerpt for "The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity"; Lectionary Central transcription, reprinted with permission of the publisher.
  7. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), "The Epistle. 1 Corinthians xv. 1." for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, in "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," printed pp. 204-205; 1928 Common Prayer Standard Book PDF, page labels Sec2:ccx-Sec2:ccxi.
  8. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), "The Epistle. 1 Corinthians xv. 1." for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, in "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," printed p. 205; 1928 Common Prayer Standard Book PDF, page label Sec2:ccxi.
  9. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), "The Gospel. St. Luke xviii. 9." for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, in "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," printed p. 205; 1928 Common Prayer Standard Book PDF, page label Sec2:ccxi.
  10. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, Standard Book accepted in 1928), "The Gospel. St. Luke xviii. 9." for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, in "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," printed p. 205; 1928 Common Prayer Standard Book PDF, page label Sec2:ccxi. This wording was checked against the Standard Book PDF because the transcription contains an OCR punctuation artifact in "God be. merciful."
  11. ↑ St. Basil the Great, "On Humility," translated by M. F. Toale, D.D., from PG 31, col. 525, Homilia 20; Lectionary Central transcription for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
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