Collect for Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (1928 BCP)

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Collect for Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for "The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany." It asks God to keep his "Church and household" in true religion and to defend those who lean only upon the hope of heavenly grace. In the 1928 propers it is joined to Colossians iii. 12-17 and St. Matthew xiii. 24-30, so the Sunday gathers ecclesial faith, charity, patience, mixed growth in the world, and final judgement under one petition for divine preservation.

Text of the Collect

O LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[1]

The collect has four closely related clauses. "Keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion" names the subject of the prayer as the whole household of God, not merely private devotion. "They who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace" describes true religion as dependence on grace rather than confidence in ecclesiastical possession or moral achievement. "May evermore be defended by thy mighty power" asks for preservation, because the Church lives amid a field in which good seed and tares grow together. The conclusion locates that preservation "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The prayer is therefore ecclesial, doctrinal, and eschatological. It asks that the Church remain in the true religion of grace, that its members live as those whose hope is not in themselves, and that God defend them until the judgement disclosed in the appointed Gospel.

Appointed Epistle

The appointed Epistle is Colossians iii. 12-17. The 1928 text gives the moral shape of the "true religion" named in the collect: compassion, humility, forgiveness, charity, peace, the indwelling word of Christ, thanksgiving, and action done in Christ's name.

PUT on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

[2]

The collect's "true religion" is not abstract party identity. In the Epistle, the elect of God are marked by mercy, meekness, forbearance, forgiveness after the pattern of Christ, and charity as "the bond of perfectness." The Church is kept in true religion as it is clothed with the virtues of Christ.

The Epistle also explains the collect's phrase "Church and household." St. Paul addresses a body whose hearts are to be ruled by peace and whose common speech is to be formed by "the word of Christ" in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The Prayer Book thus joins doctrinal preservation to common worship and common life: the household remains in true religion by grace, word, thanksgiving, and charity.

Appointed Gospel

The appointed Gospel is St. Matthew xiii. 24-30, the parable of the wheat and the tares. The collect's petition for divine defense is heard in the presence of the enemy's work, the servants' impatience, the master's command to wait, and the promised harvest.

THE kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

[3]

This Gospel gives the collect a sober realism. The Church asks to be kept in true religion because the kingdom is not yet visibly separated from all opposition. The field contains wheat and tares until the harvest. The answer is not ecclesial panic or premature purging, but trust in the householder's judgement and God's power to defend his own.

The Gospel also qualifies the collect's word "household." The Church is God's household by grace, but it lives in a world where the enemy works secretly and where final separation belongs to the Lord. To lean "only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace" is to confess that preservation until harvest is God's gift.

Epiphany Manifestation

The Fifth Sunday stands near the end of the Epiphany sequence. The 1928 Proper Preface for Epiphany gives the season's Eucharistic center:

THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord, who, in substance of our mortal flesh, manifested forth his glory; that he might bring us out of darkness into his own glorious light.

[4]

The Gospel of the wheat and tares is therefore not detached from Epiphany manifestation. Christ's glory brings his people from darkness into light, and that light includes the disclosure of what is true and false at the harvest. The collect prays that the Church may be kept in that light, in true religion, until the Lord makes final judgement.

Morning Prayer gives the same Epiphany theme in its seasonal invitatory sentence:

The Lord hath manifested forth his glory : O come, let us adore him.

[5]

Adoration guards the collect from anxiety. The Church asks to be defended by mighty power while worshipping the manifested Lord. Its life between sowing and harvest is therefore marked by patience, charity, thanksgiving, and hope.

Prayer Book Continuity

The collect, Epistle, and Gospel are inherited from the older English Prayer Book tradition. The Church of England's 1662 text prints the same collect and the same Colossians and Matthew readings for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany:

O Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[6]

This continuity matters because the 1928 American Prayer Book did not invent the doctrinal pairing of grace, charity, patience, and judgement on this Sunday. It received a long-standing proper and placed it in the American book's Epiphany sequence.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the larger Prayer Book design in which the Fifth Sunday stands:

From Christmas to Epiphany the design of the proper services is to set forth the humanity of our Saviour; and from Epiphany to Septuagesima to show the divine nature of the Son of Man by relating in the Gospels some of His first miracles. The Epistles here show signs of being part of a continuous series which apparently began with the Epistles to the Romans and went through the Pauline Epistles in order at least as far as the end of the Colossians.

[7]

On the Fifth Sunday, that design reaches Colossians. The Epistle shows the life of charity in the one body; the Gospel shows the kingdom awaiting final harvest. The collect gathers both by asking that God's household remain in true religion and be defended by divine power.

Procter and Frere also note the older reckoning that made five post-Epiphany Sundays sufficient after the octave was introduced:

After the introduction of the observance of the Octave of the Epiphany the Sundays were reckoned from it and no longer from the day; there was then no need for more than five, and consequently only five were provided for in the Sarum Missal.

[8]

The Fifth Sunday therefore has a special place in the older arrangement: it was once the last provided Sunday after Epiphany. That setting helps explain why its Gospel looks toward harvest and judgement, preparing the Church to pass from Epiphany toward the pre-Lenten Sundays.

Anglican Interpretation

Anthony Sparrow's seventeenth-century rationale reads the proper as a movement from manifested glory toward the final appearing of Christ. His account ties together the Gospel's judgement, the Epistle's virtues, and the collect's petition for the Church:

The four precedent Sundayes have manifested Christs glory to us in part, by the miracles He wrought while He conversed with us on Earth: The Gospel for this day mentions his Second coming to judgement, when he shall appear in his full glory, and all the holy Angels with him: which glorious appearance, as it will be dreadful to those who have resembled the Tares, for they shall then be burned with unquenchable fire: So it will be a joyful appearance to such as the Epistle perswades us to be, viz. The Meek, and Gentle, and Charitable. And the Collect is for such, praying God to keep his Church and Houshold continually in the true Religion, &c.

[9]

Sparrow's interpretation shows why the collect should not be reduced to a general prayer for denominational correctness. The Church is kept in true religion as it becomes the meek, gentle, charitable people described in the Epistle and as it waits for Christ's judgement without mistaking patience for indifference.

David Curry, writing for the Prayer Book Society of Canada, describes the same Epiphany logic in doctrinal terms:

The Prayer Book design of the Epiphany season is to manifest the glory and set forth the divinity of Christ through an ordered sequence, comprising first, divine wisdom, and second, divine power (cf. the collect for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Cdn. BCP, 1962, p. 123). The manifestation of divine wisdom -- Christ teaching in the Temple of Jerusalem (Epiphany I) -- precedes the manifestations of divine power: Christ turning water into wine at the Wedding of Cana (Epiphany II); Christ healing the leper (Epiphany III); Christ stilling the sea-storm by his words (Epiphany IV); Christ gathering in the wheat and tares of the world for judgement (Epiphany V); and Christ in the glory of his second coming (Epiphany VI).

[10]

Curry's account confirms the proper's Epiphany character. The manifestation of Christ is not only miracle and consolation; it also includes the judgement by which wheat and tares are finally distinguished. The collect's request for defense by God's mighty power belongs to that interval: the Church lives by grace while awaiting the manifested Lord's harvest.

Theological Summary

The collect's theology can be summarized clause by clause.

"Keep thy Church and household" teaches that the prayer is for the people of God as a body. "Continually in thy true religion" asks for perseverance in the truth of God, not a momentary religious mood. "They who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace" confesses dependence upon grace alone. "May evermore be defended by thy mighty power" asks God to preserve his people amid the enemy's work, internal weakness, and the long patience required before harvest.

The appointed Epistle shows what that true religion looks like in the Church: compassion, forgiveness, charity, peace, the word of Christ, psalmody, thanksgiving, and action done in Jesus' name. The appointed Gospel shows why divine defense is necessary: the kingdom grows in a mixed field until the Lord commands the harvest. The collect therefore prays for a Church that remains faithful, charitable, patient, and hopeful because it rests only on heavenly grace and is defended only by God's mighty power.

In worship, the collect is used at Holy Communion with the appointed Epistle and Gospel, and as the collect of the day in the Prayer Book's weekly rhythm. It is strongest when heard with the whole proper: God keeps his household in true religion, Colossians forms that household in charity, and Matthew teaches it to wait for the harvest under Christ's judgement and mercy.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," "Collect for Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany" under "The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany"; Society of Archbishop Justus PDF, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels. Complete collect compared word for word with the Society of Archbishop Justus transcription. PDF spacing artifacts were ignored; the words through "Amen." agree with the independent 1928 transcription at Epiphany 5 Propers (1928 BCP), lines 105-108.
  2. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Epistle, Colossians iii. 12; Society of Archbishop Justus PDF, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels. Quotation checked against Epiphany 5 Propers (1928 BCP), lines 112-126. The comparison transcription, preserves an older-column reading at this point; the 1928 PDF and EpiscopalNet transcription were used as controlling text for the 1928 article.
  3. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Gospel, St. Matthew xiii. 24; Society of Archbishop Justus PDF, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels. Quotation checked against Epiphany 5 Propers (1928 BCP), lines 131-148. Minor punctuation differences between transcriptions do not affect the 1928 appointed pericope.
  4. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," Proper Preface for Epiphany; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Holy Communion.
  5. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, Standard Book accepted in 1928, "The Order for Daily Morning Prayer," seasonal invitatory sentence "On the Epiphany and seven days after, and on the Feast of the Transfiguration"; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Morning Prayer.
  6. ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (1662), Cambridge University Press 2006 edition hosted by the Church of England, "The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany," collect; The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. Capitalization of "Lord" differs in presentation, but the wording is materially the same as the 1928 collect.
  7. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), p. 531, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter 13.
  8. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), p. 531, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter 13.
  9. ↑ Anthony Sparrow, A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer (London, 1672), "5. Sunday after Epiphany"; Project Canterbury transcription, A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer: Epiphany, Gesima, Lent.
  10. ↑ David Curry, "Doctrinal Instrument of Salvation: The Use of Scripture in the Prayer Book Lectionary," paper dated May 11, 1985 and republished May 11, 2021 by the Prayer Book Society of Canada, part II, note 62; Doctrinal Instruments of Salvation. Curry is summarizing the traditional Prayer Book Epiphany sequence; the 1928 American Fifth Sunday retains this wheat-and-tares Gospel and Colossians Epistle.

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