Collect for Third Sunday after the Epiphany (1928 BCP)

Collect for Third Sunday after the Epiphany (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for "The Third Sunday after the Epiphany." It asks the almighty and everlasting God to look mercifully on human infirmity and to defend his people in danger and necessity. In the 1928 propers, that prayer is joined to Romans xii. 16-end and St. John ii. 1-11, so the Sunday gathers humility, non-retaliating charity, and Christ's manifestation at Cana under a single petition for divine help.

Text of the Collect

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The collect has four linked clauses. "Almighty and everlasting God" begins with God's eternal power before naming human weakness. "Mercifully look upon our infirmities" asks for divine regard, not mere human resilience. "In all our dangers and necessities" refuses to confine the prayer to inward distress; the Church prays over both weakness and outward peril. "Stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us" uses biblical royal and saving language for God's active protection, and the conclusion places that help "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The prayer is therefore not only a general request for safety. It asks God to deal mercifully with infirmity, danger, and need by the saving hand revealed in Christ. Read with the appointed Epistle and Gospel, the collect teaches that divine help forms a people who do not repay evil for evil and who behold Christ's glory in the ordinary necessities of life.

Appointed Epistle

The appointed Epistle is Romans xii. 16-end. In the 1928 sequence it follows the Romans xii passages appointed for the First and Second Sundays after the Epiphany, narrowing St. Paul's practical exhortation to humility, peaceableness, patience under wrong, and the refusal of revenge.

BE not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

This Epistle explains the collect's diagnosis of "infirmities." Human weakness is not only bodily frailty or vulnerability to danger; it includes conceit, retaliation, wrath, and being overcome by evil. The collect's petition for the right hand of God is therefore a prayer for defense from moral danger as well as external threat.

The words "as much as lieth in you" also keep the prayer from passivity. The Church asks God to help and defend, and then hears an apostolic command to practice peace, feed the enemy, and overcome evil with good. Divine defense does not remove Christian agency; it heals and orders it.

The 1928 Evening Prayer Psalter gives a close Prayer Book echo to the collect's word "infirmities":

Praise the LORD, O my soul, * and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thy sin, * and healeth all thine infirmities; Who saveth thy life from destruction, * and crowneth thee with mercy and loving-kindness.

Psalm ciii clarifies the collect's mercy language. The same God who looks upon infirmities forgives sin, heals, saves from destruction, and crowns with mercy. Romans xii then supplies the ethical shape of that mercy in the Church's life: humility before God, peace toward neighbors, and patient charity even toward enemies.

Appointed Gospel

The 1928 American Gospel for the day is St. John ii. 1-11, the wedding at Cana. This is a distinctive 1928 arrangement: the older English and American Prayer Book tradition placed Cana on the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, while the 1928 book shifts it to the Third Sunday. The Gospel answers the collect by showing Christ's glory manifested within human need.

AND the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Cana gives concrete content to the collect's "dangers and necessities." The immediate need is not persecution or illness but lack: "They have no wine." Christ's answer is not a bare display of power. The miracle is ordered by his hour, received through obedient service, and interpreted by St. John as a manifestation of glory that leads the disciples to faith.

The collect's "right hand" language is therefore heard christologically. God helps and defends not only by restraining danger, but by manifesting the glory of Christ where human sufficiency has failed. The servants fill the water-pots; Christ gives the sign; the disciples believe. Beside Romans xii, Cana also teaches that the Church's answer to infirmity and need is neither self-wise conceit nor revenge, but obedient trust in the manifested Lord.

Epiphany Manifestation

The 1928 Prayer Book gives the season a concise Eucharistic interpretation in the Proper Preface for Epiphany. Though the preface is appointed "Upon The Epiphany, and seven days after," its language names the theme that governs the Sundays that follow: Christ manifests glory in mortal flesh in order to bring his people from darkness into light.

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.

This preface helps explain why Cana is not ornamental to the collect. The Gospel says that Jesus "manifested forth his glory"; the preface says that the incarnate Lord manifested his glory to bring his people into light. The collect asks for help and defense from the same God whose saving light is shown in Christ.

The Daily Office gives the same theme in the Morning Prayer sentence appointed for the feast and its octave:

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

The collect's theology is therefore liturgical before it is merely devotional. The worshipping Church asks God to look on infirmity, hears Romans xii's command to overcome evil with good, and beholds in John ii the glory that calls forth adoration and faith.

Prayer Book Continuity and 1928 Arrangement

The collect itself is inherited from the older English Prayer Book tradition. The Church of England's official 1662 text prints the same collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, with Romans xii. 16-end and St. Matthew viii. 1-13.

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

That continuity matters because the 1928 book did not write a new collect for the Sunday. It retained the older prayer and Epistle while changing the local Gospel arrangement. The Society of Archbishop Justus comparison page explicitly notes the shift in Gospel placement:

In the 1928 Book, the Gospel Readings for the second and third Sundays after the Epiphany are shifted to the third and fourth Sundays, respectively.

This explains a possible confusion in printed or transcribed sources. The older Prayer Book logic connected this collect and Romans xii. 16-end with Matthew's healing of the leper and the centurion's servant. The 1928 American book keeps the collect and Epistle, but the controlling 1928 PDF places Cana here. A sound reading should therefore acknowledge both facts: the collect has a long inherited association with healing and danger, and in the 1928 American arrangement it is heard with Cana's manifestation of glory.

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the broader seasonal pattern:

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.

Procter and Frere support both sides of the article's reading. The Epiphany Gospels manifest Christ's divine nature through early miracles; the Epistles continue a Pauline series. Thus the 1928 Third Sunday joins a manifestation miracle at Cana to the closing verses of Romans xii, and the collect gathers both into a prayer for merciful defense.

They also explain the general rationale of the collect in relation to the lessons:

At a far earlier date a change came about which affected the position and rationale of the first variable Collect: originally it was connected with the Litany, either processional or stationary, which formed part of the introductory section of the Mass, and was the summing up in Collect-form of the petitions there offered in Litany-form: but as the Litany shrank into smaller dimensions and prominence, this connexion became obsolete, and then the Collect acquired a new connexion and became closely bound to the Epistle and Gospel: this new connexion has been further developed in the course of the changes in the Prayer Book.

For this collect, that means the prayer is not isolated from the Sunday proper. It stands in the Prayer Book's developed habit of binding the collect to the appointed Epistle and Gospel: Romans xii names the danger of pride and revenge, and John ii manifests the Lord whose glory answers human need.

Anglican Interpretation

Anthony Sparrow comments on the older Prayer Book Third Sunday, where the same collect and Epistle stood beside Matthew viii. His reading gives an important Anglican interpretation of the collect's infirmity language:

The Epistle labours to prevent the most over-spreading leprous sins of pride (against which the first verse is directed: Be not wise in your own conceits) and wrath and revenge in the following words, rendring to no man evil for evil. Or rather, the Epistle doth remove the two great impediments of Christs cure of our sinful leprosie: namely pride, which God resists. S. Iames 4. 6. and malice or revenge which makes us unpardonable and uncurable, For unless we forgive, Christ will not forgive us, S. Matth. 6. 15.

Sparrow then summarizes the collect itself:

The Collect prayes to God through Christ to heal us.

Sparrow is useful even though he is interpreting the older Gospel placement. His account fits the collect and Epistle that the 1928 book retains: human infirmity includes pride, wrath, and revenge, and the Church asks God through Christ to heal what it cannot heal in itself.

Because the 1928 Third Sunday Gospel is Cana, Sparrow's comments on the older Second Sunday also help interpret the Gospel now assigned here:

The Gospel mentions Christs turning water into wine, by which, he manifested both his glory by the miracle, and his goodness in ministring to the necessities of others: to which virtue, the Epistle exhorts us, that whatsoever gifts we have, we should use them as Christ did, to the good and benefit of others.

This gives the 1928 collect a twofold Anglican reading. From the inherited Third Sunday tradition, it prays for healing from pride and revenge. From the 1928 Cana placement, it prays to the Lord whose manifested glory ministers to human necessity and teaches his people to serve the good of others.

David Curry, writing for the Prayer Book Society of Canada, describes why such ordered lectionary reading is doctrinal rather than merely practical:

That the scriptures should be read publicly, regularly, and orderly -- publicly, as an act of worship, in principle, of the whole church; regularly, as on a daily and continuing basis; and orderly, as according to an appointed schedule of readings -- are all expressions of the church's teaching or doctrine about scripture and about the church's own life. Equally so, the principles upon which the reading of scripture is ordered are necessarily matters of doctrine.

Curry's point keeps the article from treating the collect, Epistle, and Gospel as accidental neighbors. The Prayer Book's appointed readings express doctrine by their order. Here, the doctrine is practical and christological at once: God's merciful defense heals infirmity, Christ manifests glory in need, and the Church is commanded to overcome evil with good.

Theological Summary

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

"Almighty and everlasting God" teaches the Church to begin with God's eternal power. "Mercifully look upon our infirmities" confesses weakness under mercy rather than under despair. "In all our dangers and necessities" includes outward threat, daily need, and the moral dangers named by Romans xii. "Stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us" asks for active divine protection, not merely consolation after the fact. "Through Jesus Christ our Lord" identifies the mediator through whom God's saving help is given.

The appointed Epistle shows the form of defended life: humility instead of conceit, peaceableness instead of retaliation, feeding the enemy instead of avenging the self, and overcoming evil with good. The appointed 1928 Gospel shows the source and sign of that help: Christ manifests his glory at Cana, answers human lack with abundant grace, and brings his disciples to faith.

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. Its strongest use is therefore not as an isolated devotional sentence, but as a concise prayer over the whole Sunday proper: the almighty God looks mercifully on infirmity, Christ's glory is manifested in need, and the Church is taught to live peaceably under the right hand that helps and defends.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Epiphany in the 1928 BCP
• Collect for Second Sunday after the Epiphany (1928 BCP)
• Collect for Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (1928 BCP)
• Collect of the Day

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels
• Epiphany 3 Propers (1928 BCP)
• The Third Sunday after the Epiphany in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
• Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII
• Anthony Sparrow, A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer: Epiphany
• David Curry, "Doctrinal Instrument of Salvation"