Collect for Tuesday in Whitsun-Week (1928 BCP)

Collect for Tuesday in Whitsun-Week (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed for the Tuesday after Whitsunday in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. It prays Pentecost in ecclesial and missionary terms: the Church is gathered into unity by the Holy Spirit so that she may manifest God's power among all peoples. In the 1928 propers, this prayer is joined to Acts 8 and John 10, so its account of unity is neither abstract nor merely institutional. Samaria receives the word of God and the Holy Ghost, and Christ identifies himself as the door and shepherd who gives abundant life.

Text of the Collect

GRANT, we beseech thee, merciful God, that thy Church, being gathered together in unity by thy Holy Spirit, may manifest thy power among all peoples, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

The collect begins by addressing God as merciful. Its petition is not first for the Church's visibility, effectiveness, or institutional success, but for the Church's unity as the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Church is "gathered together" before she manifests power; the manifestation flows from divine mercy, not from ecclesiastical self-display.

The prayer's central movement is from unity to witness. "Being gathered together in unity by thy Holy Spirit" names the Spirit as the agent of the Church's communion. "May manifest thy power among all peoples" turns that communion outward. The purpose clause, "to the glory of thy Name," guards the petition from triumphalism: the Church manifests God's power only as a sign of God's own glory.

The conclusion is Trinitarian. The prayer is offered through Jesus Christ; the Son lives and reigns with the Father and "the same Spirit"; and the doxology confesses "one God, world without end." Tuesday in Whitsun-Week therefore joins ecclesial unity to the one divine life of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Appointed Scripture

The Epistle is Acts 8:14 and following. It places the collect's prayer for unity in the story of Samaria receiving the word of God. The apostles at Jerusalem send Peter and John, who pray that the baptized Samaritans may receive the Holy Ghost.

WHEN the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

This lesson interprets "gathered together in unity" through apostolic communion. Samaria is not left as a separate spiritual colony, nor is Jerusalem allowed to keep Pentecost as a local possession. The word of God reaches Samaria; the apostles pray; the Holy Ghost is received. Unity is therefore both missionary and sacramental in shape: the Church is extended, prayed over, and gathered by the Spirit.

The Gospel is John 10:1-10. It begins with Christ's contrast between the true shepherd and those who enter the sheepfold by another way. The sheep are gathered because they hear and follow the shepherd's voice.

VERILY, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

The Gospel then identifies Christ himself as the door of the sheep. The unity requested in the collect is therefore not a generic social harmony. It is unity under the shepherding voice and saving entrance of Christ.

Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

The final verse appointed in the Gospel gives the collect its pastoral end. God's power is manifested among all peoples not as coercion but as life from Christ.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Liturgical Setting

The 1928 BCP sets Tuesday in Whitsun-Week inside the larger octave-like keeping of Whitsuntide. The Whitsunday collect is appointed daily throughout the week, while Tuesday has its own collect, Epistle, and Gospel. The daily Whitsunday collect therefore remains the week's background prayer for right judgment and holy comfort.

This Collect is to be said daily throughout Whitsun Week.

The Holy Communion Proper Preface for Whitsuntide supplies the eucharistic interpretation of the same season. It connects the Holy Ghost's coming with apostolic teaching, missionary boldness, and the Church's deliverance from darkness and error.

THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord; according to whose most true promise, the Holy Ghost came down as at this time from heaven, lighting upon the Apostles, to teach them, and to lead them into all truth; giving them boldness with fervent zeal constantly to preach the Gospel unto all nations; whereby we have been brought out of darkness and error into the clear light and true knowledge of thee, and of thy Son Jesus Christ.

Tuesday's collect echoes this preface in missionary form. The preface thanks God that the Spirit gave boldness to preach the Gospel unto all nations; the collect asks that the Spirit-gathered Church may manifest God's power among all peoples. The same Pentecostal gift is heard both as thanksgiving and as petition.

The Daily Office also frames Whitsuntide as witness beyond Jerusalem. The Morning Prayer sentence from Acts 1 speaks directly of Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth, the same geographical widening that stands behind the Tuesday Epistle.

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Historical and Theological Notes

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere interpret Whitsuntide as the Christian fulfilment of Pentecost. Their account helps explain why the Tuesday collect is not an isolated weekday prayer but part of the Church's extended meditation on the gift of the Spirit.

The festival of Whitsuntide corresponds with the Jewish feast of Pentecost. That commemorated the delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai, fifty days after the Passover; and after the same interval from the true Passover when Christ was offered for us, the Holy Ghost was given to the Christian Church.

Procter and Frere also comment directly on Monday and Tuesday in Whitsun Week. Their description identifies Acts and John as coordinated readings: Acts recounts manifestations of the Spirit's work, while John gives Christ's own teaching about himself.

The Epistles read on the Monday and Tuesday are part of a series of three lessons from the Acts of the Apostles recounting the manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit: the Gospels for Monday and Tuesday are part of a similar trio from S. John's Gospel, giving our Lord's teaching about Himself as the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd and the Bread of Life.

Their further comment on the old Whitsuntide sequence also explains the Prayer Book's interest in discernment. The Spirit's gifts build up the Church and must be tested by the Catholic Faith.

The second Lessons teach us to use spiritual gifts to edification; to take heed not to quench the Spirit, nor to despise His prophecies; but because many false prophets are gone into the world, to try all teachers who boast of the Spirit, by the rules of the Catholic Faith.

Percy Dearmer's short account of Prayer Book worship identifies Whitsunday among the Great Festivals marked by Proper Prefaces at Holy Communion. Tuesday in Whitsun-Week shares that festal frame because the Whitsuntide preface is appointed for Whitsunday "and six days after."

Some special days are further marked out. The Great Festivals (Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday) have Proper Prefaces at Holy Communion.

Clause-by-Clause Reading

"Grant, we beseech thee, merciful God" grounds the prayer in mercy. The Church's unity and witness are asked as gifts from God, not claimed as achievements.

"That thy Church, being gathered together in unity by thy Holy Spirit" names the Church as a gathered body. In Acts 8, Samaria's reception of the word and the apostles' prayer show unity being created across a boundary that had divided Jews and Samaritans. The Spirit gathers without erasing apostolic order.

"May manifest thy power among all peoples" gives the collect its missionary direction. The Church gathered by the Spirit becomes a public sign. The appointed Gospel keeps this manifestation Christological: the power displayed is the saving life of the Shepherd who calls his sheep and gives abundant life.

"To the glory of thy Name" fixes the end of mission in worship. Pentecostal power is not for the Church's reputation; it is for God's Name to be glorified among all peoples.

"Through Jesus Christ our Lord" keeps the prayer centered on the Son. The Spirit gathers the Church into unity, but the Gospel shows that the sheep are gathered through Christ, the door and shepherd. The final doxology then confesses the Father, the Son, and the same Spirit as one God.

Use in Worship and Teaching

This collect is useful in parish teaching because it ties Whitsuntide to visible communion and mission. It can be used to teach that unity is a work of the Holy Spirit, that missionary power serves God's glory, that apostolic prayer and the laying on of hands belong within the Church's ordered life, and that all genuine gathering of the Church is through the voice and saving entrance of Christ the Good Shepherd.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Whitsuntide in the 1928 BCP
• Collect for Whitsunday (1928 BCP)
• Collect for Monday in Whitsun-Week (1928 BCP)

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book facsimile
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer (1907)
• Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book