Collect for Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP)

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Collect for Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (1928 BCP) is the 1928 American Prayer Book collect appointed for the twentieth Sunday after Trinity. It asks God, "of thy bountiful goodness," to remove whatever would harm the faithful, so that body and soul may be free for cheerful obedience to God's commandments.

Text of the Collect

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[1]

The collect moves in three clauses. First, it addresses God as almighty and "most merciful." Second, it asks him to keep the Church from all hurtful things. Third, it defines the purpose of that protection: not mere safety, but freedom of body and soul for cheerful obedience. In the 1928 American book the final phrase is "those things which thou commandest"; this gives the prayer a deliberately moral and vocational shape.

Appointed Lessons

The Epistle is Ephesians 5:15-21. It commands wise walking, Spirit-filled praise, thanksgiving, and mutual submission. The collect's "cheerfully accomplish" is therefore not a call to natural optimism, but to a redeemed life filled with the Spirit and ordered under the will of the Lord.

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

[2]

The Epistle then opposes drunken excess to the joy of the Holy Ghost. Its pattern is liturgical and communal: psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, thanksgiving, and submission "in the fear of God." Read beside the collect, these verses explain why the prayer asks for readiness "both in body and soul."

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

[3]

The Gospel is Matthew 22:1-14, the parable of the marriage feast. It gives the collect's petition an eschatological and sacramental edge: the King calls guests to the wedding, but the invitation must not be despised, and the guests must not appear without the wedding garment.

Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.

[4]

The same Gospel warns that outward presence at the feast is not enough. The collect's readiness "both in body and soul" belongs with the wedding garment: the whole person must be prepared by grace for the King's summons.

Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.

[5]

Clause-by-Clause Reading

"Of thy bountiful goodness" makes divine generosity the ground of the whole petition. The Church asks to be kept from what hurts not because created goods are evil, but because many things hinder the race of obedience. The request is therefore providential and ascetical at once: God protects his people, and the faithful are freed from impediments.

"Being ready both in body and soul" gives the prayer unusual breadth. It does not treat Christian obedience as a purely inward movement, nor does it reduce the body to a distraction from devotion. The Epistle's warning about wine, the call to Spirit-filled song, and the Gospel's warning about the wedding garment all require an ordered whole person.

"Cheerfully accomplish" is the key adverb. The collect asks for obedience without servile gloom. That cheerfulness is not lightness about judgment, since the Gospel is severe; it is the joy of a guest who receives the King's invitation with a prepared heart.

The second exhortation before Holy Communion in the 1928 Prayer Book uses the Gospel's wedding-garment language to catechize communicants for worthy reception:

Come holy and clean to such a heavenly Feast, in the marriage-garment required by God in holy Scripture, and be received as worthy partakers of that holy Table.

[6]

Historical Source and Revision

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere print the Latin source among the ancient collects for the Sundays after Trinity:

Twentieth. Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude; ut mente et corpore pariter expediti, quae tua sunt liberis mentibus exequamur.

[7]

John Henry Blunt's annotated Prayer Book prints the same Latin source and identifies the older Western witnesses in its apparatus. His English commentary is tied to the 1662 form, which says "those things that Thou wouldest have done"; the 1928 American form instead says "those things which thou commandest." Even with that wording difference, Blunt's reading helps explain why the collect is paired with Ephesians 5 and Matthew 22.

The prophetic parable of the Marriage Supper of the Only-begotten is the subject of the Gospel for this Sunday: and to it may be referred the words of the Collect, "that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done."

[8]

Blunt also reads the Epistle eucharistically and liturgically: the feast of the kingdom is marked not by sensual excess, but by psalmody, thanksgiving, and the worship of Christ's people.

The Epistle seems to be chosen as an illustration of the festivity of Christ's Kingdom, in which the sensual pleasures of heathen rites are superseded by the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs of Divine worship.

[9]

Interpretation

Edward Meyrick Goulburn traces the collect to the Gelasian Sacramentary and pays close attention to the 1661 revision of the English text. His comments explain why "cheerfully" is not ornamental but central to the prayer's theology of obedience.

This Collect, traced up to the Sacramentary of Gelasius, is one of those which received some finishing touches, probably from the hand of Bishop Cosin, at the last Revision in 1661.

[10]

"Cheerfully" is just such a translation as catches the spirit, while it disregards the letter, of the original.

[11]

Goulburn's explanation of the Latin clarifies the petition "from all things that may hurt us." The things that hurt are not simply unpleasant circumstances, but whatever opposes the Christian course.

The things that oppose us in our heavenly course are those hindrances in "running the race that is set before us," which the devil, the world, and the flesh throw in our way.

[12]

He also draws together the Epistle, Gospel, and collect around holy joy. The wedding feast is not an excuse for carelessness; it is a call to glad, prepared obedience.

The "cheerfully" is the keystone of the whole prayer, which locks the different clauses of it together, and keeps them in their places.

[13]

Finally, Goulburn's treatment of "body and soul" guards against an over-spiritualized reading. The collect prays for embodied readiness because Christian obedience is offered by the whole person.

It has been too much the tendency of religious thought, to discard the body from all consideration, and to regard the soul or immortal part of man as being the exclusive sphere of Religion.

[14]

Liturgical Use

In the 1928 Prayer Book this collect is used with the proper Epistle and Gospel at Holy Communion for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, and as the collect of the week where the ordinary Sunday collect pattern is followed. It is especially suited to catechesis on cheerful obedience, preparation for Holy Communion, and the unity of inward faith with bodily discipline. The appointed lessons keep the prayer from becoming vague: the faithful are protected from hindrances so that they may walk wisely, sing with the Spirit, give thanks, answer the King's call, and come to the heavenly feast clothed for the occasion.

See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels," exact prayer "Collect for Twentieth Sunday after Trinity"; wording compared word for word with the Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, and checked against the extracted 1928 Propers PDF text. 1928 Common Prayer, "The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book".
  2. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity," Epistle, Ephesians 5:15-21; quoted portion from verses 15-17,. 1928 Common Prayer, "The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book".
  3. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity," Epistle, Ephesians 5:18-19; 1928 Common Prayer, "The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book".
  4. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity," Gospel, Matthew 22:1-14; quoted portion from verses 4-5,. 1928 Common Prayer, "The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book".
  5. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity," Gospel, Matthew 22:11-14; 1928 Common Prayer, "The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book".
  6. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," second exhortation; 1928 Common Prayer, "The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book".
  7. ↑ 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), p. 552, Latin collect for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity; Internet Archive, "A New History of the Book of Common Prayer".
  8. ↑ Church of England; John Henry Blunt, ed., The Annotated Book of Common Prayer: Being an Historical, Ritual, and Theological Commentary on the Devotional System of the Church of England, new edition (London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895), p. 318, note on "The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity"; Internet Archive, "The Annotated Book of Common Prayer".
  9. ↑ Church of England; John Henry Blunt, ed., The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, new edition (London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895), p. 318, note on "The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity"; Internet Archive, "The Annotated Book of Common Prayer".
  10. ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 324; Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer".
  11. ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 325; Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer".
  12. ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 325; Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer".
  13. ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 326; Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer".
  14. ↑ Edward Meyrick Goulburn, The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer: An Exposition, Critical and Devotional, abridged from The Collects of the Day (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1883), p. 327; Internet Archive, "The Collects of the Book of Common Prayer".
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