Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Archive for November, 2009

Martin was born around 330 of pagan parents. His father was a soldier, who enlisted Martin in the army at the age of fifteen. One winter day he saw an ill-clad beggar at the gate of the city of Amiens. Martin had no money to give, but he cut his cloak in half and gave half to the beggar. In a dream that night, Martin saw Christ wearing the half-cloak. He had for some time considered becoming a Christian, and this ended his wavering. He was promptly baptized. He asked to be released from the army, saying: “Hitherto I have faithfully served Caesar. Let me now serve Christ.” He was accused of cowardice, and offered to stand unarmed between the contending armies. He was imprisoned, but released when peace was signed.

He became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers, a chief opponent in the West of the Arians, who denied the full deity of Christ, and who had the favor of the emperor Constantius. Returning to his parents’ home in Illyricum, he opposed the Arians with such effectiveness that he was publicly scourged and exiled. He was subsequently driven from Milan, and eventually returned to Gaul, where he founded the first monastery in the region.

In 371 he was elected bishop of Tours. His was a mainly pagan diocese, but his instruction and personal manner of life prevailed. In 384, the heretic Priscillian and six companions (all Gnostics) had been condemned to death by the emperor Maximus. The bishops who had found them guilty in the ecclesiastical court pressed for their execution. Martin contended that the secular power had no authority to punish heresy, and that the excommunication by the bishops was an adequate sentence. In this he was upheld by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. He secured a reprieve for them, but no sooner was his back turned than the bishops persuaded the emperor to break his promise. The Gnostics were executed, marking the first time that heresy was punished by death in the Christian experience.

Martin was furious, and excommunicated the bishops responsible. Afterwards, he took them back into communion in exchange for a pardon from Maximus for certain men condemned to death, and for the emperor’s promise to end the persecution of the remaining Priscillianists. He never felt easy in his mind about this concession, and thereafter avoided assemblies of bishops where he might encounter some of those concerned in this affair. He died on or about 11 November 397, and advocate for peace and justice until the end.

COLLECT
Lord God of hosts, you called the soldier Martin from service to the state, filled him with the spirit of sacrifice, and set him as a bishop in your Church to be a defender of the catholic faith. Give us grace to follow in his holy steps, that at the last we may be found clothed with righteousness in the dwellings of peace. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Willibrord was born in Northumbria in England about 658, and studied in France and Ireland. In 690 he set out with 12 companions to preach to the pagans of Frisia (a region roughly coextensive with the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, including some adjacent territories and the Frisian Islands in the North Sea). In 695 he was consecrated bishop at Rome. From there, he returned to the mission field, eventually establishing his see at Utrecht (in modern day Holland). Some of those he attempted to convert would later turn against him, destroying churches and killing missionaries. For a time, Willibrord preached to the Danes, but he returned to Frisia after the death of Radbod, and, with the help of Boniface, he rebuilt what had been destroyed. He died in 739.

COLLECT
O Lord our God, you call whom you will and send them where you choose. We thank you for sending your servant Willibrord to be an evangelist among the people of the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve you, the living God; and we entreat you to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of your service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

All Saints’ Day was originally a commemoration of the martyrs of the ancient church — the men, women, and children who were persecuted and killed for their faith in Christ. It has since become a festival on which the church remembers all the Christian faithful, both known and unknown. Originally celebrated in the spring, it came to be celebrated on November 1 in the West during the ninth century, probably as a counter-balance to the Pagan festival Samhain.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son. Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

READINGS
Deuteronomy 33: 1-3 or Daniel 7: 1-3, 15-18
Psalm 34 or 149
1 John 3: 1-3 or Revelation 7: 2-17 or Ephesians 1: 11-23
Matthew 5: 1-12