Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Posts Tagged ‘Feasts and Commemorations’

Jerome (born Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius) studied in Rome and was baptized there. He traveled for a time, eventually settling down to live as an ascetic among fellow believers in Aquileia. In 374, he moved to Palestine where he learned Hebrew while living in the Syrian Desert. He was ordained as a presbyter and, working in a rock-hewn cell, he translated the Bible into Latin. While not without its faults, Jerome’s translation, commonly known as the Vulgate, was the standard scholarly translation for well over fifteen centuries. Jerome died on this date in the year 420, and was buried in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

COLLECT
Lord God of truth, your Word is a lantern to our feet and a light upon our path. We give you thanks for your servant Jerome, and those who, following in his steps, have labored to render the Holy Scriptures in the language of the people; and we pray that your Holy Spirit will overshadow us as we read the written Word, and that the living Word will transform us according to your righteous will. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

On the Feast of The Holy Angels, we give thanks for the many ways in which God’s loving care watches over us, both directly and indirectly, and we are reminded that the richness and variety of God’s creation far exceeds our knowledge of it.

What is the value to us of remembering the Holy Angels? Since they appear to excel us in both knowledge and power, they remind us that, even among created things, we humans are not the top of the heap. Since it is the common belief that demons are angels who have chosen to disobey God and to be his enemies rather than his willing servants, they remind us that the higher we are the lower we can fall. The greater our natural gifts and talents, the greater the damage if we turn them to bad ends. The more we have been given, the more will be expected of us. And, in the picture of God sending his angels to help and defend us, we are reminded that apparently God, instead of doing good things directly, often prefers to do them through his willing servants, enabling those who have accepted his love to show their love for one another.

COLLECT
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals. Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

READINGS
Daniel 10: 10-14; 12: 1-3
Psalm 103
Revelation 12: 7-12
Luke 10: 17-20 or Matthew 18: 1-10

Matthew, a former tax collector (also known as Levi) was called from his civil duties to become an apostle of our Lord. Despised as tax collectors were, his selection was accompanied by no small amount of controversy – at least on the part of some who questioned Jesus’ approach to ministry.

His apostolic activity after Pentecost was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. Nothing definite is known about his later life. There is a tradition that points to Ethiopia as his field of labor; other traditions mention of Parthia and Persia. It is uncertain whether he died a natural death or received the crown of martyrdom.

Matthew’s Gospel is written from a strongly Jewish viewpoint, and may well have originally been written in Aramaic, the common Semitic dialect of Palestine during Jesus’ lifetime.

COLLECT
We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, following his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:11
Psalm 119a
Ephesians 2: 4-10
Matthew 9: 9-13

Januarius, the bishop of Naples, died in 305 during the Diocletian persecution. He was imprisoned while visiting incarcerated deacons at the sulphur mines of Puteoli. After many tortures, including being thrown to lions in the town’s Amphitheater, he was beheaded at Solfatara, along with his companions, including the deacon Festus, the lector Sossus, and his friends Proculus, Acuitus, and Euticius.

COLLECT
Almighty and everlasting God, you planted in the hearts of Januarius and his companions a burden for those imprisoned on account of your Son’s holy name. Grant us a deep awareness of the suffering of our brothers and sisters who are in chains on account of their faith, and, if it be your blessed will, lead us to engage in works which may encourage them in their suffering – even when such works may require us to sacrifice our freedom or our lives. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Ninian was a Celt, born in southern Scotland in about 360, and is regarded as the first major preacher of the Gospel to the people living in Britain north of the Wall–that is, living outside the territory that had been under Roman rule. He is said to have studied in Rome, but was chiefly influenced by his friendship with Martin of Tours, with whom he spent some considerable time when he was returning from Italy to Britain.

Throughout southern Scotland there are many and widespread churches that bear his name, and have traditionally been assumed to be congregations originally founded by him.

COLLECT
God of power and might, by the preaching of your blessed servant and bishop Ninian you caused the light of the Gospel to shine in the heart of the British Isles. Grant, we pray, that having his life and labors in remembrance we may show our thankfulness by following the example of his zeal and patience. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Cyprian was born around 200 in North Africa, of pagan parents. He was a prominent trial lawyer and teacher of rhetoric. Around 246 he became a Christian, and in 248 was chosen Bishop of Carthage. A year later the persecution under the Emperor Decius began, and Cyprian went into hiding, causing him to be severely censured.

Many of his writings have been preserved. His essay “On The Unity of The Catholic Church” stresses the importance of visible, concrete unity among Christians, and the role of the bishops in guaranteeing that unity. It has greatly influenced Christian thought, as have his essays and letters on Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you gave to your servant Cyprian boldness to confess the Name of the Savior before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith. Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Yesterday evening, my wife and I were doing our evening devotions from the simplified office of our Synod’s provisional Book of Common Prayer. We read ahead to today’s commemoration of the Anglican Sister Constance and her Companions who lived, served, and died in Christ within a few hours of our home. In a world filled with secular heroes, and anti heroes, it is good from time to time to reflect on the lives of the saints to deepen our own understanding of faithfulness to Christ in the midst of a world devoted to “self”. May the Lord bless this commemoration to your spirit.

In Christ,

+Chuck Huckaby
Bishop
Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

In 1878 Memphis, Tennessee was struck by an epidemic of yellow fever, which so depopulated the area that the city lost its charter and was not reorganized for fourteen years. Almost everyone who could afford to do so left the city and fled to higher ground away from the river. There were in the city several communities of nuns, Anglican and Roman Catholic, who had the opportunity of leaving, but chose to stay and nurse the sick. Most of them, thirty-eight in all, were themselves killed by the fever. One of the first to die (on September 9, 1878) was Constance, head of the (Anglican) Community of St. Mary.

COLLECT
God of compassion, we give you thanks and praise for the heroic witness of Constance and her companions, who, in a time of plague and pestilence, were steadfast in their care for the sick and dying, and loved not their own lives, even unto death: Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Four of the many believers who were martyred throughout New Guinea during the Second World War.

Almost immediately there were arrests. Eight clergymen and two laymen were executed by the Japanese Army “as an example” on September 2, 1942. In the next few years 333 church workers of various denominations were killed, while many native Papuan Christians (of all Churches) risked their own lives to care for the wounded.

COLLECT
Almighty God, we remember before you this day the blessed martyrs of New Guinea, who, following the example of their Savior, laid down their lives for their friends; and we pray that we who honor their memory may imitate their loyalty and faith. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel first came to the northern English in 627, but it was soon suppressed by a resurgence of Paganism. In 633, Oswald became the king of Northumbria, and proceeded at once to restore the Christian mission. Because he had been exiled in a monastery at Iona, he selected an Ioniana, Corman, to preach to the people of his kingdom. Corman returned, having had no success, but a fellow monk, Aidan, responded by telling Corman, “Perhaps you were too harsh with them, and they might have responded better to a gentler approach.” At this, Aidan found himself appointed to lead a second expedition. He centered his work, not at York, but in imitation of his home monastery, on Lindisfarne, an island off the northeast coast of England.

With his fellow monks and the English youths whom he trained, Aidan restored Christianity in Northumbria, King Oswald often serving as his interpreter, and extended the mission through the midlands as far south as London.

Aidan died at the royal town of Bamborough on August 31, 651. The historian Bede said of him: “He neither sought nor loved anything of this world, but delighted in distributing immediately to the poor whatever was given him by kings or rich men of the world. He traversed both town and country on foot, never on horseback, unless compelled by some urgent necessity. Wherever on his way he saw any, either rich or poor, he invited them, if pagans, to embrace the mystery of the faith; or if they were believers, he sought to strengthen them in their faith and stir them up by words and actions to alms and good works.”

COLLECT
Loving God, you called your servant Aidan from the peace of a cloister to re-establish the Christian mission in northern England, and endowed him with gentleness, simplicity, and strength. Grant that we, following his example, may use what you have given us for the relief of human need, and may persevere in commending the saving Gospel of our Redeemer. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom.

This great religious reformer was sent by God to prepare the people for the Messiah. His vocation was one of selfless giving. The only power that he claimed was the Spirit of Yahweh. “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. Scripture tells us that many people followed John looking to him for hope, perhaps in anticipation of some great messianic power. John never allowed himself the false honor of receiving these people for his own glory. He knew his calling was one of preparation. When the time came, he led his disciples to Jesus. John’s life and death were a giving over of self for God and others. His simple style of life was one of complete detachment from earthly possessions. His heart was centered on God and his voice speaking to his heart. Confident of God’s grace, he had the courage to speak words of condemnation, repentance, and salvation.

COLLECT
Almighty God, you called your servant John the Baptist to be the forerunner of your Son in birth and death. Strengthen us with your grace that, as he suffered for the truth, so we may boldly resist corruption and vice
and receive with him the unfading crown of glory. We ask this through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Revelation 6: 9-11
Psalm 11 or 71
Romans 6: 1-5
Matthew 14: 1-12 or Mark 6: 14-29