Opening Sentence: Pentecost
Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, "I dwell in the high and holy place and also with the one who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite." Isaiah 57:15
Confession
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.
Invitatory
Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim
your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Alleluia. The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.
Jubilate
Be joyful in the Lord, all you
lands;
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
Know this: The Lord himself is
God;
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and call upon his Name.
For the Lord is good;
his mercy is everlasting;
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.
Antiphon
Alleluia. The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.
Psalm 45 Eructavit cor meum
Gloria Patri
Glory
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Old Testament Lesson
Ezra 5:1-17 (NRSV)
1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son
of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem,
in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel
son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set out to rebuild
the house of God in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets
of God, helping them.
3 At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond
the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them
and spoke to them thus, "Who gave you a decree to build this
house and to finish this structure?" 4 They also asked
them this, "What are the names of the men who are building
this building?" 5 But the eye of their God was upon the
elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report
reached Darius and then answer was returned by letter in reply
to it.
6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province
Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates the envoys
who were in the province Beyond the River sent to King Darius;
7 they sent him a report, in which was written as follows:"To
Darius the king, all peace! 8 May it be known to the king that
we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God.
It is being built of hewn stone, and timber is laid in the walls;
this work is being done diligently and prospers in their hands.
9 Then we spoke to those elders and asked them, 'Who gave you
a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?' 10
We also asked them their names, for your information, so that
we might write down the names of the men at their head. 11 This
was their reply to us:'We are the servants of the God of heaven
and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many
years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12
But because our ancestors had angered the God of heaven, he gave
them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean,
who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.
13 However, King Cyrus of Babylon, in the first year of his reign,
made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14 Moreover,
the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar
had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and had brought into
the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out of the temple
of Babylon, and they were delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar,
whom he had made governor. 15 He said to him, "Take these
vessels; go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the
house of God be rebuilt on its site." 16 Then this Sheshbazzar
came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem;
and from that time until now it has been under construction, and
it is not yet finished.' 17 And now, if it seems good to the
king, have a search made in the royal archives there in Babylon,
to see whether a decree was issued by King Cyrus for the rebuilding
of this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send us his pleasure
in this matter."
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Canticle 13 Song of the Three Young Men, 29-34
Benedictus es, Domine
Glory to you, Lord God of our
fathers; *
you are worthy of praise; glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance
of your holy Name; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
Glory to you in the splendor of
your temple; *
on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you, seated between the
Cherubim; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
Glory to you, beholding the depths;
*
in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
New Testament Lesson
Revelation 4:1-11 (NRSV)
1 After this I looked, and there in heaven
a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking
to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show
you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in
the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated
on the throne! 3 And the one seated there looks like jasper and
carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like
an emerald. 4 Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and
seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white
robes, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 Coming from the throne
are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder,
and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are
the seven spirits of God; 6 and in front of the throne there
is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living
creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living
creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the
third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth
living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures,
each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside.
Day and night without ceasing they sing,
"Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
who was and is and is to come."
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and
thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever
and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is
seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and
ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created."
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel
Matthew 13:1-9 (NRSV)
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!"
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Canticle 18 A Song to the Lamb
Dignus es Revelation 4:11, 5:9-10, 13
Splendor and honor and kingly
power *
are yours by right, O Lord our God,
For you created everything that
is, *
and by your will they were created and have their being;
And yours by right, O Lamb that
was slain, *
for with your blood you have redeemed for God,
From every family, language, people,
and nation, *
a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
And so, to him who sits upon the
throne, *
and to Christ the Lamb,
Be worship and praise, dominion
and splendor, *
for ever and for ever more.
Glory
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
William Temple 27 October 1944
Temple's admirers have called him "a philosopher, theologian, social teacher, educational reformer, and the leader of the ecumenical movement of his generation," "the most significant Anglican churchman of the twentieth century," "the most renowned Primate in the Church of England since the English Reformation," "Anglican's most creative and comprehensive contribution to the theological enterprise of the West." One of his biographers lists him (along with Richard Hooker, Joseph Butler, and Frederick Denison Maurice) as one of the Four Great Doctors of the Anglican Communion.
Ronald Knox described him thus:
A man so broad, to some he seem'd to be
Not one, but all Mankind in Effigy.
Who, brisk in Term, a Whirlwind in the Long,
Did everything by turns, and nothing wrong.
Bill'd at each Lecture-Hall from Thames to Tyne,
As Thinker, Usher, Statesman, or Divine.
George Bernard Shaw called him, "a realized impossibility."
Who was this remarkable person?
William Temple, 98th Archbishop of Canterbury, was born in 1881, the second son of Frederick Temple (born 1821, priest 1847, headmaster of Rugby 1857, Bishop of Exeter 1869, Bishop of London 1884, Archbishop of Canterbury 1897, died 1902). At the age of two, he had the first attack of the gout that would be with him throughout life and eventually kill him. His eyesight was bad, and a cataract, present from infancy, left him completely blind in the right eye when he was 40. However, he was an avid reader, with a near-photographic memory, and once he had read a book, it was his. He was a passionate lover of the music of Bach. In literature, his special enthusiasms were poetry (Browning and Shelley), drama (the Greeks and Shakespeare), and a few novels, especially The Brothers Karamazov. He believed that theological ideas were often explored most effectively by writers who were not explicitly writing theology.
He was at Oxford (Balliol) from 1900 to 1904, and was president of the Oxford Union (the debating society of the University). Here he developed a remarkable ability to sum up an issue, expressing the pros and cons so clearly and fairly that the original opponents often ended up agreeing with each other. This ability served him in good stead later when he moderated conferences on theological and social issues. However, it was not just a useful talent for settling disputes. It was, or developed into, an important part of his philosophy, a belief in Dialectic, derived from Hegel and from Plato. He thought that beliefs and ideas reach their full maturity through their response to opposing ideas.
In 1906, he applied for ordination, but the Bishop of Oxford would not ordain him because he admitted that his belief in the Virgin Birth and the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus was shaky. However, Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, after a careful examination, decided that Temple's thought was developing in a direction that would inevitably bring him into an orthodox position, and decided to take a chance on ordaining him (deacon 1909, priest 1910). He may be said to have won his bet, in that by 1913 Temple had indeed committed himself fully to the orthodox position, and could write: "I believe in the Virgin Birth...it wonderfully holds before the imagination the truth of Our Lord's Deity and so I am glad that it is in the Creed. Similarly I believe in our Lord's Bodily Resurrection."
In 1908 he became president of the Workers' Educational Association (founded by Frederick Denison Maurice), and in 1918 joined the British Labour Party, and worked actively for the implementing of its platform. He also became vigorously involved in movements for Christian co-operation and unity, in missions, in the British Council of Churches, in the World Council of Churches, in the Church of South India (a merger of Anglican, Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches into a single church, with provisions for safeguarding what each group thought essential).
In 1916 he married Frances Anson, and the night before the wedding he stayed up late to finish writing his first major theological treatise, Mens Creatrix (the Creative Mind). Eight years later he published a companion volume, expanding and clarifying the ideas of the first, called Christus Veritas (Christ the Truth). In 1921 he was made Bishop of Manchester, a heavily industrial city. In 1926 Britain experienced what was known as the General Strike, in which most workmen in all trades and industries went on strike, not against their particular employers, but against the social and economic policies of the country as a whole. In Manchester this meant primarily a coal stoppage. Temple worked extensively to mediate between the parties, and helped to bring about a settlement that both sides regarded as basically fair.
He excelled, it would seem, not as a scholar, but as a moderator, and above all as a teacher and preacher. In 1931, at the end of the Oxford Mission (what is known in many Protestant circles as a Revival Meeting), he led a congregation in the University Church, St Mary the Virgin, in the singing of the hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." Just before the last stanza, he stopped them and asked them to read the words to themselves. "Now," he said, if you mean them with all your heart, sing them as loud as you can. If you don't mean them at all, keep silent. If you mean them even a little and want to mean them more, sing them very softly." The organ played, and two thousand voices whispered:
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
For many who participated, it was a never-forgotten experience.
Temple became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1942, when a German invasion seemed likely. He worked for the relief of Jewish refugees from Naziism, and publicly supported a negotiated peace, as opposed to the unconditional surrender that the Allied leaders were demanding.
His gout worsened. His last public appearance was at a clergy retreat (a time spent in a secluded place, with silence, prayer, meditation, reading, and listening to sermons), where he was taken by ambulance and spoke standing on his one good foot. He died on 26 October 1944.
The current issue of Books in Print (American) shows the following works available by him. (Stars mark what one biographer calls his three most important books.)
Other works of his, not listed as being in print, but presumably included in the Works mentioned above (although the title does not explicitly say Complete Works), include the following:
written by James Kiefer
Prayer
O God, who by your Holy Spirit give to some the word of wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, and to others the word of faith: We praise your Name for the gifts of grace manifested in your servant William Temple, and we pray that your Church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his
only son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass
against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Suffrages A
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.
Collect of the Day: Pentecost, proper 25
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Guidance
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.World Cycle of Prayer
We pray for the people of Nigeria.Ecumenical Cycle of Prayer
We pray for our sisters and brothers, members of the Mennonite Church.
For the Human Family
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Prisons and Correctional Institutions
Lord Jesus, for our sake you were condemned as a criminal: Visit our jails and prisons with your pity and judgment. Remember all prisoners, and bring the guilty to repentance and amendment of life according to your will, and give them hope for their future. When any are held unjustly, bring them release; forgive us, and teach us to improve our justice. Remember those who work in these institutions; keep them humane and compassionate; and save them from becoming brutal or callous. And since what we do for those in prison, O Lord, we do for you, constrain us to improve their lot. All this we ask for your mercy's sake. Amen.
For the Victims of Addiction
Blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.
A Prayer of Self-Dedication
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.General Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.A Prayer of St. Chrysostom
Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.
Benediction
Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia. Alleluia.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Alleluia.The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14