The Invocation: Beginning Aright

O God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth, Have mercy upon us.

O God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy upon us.

O God the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful, Have mercy upon us.

O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God, Have mercy upon us.

The Litany begins with an Invocation of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. This is as it should and must be, for the revelation of One God in Trinity of Persons is at the core of all Christian prayer, thought, and practice. By locating this fact at the head of this great offering of intercession, we make clear our appeal to the True God. It also reminds us that we are not “making” anything happen in this or any other prayer; we are responding to the work of God in us and through us. This is central to a healthy, scriptural, and balanced understanding of Christian intercession.

It is God who “creates, redeems, and sanctifies.” Christ is the Great High Priest, through whom all our intercessions find their meaning, validity, and power (indeed, the entire Litany is addressed to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity). The Holy Spirit activates our intercession, giving us the intention and words. The Father’s Life passes through the Son by the Spirit into us, bringing us into our appointed place as participants in the Divine Life of prayerful communion – a communion of wills. The final petition of the Invocation, addressed to the “holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God” is an explicit affirmation of this implicit understanding of what it means to pray in a deep unity with God “on behalf of all mankind” as a Christian.

How many times are we encouraged to “name it and claim it” in our American Christianity, approaching God as one would anyone else? In so doing, we mistake what is in fact a privilege and gift for a personal right. The gift of knowing God in Trinity is a revelation from the Divine to us. We could never reason our way to it. It is a Holy Mystery. That mystery of the Divine must be at the center of our intercessions. We must not delude ourselves into attempting to “control outcomes” or form a self-concocted picture of what God “must do.” Rather joining Christ at Gethsemane, we must lay all our intercessions, all our prayers and desires at the feet of the Holy God whose “never failing care and love” will do “better things than we can desire or pray for.”

It is precisely for this reason that we begin this and most Litanies with an invocation of God the Holy Trinity.

The Martyrdom of the Holy Forerunner

Today is the commemoration of the beheading of St. John the Baptist. It is a solemn day of fasting in the Orthodox church, and is commemorated in the Roman Catholic calendar, as well as by some Anglicans. For reasons that are hard to explain, it does not appear in the Episcopal Church’s calendar (even with the rather extraordinary additions at the late General Convention). This omission is grievous, in that today’s observance is very much attested in the Holy Scriptures and the ancient witness of the Undivided Church.

So deeply connected are the lives and teachings of Our Lord and the Forerunner that omission of this feast blunts the Calendar’s teaching on the point. His boldness and proclaiming repentance for all as a prelude to receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit in Christianity remains essential. John’s fierce insistence on Divine truth and faithfulness in the face of earthly power is foundation on which the Christian Church’s ministry of prophetic witness was to be based. Because of his utter fidelity to God’s call, he died a martyr’s death – the first of many in the Christian faith.

Let us pray that the Episcopal Church, among many other things, may be led to renew its fidelity to the Baptist’s witness by including this ancient and venerable commemoration to its calendar.

A Collect for the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

God our Father, you called John the Baptist to be the herald of your Son's birth and death. As he gave his life in witness to truth and justice, so may we strive to profess our faith in your Gospel. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Further thoughts, from the Orthodox Church of America

The Beheading of the Prophet, Forerunner of the Lord, John the Baptist: The Evangelists Matthew (Mt.14:1-12) and Mark (Mark 6:14-29) provide accounts about the martyric end of John the Baptist in the year 32 after the Birth of Christ.

Following the Baptism of the Lord, St John the Baptist was locked up in prison by Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch (ruler of one fourth of the Holy Land) and governor of Galilee. (After the death of king Herod the Great, the Romans divided the territory of Palestine into four parts, and put a governor in charge of each part. Herod Antipas received Galilee from the emperor Augustus).

The prophet of God John openly denounced Herod for having left his lawful wife, the daughter of the Arabian king Aretas, and then instead cohabiting with Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip (Luke 3:19-20). On his birthday, Herod made a feast for dignitaries, the elders and a thousand chief citizens. Salome, the daughter of Herod, danced before the guests and charmed Herod. In gratitude to the girl, he swore to give her whatever she would ask, up to half his kingdom.

The vile girl on the advice of her wicked mother Herodias asked that she be given the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod became apprehensive, for he feared the wrath of God for the murder of a prophet, whom earlier he had heeded. He also feared the people, who loved the holy Forerunner. But because of the guests and his careless oath, he gave orders to cut off the head of St John and to give it to Salome.

According to Tradition, the mouth of the dead preacher of repentance once more opened and proclaimed: "Herod, you should not have the wife of your brother Philip." Salome took the platter with the head of St John and gave it to her mother. The frenzied Herodias repeatedly stabbed the tongue of the prophet with a needle and buried his holy head in a unclean place. But the pious Joanna, wife of Herod's steward Chuza, buried the head of John the Baptist in an earthen vessel on the Mount of Olives, where Herod had a parcel of land. The holy body of John the Baptist was taken that night by his disciples and buried at Sebastia, there where the wicked deed had been done.

After the murder of St John the Baptist, Herod continued to govern for a certain time. Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, later sent Jesus Christ to him, Whom he mocked (Luke 23:7-12)

Tradition says the judgment of God came upon Herod, Herodias and Salome, even during their earthly life. Salome, crossing the River Sikoris in winter, fell through the ice. The ice gave way in such a way that her body was in the water, but her head was trapped above the ice. It was similar to how she once had danced with her feet upon the ground, but now she flailed helplessly in the icy water. Thus she was trapped until that time when the sharp ice cut through her neck.

Her corpse was not found, but they brought the head to Herod and Herodias, as once they had brought them the head of St John the Baptist. The Arab king Aretas, in revenge for the disrespect shown his daughter, made war against Herod. The defeated Herod suffered the wrath of the Roman emperor Caius Caligua (37-41) and was exiled with Herodias first to Gaul, and then to Spain.

The Beheading of St John the Baptist, a Feast day established by the Church, is also a strict fast day because of the grief of Christians at the violent death of the saint. In some Orthodox cultures pious people will not eat food from a flat plate, use a knife, or eat food that is round in shape on this day.

A Little Rubrical Archeology…

“To be said or sung, kneeling, standing, or in procession; before the Eucharist or after the Collects of Morning or Evening Prayer; or separately; especially in Lent and on Rogation days.”

The rubrics (ceremonial directions) of the Prayer Book often tell us important things. Those printed at the head of the Litany tell us something of its history and usage in the Church. First, the Litany’s early and normative way of being offered was for it to be sung in procession. Litanies have a certain character of prayer; the fixed or only occasionally-changing response means the participants may enter into a rhythmic relationship with them, rather like the rocking of a child or a person in deep emotional need. Litanies have this very ancient, physical dimension that invites the whole person – body, mind, soul – into God’s presence and power. Experiencing the sung Litany in procession at a parish church or cathedral (especially on a Rogation procession) reveals this unifying characteristic.

The rubic also makes provision for saying the Great Litany standing or kneeling. This is certainly the most common form of using the Litany in the post-reformation Anglican Church, used both liturgically and in personal prayer.

The use of the Litany has varied over the years. Currently it is used as a prelude to the Eucharist (rather like the Great Litany of the Eastern Orthodox churches), seamlessly moving from intercession on behalf of the world before God into the Collect of the Day. In addition to being used after the collects at Morning or Evening Prayer, the rubric notes that the Litany may be used as a separate devotion. It is precisely this aspect which has fallen out of use and which I would submit the Church must recover.

It was once a common devotion among us to offer the Great Litany at noonday, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays, and daily during Lent, the quarterly Embertides, and Rogationtide. Thus, there was a time when people either as a community or in personal prayer would regularly offer this prolonged form of supplication and intercession. It was part of our DNA to intercede in a broad and intentional way for the world well outside the confines of the Sunday liturgies. By doing this, a community is raised from self-consciousness and self-obsession to its true priestly function of offering the world to Christ the Great High Priest.

When the Church regains its proper sense of purpose as the uniquely-called (and uniquely humble!) people of God, the meaning and value of such prayers as the Litany will once again be clear.

Reflections on the Great Litany - a preface

There are few better prayers in our tradition than the Great Litany for breadth and depth. Once, this litany accompanied each Sunday’s transition from Morning Prayer to the Holy Communion. It formed what was sometimes called the “English Introit,” a rich and probing series of petitions, praying for “all sorts and conditions” of humanity as the Church prepared to offer the Holy Mysteries "for the life of the world."

The Litany was also used at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer, to provide an intercessory balance to the Office’s other components of confession, instruction, and praise. In addition, it was also a separate devotion, often at Noonday, especially in Lent and at times of great national or communal upheaval.

Today, it is rarely seen or heard in most Episcopal Churches. Some in our comfort-driven era greet this with joy, fatigued by its length and a perceived “negative” character. Yet, a careful study of this litany yields much treasure in today's era of watered-down or entertainment-focused worship. For the coming weeks, it is my hope to enter into this ancient offering of prayer and come to a renewed understanding of its place in the teaching and practice of a faithful, apostolic Anglicanism of today.

There are many online resources which speak to the history and structure of the Great Litany (and litanies in general). Suffice it to say that the Great Litany actually pre-dates the Book of Common Prayer, and has been revised from time-to-time in the editions of the BCP since. The form used for these reflections will be that of the 1979 BCP of the Episcopal Church.

Of your courtesy, pray God's blessing on this endeavor.

Risen, Ascended, Glorified

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:1

“He has raised our human nature in the clouds to God’s right hand;


There we sit in heavenly places, there with Him in glory stand:


Jesus reigns, adored by angels; man with God is on the throne;


Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension we by faith behold our own.”

- Bishop Christopher Wordsworth, 1807-1885 

The Ascension of Christ is difficult for modern people much more because of what it says about humanity than for any perceived defect in its cosmogony. The message of this Principal Feast is simply too great, too noble for our diminished vision of the human being. The Ascension boldly asserts that through Christ the human person already partakes in the spiritual gifts of and communion with God the Father. When Christ rises triumphantly into the heavens 40 days after his Resurrection, he is not demonstrating his power through a proof like “levitation,” nor is his rising  merely a mechanical "event" like sending up a kind of spiritual rocket to God the Father. It is a mystery, a witness to something profoundly true: he is drawing all of redeemed humanity into the presence and power of God, where it belongs.

How reduced, how stunted is the secular vision of humanity! Attempting to satisfy spiritual beings with material things, or giving out data or propaganda or advertising as a substitute for wisdom, we gradually learn to lower our expectations of being human. We say “I’m only human” as if it were a rather embarrassing excuse, not a confession of a miraculous gift. Instead of seeing the human person as Christ sees it – full of divine potential for holy love because Christ has raised it with him – we see the “un-ascended human” as the norm. We miss the glorious truth because it exceeds our expectations.

Many churches today have no celebration of the Ascension, or perhaps move it to some convenient mid-week said service. Many homilists today spend more time trying to "debunk" or "justify" the Ascension than entering into its meaning. This is further evidence of our diminished vision, our forgetting the gift we have already received in Christ. Bishop Wordsworth’s hymn recalls us to the truth: We are more than we know; we were created for Glory. Our destiny is restored now by being raised to the Right Hand of God in Christ. This is what it means to be “only human” for the Christian: a completely transformed personhood, “seeking the things that are above,” where Christ and our restored humanity already are. We experience a foretaste of it in every Holy Eucharist. We who know the Ascended Christ can be satisfied with nothing less.

Rogationtide: Not Guilt but Grace and Gratitude

The ancient tradition of observing Rogationtide during the 6^th week of Easter has undergone some real changes and challenges in recent decades.

- Few people live on farms or make their living from the land today; this is exactly opposite of the world as it was for millennia.

- Because of technology, many people take for granted that there will be enough food each year (the last nature-induced famine in the Western European and North American world was in the early 19^th century, due to a volcanic eruption in modern-day Indonesia – that’s a long time ago!)

- The Prayer Book has gradually lowered the visibility of this observance, until the current situation when the Eucharistic lessons for Rogation Sunday in the new (RCL) lectionary have little discernable connection with the Creation or God’s protective work in our lives.

- The modern ecological and environmental movement has largely secular roots, and its main observance (“Earth Day”) has no connection to the Church Calendar, leaving Rogation Sunday to die or become merely a quaint tradition, rather than the profound observance it really is.

            As an increasingly urban and suburban culture, the agricultural roots of these Holy Days can seem irrelevant to us. Yet, we still rely on the earth for all our material sustenance. We who live in a consumerized, technological, and largely individualist society need to bear this in mind.

            The secular focus on environmentalism, however, has often had a tendency to focus on the damage we have done to the Creation. That record of pollution and profound misuse of the Creation is open for all to see, and is indeed a shameful (and ongoing) chapter of human sin, which always results in the abuse of the neighbor, the Creation, or the self due to alienation from God.

            However, the secular world’s remorse for pollution often seems to get stuck in guilt, anger, retribution, regulation, and romanticized concepts of nature. Indeed, it frequently amuses me to see how secularists (or secularized Christians), who often cannot bear the least reference to sin when applied to actions in their much-protected “private” life, become persecuting neo-Calvinists when they spot “public” wrongs connected with the environment. Not so the Church’s ancient (and gradually revived) teaching on the subject.

            The New Testament makes no distinction between “private” and “public” sin. The wrong done in corrupt personal dealings is the same as the wrong done by polluting the environment. Both dishonor the created person or order AND dishonor the God who created all things in perfect love.

            The assumption made by the Scriptures and by the Christian Church until its infection by secular ideas in the 17^th century is that we are stewards, not owners, of the created order. We are judged in part on how we relate to the Creation. If we see it as mere “material” to be “used” rather than a gift to be offered, we re-enact the sin of Adam and Eve, who “used” the “material” of the world in a way they saw fit, for their own gratification, rather than in a priestly relationship of gratitude and offering to the God who ordered all things for their benefit. So, there is an absolute requirement for repentance of sin against God in the misuse of the Creation (a much better word for us to use than “environment” in this context); but, the solution to the wrong comes not in guilt or in concocting a naïve notion of the past or a new Pharisaism in the present (where each action is obsessively measured for its moral consequences, with personal self-justification the unstated goal).

            Rather, the Christian looks to Christ, who in His words to the Disciples and the High Priestly prayer in John (Chaps. 13-17) commends all to the will and purpose of the Father. He restores the right relationship between God and world, and directs us to share in His priestly ministry as stewards of the Mysteries of God – which includes the present Creation while we are part of it. This is one aspect of what it means when Christ tells us to “bear fruit” as His disciples.

            As we come to Rogationtide at St. Timothy’s, we will offer some of the traditional aspects of the observance. After the main liturgy, we plan to process around the parish grounds while offering the Great Litany. In so doing, we confess our absolute dependence on God for our life. To this purpose special petitions for this day are added:

For favorable weather, temperate rains, and fruitful seasons, that there may be food and drink for all your creatures, we pray to you, O Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For your blessing upon the lands and waters, and all who work upon them to bring forth food and all things needful for your people, we pray to you, O Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For all who care for the earth, the water, and the air, that the riches of your creation may abound from age to age, we pray to you, O Lord.  Lord, have mercy.

            As in the past, additional prayers for good stewardship of the earth and human industry will be offered. We will also bless and distribute Rogation Crosses to be taken by parishioners and placed in their own gardens, farms, and plantings as a visible reminder of God’s blessing in the gift of life, growth, and protection of our fragile existence.

            However, this year there will be an important difference. We plan to ask God’s blessing on the new Community Garden hosted by St. Timothy’s. This is an important undertaking blending mission to the community, care of the neighbor, right use of the Creation, and the basic assumptions of stewardship in our Faith. It is a first step in our common life towards a renewed understanding of our priestly purpose with regard to the world around us. God willing, it will call us to be creative, generous stewards of all the relationships in our life. After all, how we treat the things of this world largely foretells how we treat the people in it. All of this will be a blessing, indeed. And that is something to be understood and lived with Christian intentionality. It is a gift of clarity and peace we bear from God, to be shared with everyone we serve in God’s Name.

            Rather than being imprisoned by the paralyzing guilt of a fallen and combative world, may this Rogationtide find us growing into the liberating, thankful joy of the renewed Creation made known in Christ! 

Learning to Love Again

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Great 50 Days of Easter are framed as it were by two lessons about love.

On the night before his death, Christ said to his disciples that they must love one another as he has loved them (John 13:34). This love, a giving of self for the other, sets the standard for the Christian life. It presents an unmistakable context for the Christian: to love as he loved, living free to serve, secure in the Father’s love which alone is freedom in its fullness.

Weeks later, after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples by a lake (John 21). The disciples had tried to return to their old lives, but this is never truly possible for one touched by Christ. At that lakeside, Christ Jesus asked Peter: “Do you love me?” In order to heal the rift and failing of Peter’s thrice-denial, the Lord asks him twice more: “Do you love me?” It is almost as if Christ says: “It is not enough to sit with me, to eat with me as one of my friends; you must learn again to love in its fullest sense, only then will you ever be able to “feed my sheep” and bear my message to this lovelorn and love-thirsty world aright.” What was true for St. Peter is true also for us.

The Great 50 Days of Eastertide is not a “project,” at the end of which we have some sort of “product” we can measure or present to God for approval or validation. It is a season when the meaning of the Resurrection is gradually absorbed. Jesus bids the disciples then and now to live and love beyond the rigid confines of Time and Death. Christ has loved us to the last, full measure in the events of Holy Week. In His resurrection – which we share through our baptism into Him – Christ Jesus shows us reality is so much greater than our limited, earthbound vision typically allows. He now looks at us in the midst of our many denials of Him as disciples and inquires: “Do you love me?” We are called to ponder what this means. Do we choose to operate out of our limitations, or out of His example of a free and fearless love?

At the end of Eastertide, the promised gift of the Holy Spirit is delivered to the infant Church at Pentecost. Only this gift makes it possible to live out our commission, our call to “love as He loves us.” Yet, that giving of the Holy Spirit is only for those who would receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, desiring to live His love, to become like Him as a way of life. Christ’s question to St. Peter continues to be our question.

The modern parish Church has often been reduced to a social club, a political action organization, or a museum of some romanticized and concocted history. None of these is either accurate or sufficient. The parish is the appointed place where a Christian people gather to hear the Gospel of Divine Love proclaimed, participate in the enactment of that Kingdom of Love and Knowledge through the Holy Liturgy, and are sent forth as changed people to embody that Love. The parish is, at heart, where humans learn to love again. Only when this is the “mission above all other missions” will the Church become its true self, fulfilling the Resurrection’s promise and our Lord’s desire.