The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.

O LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Recasting in my mind Genesis through Judges over the last month. Sickening failures of every leader who might be elevated, e.g. Noah, Abraham, etc. Joshua included.

Every one of these Churchmen was born dead in their sins and trespasses. Perhaps Moses and Joshua get better press. The entire cast is under review. Our need and desire for "heroes" may well be met by these stalwart Churchmen. We might do the same for our great forbears in the English Reformed tradition. But, lest we forget. It has been HM's mercy and grace alone that permitted and grants the gift of faithfulness. Our natural proclivity to idolatry--even as justified Churchmen--warns us.

Anything they may have done was undergirded, initiated, and supported by HM.

All braggarts need to check their arrogances, boast and pompous show at the door.

The collect notes that. Thump! Succinctly, our Collect rightly gets at it: "...and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour..."

Now, magnify His manifold mercies. Had His mercies not have stood, oh my...have you read Judges lately?

Or, have you considered the ACNA-mishmashers? The latter give us good reason to plead:

O LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Second Collect for Evensong gets at the same point. Whence come the anti-Augustinianism these days? We have absolutely nothing, nada, zero, apart from the promised mercies of HM.

The Second Collect at Evening Prayer.

O GOD, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee, we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Christ's Churches rest on HM's mercies, nothing more and nothing less.

From yours truly, an Anglican in the Babylonian Captivity.