Category: Church at Home (due to COVID-19)

Morning Prayer for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany and the commemoration of Charles Stuart, King and Martyr, 1649

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The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Psalms: 119, Pts 3 & 4

1st Lesson: Amos 7

2nd Lesson: John 7. 53 – 8. 11

Collect: O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect from the Sarum Missal: O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot stand upright, grant to us such health of mind and body, that by thy aid we may overcome those things which we suffer for our sins. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for Charles the Martyr: O Lord we offer unto thee all praise and thanks for the glory of Thy grace that shined forth in Thine anointed servant Charles; and we beseech Thee to give us all grace that by a careful studious imitation of this Thy blessed Saint and Martyr, that we may be made worthy to receive benefit by his prayers, which he, in communion with the Church Catholic, offers up unto Thee for that part of it here Militant, through thy Son, our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Memorial Picture of Charles I, Oil on canvas

Morning Prayer for the Third Sunday After Epiphany

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Morning Prayer for Epiphany 3

Continuing with “Church at Home” since in-person services continue to suspended within the Diocese.

The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Psalms: 95, 97

1st Lesson: Amos 5. 6-24

2nd Lesson: John 6. 41-end

Collect (being also the same as the Collect from the Sarum Missal): Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Morning Prayer for the Second Sunday After Epiphany

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Morning Prayer for Epiphany 2

Continuing with “Church at Home” since in-person services continue to suspended within the Diocese.

The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Psalms: 27

1st Lesson: Amos 3

2nd Lesson: John 6. 22-40

Collect (being also the same as the Collect from the Sarum Missal): Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Morning Prayer for the First Sunday After Epiphany

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Morning Prayer for Epiphany 1

Continuing with “Church at Home” since in-person services continue to suspended within the Diocese (but only in Nova Scotia) .

The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Psalms: 66

1st Lesson: Isaiah 42. 1-12

2nd Lesson: John 4. 1-26 (27-42)

Collect: O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people which call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Epiphany Collect: O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know thee now by faith, may be led onward through this earthly life, until we see the vision of thy heavenly glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

Prayer in times of plague or sickness: O Almighty God, who in thy wrath didst send a plague upon thine own people in the wildernes for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and also in the time of King David, didst slay with the plague of pestilence threescore and ten thousand, and yet remembering thy mercy didst save the rest: have pitie upon us miserable sinners, who now are visited with great sickness and mortality, that like as thou didst then accept of an atonement, and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing: so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Morning Prayer for the Second Sunday After Christmas

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Merry Christmas! 🎄 Today being the Ninth Day of Christmas.

In-person services continue to suspended within the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Psalms: 132

1st Lesson: Isaiah 41. 21-end

2nd Lesson: 1 John 1. 1 – 2. 6

The Christmas Collect: Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Prayer in times of plague or sickness: O Almighty God, who in thy wrath didst send a plague upon thine own people in the wildernes for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and also in the time of King David, didst slay with the plague of pestilence threescore and ten thousand, and yet remembering thy mercy didst save the rest: have pitie upon us miserable sinners, who now are visited with great sickness and mortality, that like as thou didst then accept of an atonement, and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing: so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Morning Prayer for the Second Sunday After Christmas

Feast of Thomas Becket (29 December) 🗡

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🎄 Merry Christmas! Today being the Fifth Day of Christmas, being so the Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.🌟🤱🏽

Thomas Becket was Lord Chancellor and then Archbishop of Canterbury under King Henry II, then there was a falling out between the two. Four of Henry’s knights decided to go to Canterbury Cathedral and murdered Becket at vespers (night prayer). The event has been immortalized in TS Eliot’s play Murder in the Cathedral, and in the 1964 film Becket staring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole, one of the Christmas movies that has become part of my Christmas tradition (watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/GFQi8tD-NeU).

O God, our Heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Thomas Becket to be a Bishop in thy Church and to feed thy flock: We beseech thee to send down upon all thy Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, the abundant gift of thy Holy Spirit, that they, being endued with power from on high, and ever walking in the footsteps of thy holy Apostles, may minister before thee in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Murder in the Cathedral

Solemn Morning Prayer for the Feast of St Stephen, commonly called Boxing Day

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Merry Christmas! 🎄

With all in-person services suspended within the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, I’ve have once again had to return to Church at Home.

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Psalms: 15, 16 (Exeter Cathedral Choir)

1st Lesson: Genesis 4. 1-10

2nd Lesson: Acts 6

Hymn: Good King Wenceslas (https://youtu.be/SQVUMG6LZGM )

Collect: Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Spirit, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

The Christmas Collect: Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Collect from the Sarum Missal: Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God,that we who are held in bondage by the old yoke of sin may be set free by the new birth in the flesh of thy only-begotten Son. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

St. Stephen

Second COVID Christmas 🦠

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Christmas is already a stressful time of the year; gifts to buy, social gatherings, travel to see family, no one needed more stress or worry caused by the pandemic. Few would have thought that they would have to go through a second COVID Christmas. The proliferation and rapid spread of the Omicron variant has caught many off guard. The last minute imposition of restrictions by various health authorities has caused many cancellations and anguish for many. Family gatherings to which so many were looking forward have been reduced in size or cancelled again. Businesses have been shuttered due to lack of staff or because of the mandated restrictions.

For many this will be a harder Christmas than last year. Last year, we all “sacrificed” Christmas in hopes that we could protect each other and so that we could have the next Christmas together.

Most of us probably thought that once the vaccine was available, our pandemic woes would come to an end, our prayers would be answered, and life would return to normal. For a while, it seemed that way, most of the population got their vaccines, cases of infection went down, fewer people were hospitalized; but just as we started to wind down the year and head into Christmas, everything fell apart.

For Christians around the world, Christmas is a very special time, it is a holy time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour. And once again, COVID is cancelling faith gatherings on one of the most important festivals of the Christian liturgical calendar. Earlier today, the Bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Right Reverend Sandra Fyfe, suspended in-person worship services in Nova Scotia until at least after 12 January (https://www.nspeidiocese.ca/df_media/W1siZiIsIjIwMjEvMTIvMjIvMTEvMjYvMDgvOTk4MzVhZjktNGM0MS00OGY5LWE5YzEtNTUzOGFkN2E5NGU5L0RlYyAyMDIxIE1lc3NhZ2UgZnJvbSBCaXNob3AgU2FuZHJhICgyKS5wZGYiXV0/Dec%202021%20Message%20from%20Bishop%20Sandra%20%282%29.pdf?sha=cf5b444110363497). This means all there will be no in-person worship during the 12 days of Christmas. Many Christians are disappointed and some will feel their faith challenged.

While we all want to think Christmas is all about angels descending, and magi bringing gifts, joy and happiness, it is but one facet of story of Christmas. We must not forget that the Christmas story is one of pain and suffering as well; a tired Joseph and Mary after a long journey were unable to find comfortable lodgings the night Jesus was born, that Mary had to give birth in a stable, that soon after Herod would murder innocent children and forcing Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt. For bearing the Christ-child, the Messiah, the King of Kings, Joseph and Mary did not have it easy and their faith must also have been tested.

God works in mysterious ways, and the path to God is never an easy one; but as they say, it’s about the journey, not the destination. Those of faith who trust in the Lord will find ways to appreciate and worship the majesty of God, despite the challenges. It is easy to love God when everything goes well, it is much harder to love God when everything is going wrong, but God is with us through it all and we must embrace him in our hearts during the good and the bad.

In-person worship may not be possible this Christmas, but that doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. God is always with us and He hears our prayers. For those who desire a bit more structure and formalized worship, I encourage the praying of the Daily Office or the Canonical Hours, a form of prayer practiced by Christians since the beginning of Christianity and has it roots in ancient Jewish prayers.

We’re all tired of this pandemic, we all can’t wait for it to be over. Perhaps in these “dark” times we can’t see it ending, but it will. Humanity has endured longer periods of suffering and misfortune; there is a light that will guide us out of darkness, we will one day be able to celebrate the joys of this world, all just have a little faith, especially when it can be hard to hold on to it, and that is the true Christmas story.

The End of Weekly Sunday Morning Prayer Posts (Church at Home series)

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The Order of Morning Prayer as found in the Book of Common Prayer Canada, 1962

As most Canadians have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, with churches having reopened in Nova Scotia, and with COVID restrictions are being lifted in the province and across the country, my project of sharing Sunday Morning Prayer At Home will come to a close.

For seventy weeks, over a year, we all lived under the shadow of COVID. What started as an informal project became more formalized as the weeks progressed and there was no end in sight for COVIDtide and when restrictions would be lifted. There were relaxations, then another wave of COVID cases necessitated another round of restrictions and shutdowns. There is now a light, and end in sight.

I will continue to pray the Office and post as appropriate, especially on significant feast or important occasions. Thank you for being with me on my journey of faith. We each have our own faith and spiritual needs and being in prayer with Christ gave me strength and hope during some of the darkest times of COVIDtide. My faith journey continues, and I hope yours will too.

May the peace of the Lord be always with you. / Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

Morning Prayer for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, being also the Sixty-Ninth Sunday of COVIDtide (4 July 21) 🕯

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Morning Prayer for Trinity 5

Trinity: God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4. 16.

Psalms: 28, 29

1st Lesson: Joshua 24. 1-5, 13-25

2nd Lesson: Mark 6. 7-32

Collect of the Day: Grant O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

🕯 Almighty God we continue to pray for all our loved ones who are sick in mind, body, or soul; we pray especially for Barry and Donnie and their families. We pray for all those still affected by the Coronavirus plague and hope that through medical science and prudent government actions, the restrictions across the land may continue to be eased. May you give the sick and their loved ones strength in these difficult times and may you guide the healers entrusted to their care, to comfort them and restore them in health of body and mind; through the love and protection of our saviour, healer and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.