Dear Reader,
I suspect that one regular feature of this blog may come to be a reflection on the previous Sunday's collect that those of us in the Anglican/Episcopal portion of the Church Catholic will have prayed together at Mass. While I'm tempted to reflect on this coming Sunday's collect, I will also be doing so in my upcoming sermon which some of you are obligated to hear; so I will hold off for the sake of not spoiling my own sermon!
Today we will consider the collect for St. James (July 25th), patron of the parish which I serve. Later in the week we will consider last week's collect (Proper 13) and we'll be all caught up and consider one collect per week thereafter, excepting when a noteworthy observance pops up during the week.
Saint James the Great, July 25
O gracious God, we remember before you today your servant and apostle James, first among the Twelve to suffer martyrdom for the Name of Jesus Christ; and we pray that you will pour out upon the leaders of your Church that spirit of self-denying service by which alone they may have true authority among your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
This is quite the collect, indeed. It is noteworthy that instead of praying for the entire Church, as is generally the case in the collects, we are praying specifically for the leaders of the Church. Not only are we praying for Church leadership, but the collect implies-and rightly so-that leaders need divine assistance in remembering that true authority in the Kingdom of Heaven derives solely from "self-denying service." Priests are not immune from confusing worldly authority with true authority from Heaven, and we need the prayerful support of the faithful to assist us in remembering the centrality of service--not even servant leadership--but kneeling in the dust and washing feet service in our vocations.
Saint James' Day, observed on Sunday, July 24th at my parish, was my first day at my new cure, and I had the privilege to be invited to preach. It was indeed quite humbling for me to put on fine vestments and ascend into the pulpit in a gorgeous parish church on my very first day as the new curate and preach that if I fail to serve, I have no legitimacy to lead. (How's that for one's first day!?) Truly, to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, we must be lower than slaves and faithfully follow The Servant, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who emptied himself on the cross for us and for our salvation.
How does this intersect with our daily lives? First, if you are a cleric, we must serve before we can even pretend to lead, and we desperately need God's grace to assist us in this task. If you aren't ordained, please commit to praying for your clergy. We need your prayers to support us and keep us faithful to our vocations. Most of us have encountered clergy handling authority wrongly, as it is exceedingly easy to do, and we would do well to pray for all of the leaders of the Church in this regard.
The larger call for all of us, lay and ordained, is to be willing to serve without being noticed and without expecting anything in return. While leading may logically proceed after service, service is always the primary call for citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. All of us are to be servants first and to not give in to the world's ways of grasping for authority, power and wealth.
Have you ever cared more about authority or status than serving others in the name of Christ? We all certainly have. May God bless us all as we follow Blessed James as he follows Christ, and may God give us the grace we need to be evermore conformed to His image.
David+
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