Bishop Eric Menees
O God, whose glory it is always to have
mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from thy ways, and bring them
again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the
unchangeable truth of thy Word, Jesus Christ thy Son; who with thee and the
Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This beautiful
collect for the Second Sunday in Lent addresses many of the realities that we
live with daily, whether or not we acknowledge them.
First, the collect is
addressed to God whose chief characteristic is MERCY. This is not mercy simply for others - it is mercy for me and
for you! Christianity stands apart from all other religions because of God's
willingness to suffer for His creation. Mercy is defined by Miriam Webster’s
Dictionary as: "compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender
or to one subject to one's power." Our God is a God of mercy and
compassion, because not only has He chosen not to give us the punishment we
deserve, but he has also chosen to have compassion on - that is, to suffer with
- us. In taking on human form and substance, and then suffering the wrath of
God on our behalf - what theologians refer to as Substitutional Atonement - God
has demonstrated His mercy. Awesome! God's mercy is also shown in his decision
to adopt us as His sons and daughters. As the prologue to the Gospel of John so
beautifully states it: "But to all
who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor
of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)
Second, this collect
petitions God to extend his Grace to all who have gone astray from His ways.
That petition is for each and every one of us as the descendants of Adam. Isaiah acknowledges this fact: "All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) Isaiah prophesied to a stiff necked
people, and we have to count ourselves among them. The acknowledgement that we
have gone astray is absolutely essential to enjoying God's mercy. We tend live
with the illusion that we are perfect just the way we are - that we set the
rules, and as long as we are not actively hurting another person, we are doing
just fine. That may be true based on man's law, but not on God's law. Jesus set
the bar with the Great Commandment, and not a one of us has been able to
consistently follow that law - Lord have Mercy!
Finally, this collect
asks God to direct us back to Him and help us to hold fast to the truth of His
unchangeable Word - Jesus Christ. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to seek
after, learn from, and cling to Jesus. This Season of Lent, we have an
opportunity to "...embrace and hold fast to the unchangeable truth...” of
Jesus Christ our Lord through scripture reading, prayer, worship, fasting, and
self-denial. I invite you to join me in saying this prayer - thanking God for
his Mercy and asking His assistance in repenting and returning to the
Lord!
Note: These articles are written by Bishop Menees for the
Diocese of San Joaquin. I have posted them on Soundings with his permission for
a wider audience. This is also the case for his "Why I am an
Anglican" series. Dale+
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