The propers for the Sunday next
before Advent can be found on Page 225-226:
The Sunday next before Advent
The Collect.
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up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they,
plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously
rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle for today, which came from the Book of
Jeremiah, the Twenty-Third Chapter, beginning at the Fifth Verse. Foretelling the arrival of Jesus,
Jeremiah prophesied, “I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is
his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” He prophesied the New Covenant, moving reference
of the Lord from Egypt to Israel and the return to one people of those driven
out of their homeland across the world.
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EHOLD, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David
a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out
of the land of Egypt; but, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the
seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries
whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel for
today which came from the Gospel
according to Saint John, the Sixth Chapter, beginning at the Fifth Verse. John relates one of the feeding the
masses in the wilderness events.
This event occurring long before there was a Thanksgiving Day, seems
very appropriate for the weekend and also forshadows the arrival of the Christ
at Christmas coming to feed our spiritual needs in the wilderness of this
world.
With five thousand men with them looking for food in
the wilderness, “One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith
unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small
fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down…” Reminding us that if the Son of God
gave thanks to God for His food, so ought we, “Jesus took the loaves; and when
he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them
that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they
were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve
baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and
above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle
that Jesus did, said, ‘This is of a truth that prophet that should come into
the world.’”
Compare to saving our souls and
feeding the inner hunger we have for God’s love, feeding a mere 5,000 men is
child’s play, but then Jesus said we should accept God and His love through Him
as the children do. So perhaps it
really is child’s play.
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HEN Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come
unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip
answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that
every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon
Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley
loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said,
Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat
down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had
given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that
were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were
filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that
nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve
baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and
above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle
that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the
world.
Sermon – Time
and Action
Today’s sermon tied the Epistle and Gospel together
and is partly contained in the forewords above.
As is oft the case, today’s propers are all tied
together. As is usual, they call
for action not just thoughts. In
fact the collect is among the most direct, asking God to stir our hearts that
we might ACT in a manner which will result in good things! Jeremiah prophesies the coming of Jesus
out of the branch of David that He might unite God’s people as one under a New
Covenant. John tells us Jesus not
only comes to fill our hunger, literal in that if we follow Him we will do much
better here on earth than if we do not, and figurative only He can fill the
hunger in our hearts for God.
Interestingly, He tells the disciples to “Gather up the fragments that
remain, that nothing be lost.”
Think about that and take what it is offered before it is no longer on
the menu!
Happy Anniversary!
This is the 48th anniversary of the
establishment of the Anglican Orthodox Church by Bishop Parker Dees, a man who
put our Lord before himself.
Please see the following from Bishop Jerry:
Anglican Orthodox
Church
PO Box 128
Statesville, N.C. 28687
DATE: 16 November 2011 Anno
Domini
TO: Faithful Members and
Friends of the AOC
SUBJECT: 48th
Anniversary Letter
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it."
(Matt
16:18)
Contrary
to the opinion of high churchmen, the Rock to which Christ referred was not to
Peter as an individual, but to the faith in Christ which Peter demonstrated by
his testimony. No man is the rock upon which the church is built for that Rock
is none other than the Lord Jesu s Christ Himself. The foundation of the Church is made
sure by the apostolic faith and Doctrine of Christ as related through the
preaching and teachings of Christ and His Apostles. There can be no Apostolic
Succession where the Doctrines of Christ, as revealed to the Apostles, is not
abundantly professed and clarified. If you wish to have the solid Rock for the
Church, look not to man, but to Christ – "Moreover, brethren, I
would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And
did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock
that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor
10:1-4)
We
have been blessed in the AOC to have such Apostolic Succession from our
separation from the Protestant Episcopal Church (so-called) and founding as a
separate Communion in the Reformed and Anglican Tradition. The courageous
Bishop James Parker Dees fought apostasy and heresy in the Episcopal Church for
many years before deciding that the Church was doomed to continue on the way of
Baal. Upon leaving that body, Bishop Dees faced persecution from every quarter
– political, social and spiritual. Though his last assignment as a priest had included
service as Rector of a black Episcopal Church, he was charged as being a racist
and a radical. Priests of the ECUSA paraded all night around his house with
loudspeakers and banners for three nights in a row. Every word he had written
or spoken was twisted and misconstrued by the media who acted as vassals of the
larger church body.
Bishop
Dees never relented, but continued on the straight course upon which the Lord
had placed his feet. On November 16th in the Year of our Lord 1963, Bishop Dees founded the
Anglican Orthodox Church. He took the church back to the formularies and faith
of the Great English Reformation Church of Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer. From
that day until this, the AOC has remained faithful to that biblical faith for
which the English and Continental martyrs died.
As
we move into the future years, let us remain faithful to that biblical faith
until Christ returns and finds us laboring as faithful and devout servants.
In
Christ Alone,
JERRY
L. OGLES
Presiding Bishop
400th Anniversary of the Authorized Version of the
Bible
The Authorized Version, commonly known as the King
James Version, King James Bible or KJV, is an English translation of the
Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611.
First printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker, this was the third official
translation into English; the first having been the Great Bible commissioned by
the Church of England in the reign of King Henry VIII, and the second was the
Bishop's Bible of 1568. In January 1604, King James I of England convened the
Hampton Court Conference where a new English version was conceived in response
to the perceived problems of the earlier translations as detected by the
Puritans, a faction within the Church of England.
James gave the translators instructions intended to
guarantee that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect
the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its beliefs about an
ordained clergy. The translation
was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of
England. In common with most other
translations of the period, the New Testament was translated from Greek, the
Old Testament was translated from Hebrew text, while the Apocrypha were
translated from the Greek and Latin. In the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the
text of the Authorized Version replaced the text of the Great Bible – for
Epistle and Gospel readings – and as such was authorized by Act of
Parliament. By the first half of
the 18th century, the Authorized Version was effectively unchallenged as the
English translation used in Anglican and Protestant churches. Over the course
of the 18th century, the Authorized Version supplanted the Latin Vulgate as the
standard version of scripture for English speaking scholars.
Anglican Orthodox
Church
PO Box 128
Statesville, N.C. 28687
DATE: 19 November 2011 Anno
Domini
TO: Faithful Members and
Friends of the AOC
SUBJECT: Anniversary Letter of
the 400th Anniversary of the King
James Bible
"My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing
thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy
children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore
will I change their glory into shame." (Hosea 4:6-7)
It
must be admitted by even the most complacent observer that America and her
people are no longer the bright
and shining star of freedom and liberty once projected by the mere mention of
her name. It is true that America remains a cut above most other nations of the
world for hope and promise, yet she has fallen far below her previous standing
as a beacon light of hope to which the whole world looked with admiration and
longing. We have forgotten, among other things in our heritage, beauty and love
– the two are inextricably joined at the heart. We have rejected the idyllic in
the arts, and opted for the perverse. The graphic arts have degenerated over
the past several decades from that which depicts the glory and beauty of God's
Creation into that which distorts and disfigures all that is beautiful. The
same is true of our music. If we can no longer compose to the standard of Bach,
Vivaldi, Mendelsohn, Mozart, Handel, or Beethoven, why not retain this beauty
in music until we are able to so compose. Instead, we have cast aside the
beauty of melody and opted for the jumbled and unorganized notes of music which
lowers the inspiration of the soul uses words that once would have been
considered so disgusting that we would have landed in jail for uttering them.
America
has been respected and looked up to over the years. As we began our descent
into the abyss of vulgar tastes and perverse living, the world has watched and
followed us there. Our media is quite powerful conveying our cultural failures
to the rest of the planet. We have dumbed down our schools and institutes of
higher learning believing that technical expertise can replace knowledge and
spiritual advancement. How utterly profound has been our descent. We no longer
know the meaning of an evening meal together with family. Fast foods, fast
entertainment, decadent lifestyles, and foolish pursuits have occupied the hands
that once built dreams and bridges.
The
greatest decline has occurred in our souls and minds. The dull scrawlings we
call art, the ear bursting racket we call music, and the dredges of society we
call `movie star idols' have transformed our souls into dark and forbidding
pits of despair. Those things of beauty which are classical because their value
has increased in appreciation over the years rather than declined, are cast
aside for rubbish. Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, Tolstoi, Cicero, Dickens,
Longfellow, or Hawthorne are no longer read in our schools. Instead, our
students read books such as "Bobby has two Daddies". Historical
perspective is no longer taught except in ways that distort history to satisfy
a political agenda.
And
what of our language? It, too, has suffered shameful degradation. We have
forgotten he old adage that "words have meaning and consequence." The
dumbing-down of America has been a clever undertaking by those who love not
liberty or freedom. They wish to control, not only the American people, but the
populations of the world into lab dogs that would have made Pavlov proud
that we have fallen so easily to a people of `conditioned' response. I believe
this process began with the most important element of our American society – the
Church. We are graduating, and have been for a very long time, men who are
biblically illiterate by the standards of the past. They have been conditioned
to have a very low view of scriptuire and will accept any corruption of the
word as long as it is label `bible version'. We have done so, with surprising
success, by casting off the ancient landmarks and taking up the produce of the
cattle stall as more valid than that text the Reformers called "commonly
received." It amazes me that men for whom I initially feel to be of very
high scholarship prove to have little wisdom, or scholarship, when it comes to
the most important possession man can hold in his hands – the Holy Bible. Our
King James Bible is the greatest accomplishment in translation beauty and
accuracy of any to be produced byt the church. Those modern version, produced
by corporations and which are under man's copyright, only contain bits and
pieces of God's revealed Word. Within their so-called translational styles,
they have embedded deadly [poisons that take away from the grace and beauty of
God's Word. They take, primarily, two specious manuscripts which leave great
gaps throughout their pages (in the originals) where long scriptural passages
occur in the Received Text. These two manuscripts disagree in a great number of
places even with each other, yet the modern mind can accept them more readily
because they appear less harsh and require less backbone for their adherents in
standing up for Christ and the Trinity. On the other hand, the Received Text is
comprised of more than 90% of the manuscript evidence and all these agree
together. I suppose "in the mouths of two witnesses shall the truth the
truth be established" is no longer sound counsel of Christ since the two
witnesses of the modern, copyrighted versions do not agree.
I
have added to this long letter a very informative and scholarly article from an
English Churchman. It was sent to me by Dru Arnold to whom I am very grateful
for the sharing. If your attention span has not been hopelessly crippled,
please read the below article:
The
King of the Bibles
As the Queen prepares to mark the 400th anniversary
of the King James Version, Peter Mullen pours scorn on some of its modern
rivals.
By Peter Mullen
7:06AM GMT 14 Nov 2011
We
enjoyed a parish visit recently to St George's Chapel, Windsor: the Queen's
Chapel. In there was a big sign saying, "Celebrating the 400th anniversary
of the King James Bible". I must say, it was a custom more honoured in the
breach than in the observance. For at Choral Evensong, the lessons were both
from some illiterate, godforsaken modern version. I knew we were in for trouble
from the start when, in the Old Testament lesson, King Solomon addressed the
Almighty as, "You God…" – as if the deity were some miscreant fourth-former
in the back row. Of course it went from bad to worse.
On
Wednesday, the Queen will attend a service of celebration at Westminster Abbey
to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. The address
will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who earlier this year urged us
to read the King James Bible in order to get a glimpse of what he called
"the big picture". Perhaps this was meant to go with Dave's idea of
"the big society"? This is a strange injunction, coming as it did
from a man who has been in positions of power and influence in the church for
decades. For in that time the same church hierarchy has ruthlessly suppressed
the King James Bible, along with the Book of Common Prayer.
I
can add a personal note on this subject. When I came to the City in 1998 I
discovered that St Sepulchre's did not have a lectern Bible in the King James
Version (KJV). So I asked St Paul's if they would lend me one of theirs. They replied, "Oh yes, and you can
keep it. We never use it at St Paul's, only when the Royal Family comes –
awkward people like that." The King James Bible is a work of literary and
spiritual genius. It is the religious register in English and its words and
phrases have penetrated deeply into English literature. You cannot read 10 pages
of Dickens or Arnold, George Eliot or the Brontës without coming across wholly
integrated resonances of the King James Version. And, of course, English poetry
is saturated with it. WH Auden said, as he witnessed the sidelining of the King
James Bible: "It was our luck to have that translation made when English
was at its strongest and most robust. Why spit on our luck?"
CH
Sisson said that all we really know is what he called "the reluctant
deposit on the mind's floor". That is to say, what you remember when
you've forgotten everything else. For centuries, people of all walks of life
have carried around with them echoes of the King James Version. So to throw it
out as the church hierarchy has done amounts to a savage act of deprivation
and, as this deprivation is of the Word of God in English, it is vicious
iconoclasm. Sidelining the King James Version especially deprives our children
and is therefore a notable case of child abuse.
There
is no such thing as noble truth expressed in ignoble words. The choice of words
determines what is being said. Therefore, we should choose the best.
"Strips
of cloth" is no substitute for "swaddling clothes". And Mary was
"with child" – we think of the Madonna and Child – and she had not
"fallen pregnant" as it says in one of the modern versions. You
cannot satisfactorily replace "through a glass darkly" with the crass
literalism "puzzling reflections in a mirror" or "sounding brass
and tinkling cymbal" with "noisy gong and clanging cymbal". The
King James Bible was designed to be read aloud in churches. All the modern
versions sound as if they have been written by tone-deaf people with tin ears
and no rhythm.
What
level of vacuity is reached when "Son of Belial" (i.e. the devil
himself) is rendered by the New English Bible (NEB) as "a
good-for-nothing"? As if the son of the devil is only a truant from the
fourth form who has been stealing from the housemaster's orchard.
The
real Bible says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
The NEB gives us instead, "The first step to find wisdom." But that
is only the way in which babyish primary school teachers speak to their
charges. The first step to find wisdom – and then, if you are ever so good
little children, I'll show you the second step. This is infantilization.
Sometimes the New Jerusalem Bible's (NJB) pedantry, this pseudo-scholarly
fascination with all that is merely foreign and obscure, is just silly, as in
"You, Yahweh examine me." But occasionally it is mindlessly un-poetic
and banal, as in the substitution of "Acclaim Yahweh" for the
mesmerizingly beautiful and timelessly familiar "make a joyful noise unto
the Lord". But in one example of supreme idiocy the meaning becomes
impenetrable: The King James Version says, "He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say
of the Lord …" In the New Jerusalem Bible this degenerates into tasteless
obscurantism: "If you live in the shelter of Elyon and make your home in
the shadow of Shaddai, you can say to Yahweh …" The Revised Standard
Version (RSV) loves to parade the translators' acquaintance with the slightest
nuances in the ancient languages but their utter ignorance of what will go into
ordinary English. It renders the "giants" of Genesis as
"nephilim" – to the confusion, one supposes, of elderly ladies
everywhere. And the "two pence" that the Good Samaritan gave to the
innkeeper as "two denarii" – lest we should imagine that the currency
of the Roman Empire was the same as that of England, pre-decimalization.
The
RSV makes a habit of iconoclasm, as for instance in its destruction of that
very familiar phrase: "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." The RSV
says, "Take up your pallet and go home." Because we must on no
account be allowed to imagine that the poor paralytic slunk off carrying his
four-poster, we have forced upon us the literalism pallet: and the result
sounds like instructions to a sloppy painter.
The
NEB also cannot tell the difference between speech that is poetic and
metaphorical and speech that is literal and descriptive. That is why for
"wolves in sheep's clothing" we are given instead the pantomime howler
"men dressed up as sheep". We recall perhaps Ulysses' escape from the
Cyclops or that pejorative expression "mutton dressed up as lamb". In
the KJV men are "at meat" or they "sup"; but the RSV
mentions a Pharisee who "asked Jesus to dine" – where, at The Garrick
or White's? Likewise, his rebuke to the disciples on the road to Emmaus,
"O fools and slow of heart" is emasculated to become "How dull
you are!" How dull indeed. Can you imagine for one minute Our Lord Jesus
Christ on the evening of his day of resurrection using such language? "How
dull!"
The
KJV's "pearl of great price" is exhibited in more of that
infantilised Blue Peter language as "a pearl of very special value".
And then the end of the world itself is described as if it were only an exceptionally
hot afternoon at Goodwood: "My dear friends…" (that is the voice of
the NEB's urbane, housetrained St Peter) "…do not be bewildered by the
fiery ordeal that is coming upon you, as though it were something
extraordinary." The end of the world not extraordinary?
There
is a sort of discreet charm about the KJV's saying, "It ceased to be with
Sarah after the manner of women." This is marvellous. It seems to reach up
the underclothes of words, as that other great admirer of biblical prose, Dylan
Thomas, said. But the Jerusalem Bible was written in the era of sex education,
so it can confidently come straight out with "ceased to have her monthly
periods". And the KJV's "great whore of Babylon" seems to have
lost what is left of her character when the New Jerusalem Bible refers to her
only as "the famous prostitute". Who is this – Eskimo Nell?
With
studied pedantry, the New Jerusalem Bible replaces "inn" with
"living space" – I suppose because they imagined readers to be so
literal-minded that we might think St Luke meant the Rose and Crown. A similar
pedantry removes the KJV's lovely "coat of many colours" and offers
us "a decorated tunic". The KJV translates Psalm 139: 16 – a
beautiful poem in which the Psalmist declares that God knew him "while he
was yet in his mother's womb – as thine eyes did see my substance yet being
unperfect." This is allusive, evocative, tender. Unbelievably, the NJB
gives us instead, "Your eyes could see my embryo" – as if God were a
member of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority.
There
is a pervading irreverence bordering on blasphemy. The translation of the
Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer is by Miles Coverdale and he renders the
Hebrew, "O let thine ears consider well …" The NJB gives this as
"Listen attentively Yahweh". But is that the way to speak to God?
What more is there to be said when we notice that the NJB renders "Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity" as "Sheer futility. Everything is
futile." That phrase will serve as the motto for all the modern translations:
"Sheer futility".
How
hypocritical and sordid of the church authorities relentlessly to suppress the
KJV, only to take it out and gawp at it in an anniversary year, as if it were a
museum piece and we were all blundering tourists. The proper place for the KJV
is on the lectern in every parish church – to be read, marked, learnt and
inwardly digested, week in, week out.
Rev Dr Peter Mullen
Rector of St Michael,
Cornhill, and St Sepulchre in the City of London
Stir Up Sunday
Stir Up Sunday is an informal term in the Anglican Church for
the last Sunday before the season of Advent. The term comes from the opening
words of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer:
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STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful
people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of
thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Through an association of ideas, the day subsequently became
connected, especially in England, with the preparation of Christmas puddings in
readiness for Christmas. Also, though
with no real religious significance, Stir Up Sunday is located just the right
time of the year to make the fruit cakes, Christmas Puddings and the like to be
consumed on Christmas. In
many English culture homes, the afternoon of Stir Up Sunday is dedicated to
measuring, stirring and cooking the
Christmas Pudding!
The Christmas pudding is an important part of the Christmas Day
celebrations in the UK. Christmas
pudding is a round, rich and heavy pudding made from fruit, eggs, sugar,
breadcrumbs, suet, spices, and alcohol such as brandy or rum. Many families
have their favorite pudding recipe, which is often passed down through
generations of family members.
Stir-up Sunday is traditionally the day for making your
Christmas pudding; giving it a month to mature before eating it on Christmas
day. Stir-up Sunday is on the 20th November this year.
According to tradition, everyone in the family (especially the
children) takes a turn to stir the pudding and makes a wish while stirring.
Traditionally, the pudding should be stirred from east to west in honour of the
three Kings who travelled from the East to see Jesus; and it should also have
13 ingredients to represent Christ and his disciples.
It used to be common for people to put a coin in their Christmas
pudding. This was supposed to bring wealth in the coming year to the person who
found it.
Christmas puddings are popular in the UK, but many people now
buy their puddings from their local supermarket.
In the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 and later, this collect is
listed for "The Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Trinity", with accompanying
rubric specifying that this collect "shall always be used upon the Sunday
next before Advent". This reinforced the significance of this day as
forming part of the preparation for the season of Advent. The rubric is necessary
because the last Sunday before Advent does not always fall on the twenty-fifth
Sunday after Trinity: Trinity Sunday is a moveable feast and the Advent season
is fixed, so the number of weeks in between varies from year to year. The 1928
Book of Common Prayer solves this dilemma by marking only 24 Sundays after
Trinity and setting this Sunday apart as “Next before Advent.”
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