Background:
[quote]
The origin and form of the collect
The collect is a form of prayer unique to the Western Church. Collects found in the prayer books (sacramentaries) that bear the names of celebrated Roman popes (Leonine [Verona], Gelasian, and Gregorian) reflect the business-like conciseness and theological clarity that are hallmarks of Roman cultural expression.3 They are characterized by a simple four- or five-part structure: (1) address to God (Deus), but sometimes to Christ in the old Gallican prayers; (2) an attribute or action of God or Christ introduced by a qui-clause (Deus, qui—O God, who …); (3) a petition that states the purpose of the collect; (4) a reason for or a consequence of the petition (ut—‘so that’); and (5) a termination. Parts (2) and/or (4) are missing in many collects.
Frank C. Senn, “The Collect in American Lutheran Liturgical Books: Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006),” in The Collect in the Churches of the Reformation, ed. Bridget Nichols, SCM Studies in Worship and Liturgy (London: SCM Press, 2010), 106–107.
These prayers which are ubiquitous in Western worship can productively be studied in the following steps:
- Where is the prayer used? what is its history?
- What is the attribute/action of God referenced? What is the Biblical basis of that attribute?
- Why is that attribute appropriate to the petition i.e. how is the attribute of God related to what is being requested?
- How do the attribute of God and the petition related to the lectionary readings? to other Biblical texts of the service?
- How does the text of the collect integrate with the other portions of the service
Examples of Collects from various traditions:
[quote]A Collect for Grace
O LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings, being ordered by thy good will, may be righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Liturgy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1881), 26.
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THE COLLECT
Almighty God, which madest thy blessed son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true circumcision of thy spirit, that our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy son Jesus Christ our Lord.
C. Frederick Barbee and Paul F. M. Zahl, The Collects of Thomas Cranmer (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006), 12.
[quote]
The i Sondaie of Aduent.
The Collect.
ALMIGHTY God, geue vs grace that we maye caste awaie the woorkes of darkenesse and put vpon vs the armour of lyght, nowe in the tyme of this mortall lyfe, (in the whiche thy sonne Jesus Christe, came to visite vs in great humilitie) that in the laste daye, when he shall come agayne in his glorious Maiestie, to iudge bothe the quicke and the dead, we may ryse to the lyfe immortall: through hym, who lyueth and reigneth wyth thee and the holy ghoste nowe and ever. Amen.
The Prayer-Book of Queen Elizabeth, 1559 (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1911), 61.
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The Advent of our Lord.
1.
ALMIGHTY GOD, we beseech Thee, grant unto Thy people grace that they may wait with vigilance for the advent of Thy Son our Lord, that when He shall arise from Thy right hand to visit the earth in righteousness and Thy people with salvation, He may not find us sleeping in sin, but diligent in Thy service, and rejoicing in Thy praises, that so we may enter in with Him unto the marriage of the Lamb; through His merits, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
Amen.
A Book of Common Order: Being Forms of Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Ordinances of the Church, Sixth Edition, Carefully Revised (Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1890), 230.
[quote]
Second Sunday of Advent
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2007), 211.
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Collect
O God, who were pleased to give light to your Church
by the example and teaching
of the Bishops Saints Basil and Gregory,
grant, we pray,
that in humility we may learn your truth
and practice it faithfully in charity.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
The Roman Missal: Renewed by Decree of the Most Holy Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, Promulgated by Authority of Pope Paul VI and Revised at the Direction of Pope John Paul II, Third Typical Edition (Washington D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), 801.
Also see: Nichols, Bridget, ed. The Collect in the Churches of the Reformation. SCM Studies in Worship and Liturgy. London: SCM Press, 2010.
Expanding into the area of worship helps us be more attentive in worship, plan worship with more attentiveness to how it uses scripture and influences our interpretation of scripture, models ways for us to use scripture throughout our entire day . .
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