14 Jan 2020
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In a previous post, we looked at Melanchthon’s response to the birth of Joachim Camerarius’s daughter and to the death of his own son, Georg, in August of 1529. Two days after that event, Martin Luther wrote to his friend Justus Jonas about Georg’s death and Melanchthon’s grief. (The letter...
Read more → 12 Jan 2020
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Another Sunday, another Collect. Here is the prayer for the First Sunday after the Epiphany from the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States. The prayer asks for grace so that we can know our duties and perform them. It is quite similar to today's Collect from The Book of Common...
Read more → 10 Jan 2020
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
From the vantage-point of centuries, it can be difficult to remember that the magisterial Reformers--or, indeed, any other historical figures--were actual human beings, made of the same stuff as we are, subject to the same joys and sorrows we share. In Act 3 of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock says, of Jews...
Read more → 07 Jan 2020
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
I’m a couple of days late with this, but here is the Collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas from the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States. It turns on the same general theme as the Collect for this Sunday in The Book of Common Prayer, but is slightly longer and draws...
Read more → 01 Jan 2020
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
New Year's Day traditionally coincides with the commemoration of the circumcision of the infant Christ, in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," on his eighth day, as recorded by Luke. Below is the Collect for that occasion from the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United...
Read more → 29 Dec 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
The Collect for the First Sunday after Christmas from the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States is below. Whereas The Book of Common Prayer repeats the Collect from Christmas Day, the Order gives a different prayer that takes its beginning from John 3.16. The prayer then...
Read more → 28 Dec 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
December 28 marks the commemoration of Herod's slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Particularly in light of circumstances here and around the world, it would perhaps be prudent for all Christian churches to observe the Festival of the Holy Innocents as a matter of public testimony. (One of the best and most...
Read more → 27 Dec 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
The second day after Christmas has traditionally provided an occasion for Western Christians for reflecting on the Apostle John. Below is the Collect included for that purpose in the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States. The editors comment that December 27 is used for this...
Read more → 26 Dec 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
It is not, of course, problematic from a Protestant point of view to remember with gratitude the example of holy men and martyrs. Indeed, it is meet and right so to do. After all, Hebrews 11 does the same. To that end, here is the Collect for December 26, the day that in the West conventionally marks...
Read more → 23 Dec 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Here are the prayers for Christmas Day from the Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States. The Collect is the same as that found in The Book of Common Prayer, which connects Christ's being born of the Virgin to our being born again or regenerated such that we, too, may become children...
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