The Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent - The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration

Almighty God,
you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves:
Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls,
that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body,
and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(BCP 218)

Historical introduction:

In the late 7^th-century, this Collect was said on the Second Sunday in Lent and was listed in the Collects for daily prayer use.[1] Our 1979 BCP has shifted the use of this Collect to the Third Sunday in Lent.[2]

The Preamble

The Preamble, “Almighty God,” focuses on God’s power on behalf of God’s people.

The Acknowledgement

The Acknowledgement, “you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves,” contrasts our helpless condition with God’s power to protect, defend, and save that is declared in the Preamble. Psalm 103, especially verse 14, describes God’s knowledge of our weakness. The phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is not biblical—rather, in scripture we are called to rely upon God and to trust in God’s timing and ways of helping us.

The Petition

The Petition is “Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul.” The poetic expression of this Petition is found in Psalm 17:8-9, the first verse of which is used as Compline’s second set of Versicle and Response (BCP 132). Psalm 121, used in An Order of Service for Noonday (BCP 104-5), as well as Psalm 31:1-5 and Psalm 91 of Compline (BCP 129-131), provide longer but in some ways less direct and focused expressions of God’s keeping of us. Physical safety is not necessarily in view; rather we ask for God to keep us within God’s loving embrace—both our souls and our bodies—to preserve us as whole persons in the midst of physical, emotional, and mental adversities.

The Pleading

In the Pleading, “through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen,” we ask that this Petition be fulfilled through the Son whose humanity was kept, body and soul, through death. We ask for this to be fulfilled through the same Holy Spirit who did this keeping of Jesus’ whole person, body and soul (Romans 8:11). And we ask this trusting that our petition will be fulfilled through the unity of the Father with the Son and the Spirit.

For your consideration:

While we confess that we know that God knows that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves, the world expects us to think that we do have power within ourselves to help ourselves. When have you rushed ahead of God’s timing to try to help yourself or someone else? How did you come to know that you had rushed ahead?

When have we as a parish attempted to help ourselves rather than to trust in God’s keeping of us, body and soul?

How have we, as a parish, trusted God to defend us from adversities and to defend us from all evil thoughts? How has the Petition of this Collect been answered so far? What do we need to remember about God’s keeping of us, body and soul, through past times of difficulties to strengthen us through the next adversities that may threaten our physical and spiritual health?

Want to know more about the Collect format or the underlying spiritual formation goal of this series of meditations? You can find that information here.

[1] Marion Hatchett cites the Gregorian Sacramentary as the source of this Collect. Marion J. Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book, (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 175.

[2] Paul V. Marshall, Prayer Book Parallels (New York: Church Publishing, 1990), II.88-9.