Jordan Paul
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Friends,
Unless you regularly say the Daily Office or are a Church Nerd™, it’s possible not to give much thought to the collects outside of weekly worship. The collects offer a lovely miniature reflection on the season or feast day and the above one is one that you have probably heard. It’s the Collect for the Epiphany. The Epiphany, a celebration of Jesus’ first appearance to the world when the Magi came to Jesus by following a star, is reflected in the collect’s opening words. After acknowledging the season, it continues with a familiar petition to God: to bring us closer to Him and the hope of the resurrection.
The collects—and the additional prayers and thanksgivings later in the BCP—are formulaic, with four general parts:
The address to God and acknowledgement of some attribute or action
The request
The invocation and doxology
Amen.
Now, I don’t write this to lecture on the BCP. Rather, I write this to advocate two things. First, when you don’t know what to say to God, start with the collects. They’re there for a reason and that reason is so that you can pray them. Second, it can be a great spiritual exercise to write your own. After all, the collects that we have were all written or translated by Thomas Cranmer. And, if he could do all of the ones in our BCP, you can certainly do just one!
I would also encourage you, in writing your own collects, to think outside the box. In addition to the BCP, an excellent starting point is a terrific book by Terry J. Stokes. In the book, Prayers for the People: Things You Didn’t Know You Could Say to God, Stokes presents collects that he has written in nine categories and gives introductions to each by giving some background as to why he wrote them. Some are fun, some are silly, but all are heartfelt. I hope that the book and your writing bring you the same comfort that it has me. In closing, I’ll leave you with my favorite collect from his book:
For Before Eating a Krispy Kreme: O Spirit whose mercies are fresher than a glazed cascading down under the light of the HOT sign, make us like that donut–hot and holy–on fire for the gospel and set apart as is Krispy Kreme from all competitors. Sprinkle us with thine anointing, give us a sweet inner filling of peace, and make us always leave room at our core for thy lordship. And as twelve is a number of perfection in thy Scriptures, may we receive thy favor to go ahead and order a dozen, whether to eat alone or to share at church, enriching our worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with thee and our Father, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
In Christ,
—Jordan