The Household of God
Proper 6
Collect of the Day
Every Sunday
when we worship together early on in the service we pray the collect of the
day. It changes every Sunday, so
it doesn’t become familiar like the rest of the service and I think it often
slides by without much notice.
That’s too bad
because, they are wonderful prayers.
And as a collection, they are a rich expression of our faith, our
yearnings, and our prayers as Christians.
Some of them
have ancient origins. English
translations taken from medieval Latin mass books. Some are new.
Like today’s, which was written specifically for this prayer book.
The phrase that
particularly caught my attention in today was the description of the church as
the household of God. The church
is the household of God.
It’s not unique
to this collect; it appears in other prayers in the prayer book. It’s an interesting metaphor. And, although this collect is modern,
the portion of the collect that contains this phrase is old. In the 1928 BCP, the collect for the 5th
Sunday after the Epiphany began: “O
Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy church and household continually in thy true
religion.” That collect comes from
a prayer thought to have originated in the 6th century during the
time of Pope Gregory the Great.
God’s
household. A rich image.
Apparently, it’s
not an image found anywhere in Scripture.
In the Bible “households” are strictly human. In the Old Testament, faithful people are certainly called
the “people” of God. God’s house
is mentioned, but it means the physical place of worship. Jesus and others speak of the “children”
of God often.
But the image of
the church as the “household” of God seems to have arisen within the church’s
experience.
To think of the
church as the household of God stresses that the church is the people. A “household” is people, people who
live in some sort of close interdependent relationship with one another.
The collect is
meant to stress that God is the head of this household. It is a household, yes, but the focus
is on God as head.
So think about
what it means for God to fill the traditional roles of the “head of household.”
It is God who
provides safety to this household.
Physical and emotional safety from threats.
God supports the
members of the household. In good
times and in bad, God is there.
Always there.
God provides the
sustenance for the people of this household. Every time we gather there around the Lord’s table.
God provides
guidance and instruction, not only on running the household, but on how to live
faithfully and with growing maturity as Christians.
There’s another
quality of households that’s worth noting. It’s not so much about the head. But, ideally in households, the members have
responsibilities for one another and for maintaining the household. They take care of one another. They do their chores. What are your chores in the household
of God?
It’s a wonderful
thing to be a part of the household of God and certainly a good thing to pray
for.
But, here’s the
kicker. That’s not what we’re
praying for in this collect. In
this collect we are not asking to be included in God’s household or that we may
receive the benefits of God’s household.
Collects always
have a set structure. The
beginning, the opening phrases, the preamble, of a collect always states
something that is given. Something
that is already true. Often some
reality or quality about God is proclaimed.
The description
of the church as the household of God is in the preamble of this collect. The church IS the household of
God. That’s a given. That’s already true. We ARE members of God’s household.
The intercessory
part of the collect comes later:
We pray that, with God’s help, we may proclaim God’s truth with boldness
and minister God’s justice with compassion.
That’s what we’re
praying FOR in this collect. That
we may fulfill our mission.
And this is a
place where the image of the church as God’s household departs from the idea of
a human household. The purpose of
a human household is self-contained.
It is to provide the members of the household, the cohabitants, the
benefits of being a part of the household.
The purpose of
God’s household is not about what it offers to the people who are in God’s
household, rather, it’s about what those people offer to others. We can’t separate the two. The purpose of the household of God is
to expand the walls of the household, to include more and more people within
it.
This is a good
collect to keep track of. It
reminds us who we are without question.
We are members of God’s household and recipients of all of the wonderful
benefits and blessings that come with being a part of God’s household.
The collect also
reminds us that, as members of God’s household, we are called to us to extend
those benefits to others without judgment and without qualification.
Proclaim God’s
truth with boldness, and minister God’s justice with compassion
