Collect Yourself!

This is less a coherent post than a collection of a few topics clustered together sparked, in part, by an off-hand comment in Charlotte’s last post.

1. Taking up a Collect-ion…
If there were one prayer-form that grounded Anglican worship, it would be the collect. We sprinkle these little prayers throughout our various services, Mass and Office, to the point where we literally have one for any occasion (these are helpfully collected on pp. 810ff). But what if you can’t find one that exactly expresses the occasion? Or you get caught at an occasion for prayer without your BCP? Or—horror of horrors—you’re asked to offer a spontaneous prayer at an ecumenical gathering? (and we’ve learned through the years that saying “Uh, we don’t do that kind of thing…” is not considered an acceptable response!) Perhaps it’s time to learn a little something about collects…and it begins with this dictum: There’s no rule that spontaneous prayers can’t be elegant, it just requires a pattern and a quick moment to collect your thoughts.

The collect formula consists of five pieces. Now, not all collects have all five—some of the best depart from the rules—but the classic form contains these five parts:

1) Naming God: E.g., “Almighty God” or “Most holy God”

2) An Attribute of God: E.g., “To whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid” or “the source of all good desires, all right judgements, and all just works:” (Biblical allusions work really well for these first two, especially if you can get them to tie in nicely to the next parts…)

3) The Petition: E.g., “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit” or “Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give” (This is always framed in the imperative.)

4) Result Describing the Benefits of the Petition: E.g. “that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy Name;” or “so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness” (As a result clause, it always begins with “that” or “so that.”)

5) Doxological Conclusion: E.g. “Through Christ our Lord.” or “through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior.” (Some name Jesus, some the whole Trinity—it’s up to the prayer.)

This is the pattern. It makes a simple acronym: NAPRD—but I don’t have a catchy phrase for this; maybe someone can supply one. Once you know the pattern, the best thing to do is apply it. Take some time to look at the various collects in Morning and Evening Prayer, Compline, the Mass, and figure out how they match this pattern or deviate from it.

As you go through your life of prayer, when you find collects you like, memorize them! Cicero and the ancient rhetoricians emphasized that to be a good speaker requires a blend of some innate skill, a grasp of the theory, and the imitation of good models; the same is true of good pray-ers. Even if you lack the first, here’s the second, and you have a whole BCP full of the third! It doesn’t help if the only prayer you have memorized is the Post-Communion prayer…

I recommend starting with the Collect for Purity and branching out from there.

2. Know your Prayer Book
Topic 2 is an outgrowth of topic 1. As you read through the prayer book, you’ll notice differences in language and slight differences in theological emphases among the various prayers and collects. In my daily use prayer book, I’ve annotated prayers with the date that they were composed. Yes, they’re from different times and different sources—especially those found in the ’79 BCP. For me as a history buff, it helps to know when the prayers were written, what struggles the church was going through, and how the age affected the language which ranges from spare to almost florid. Marion Hatchett’s commentary on the prayer book is the best source for the dates and origianl authors that I know.

3. Collecting your Days
What sparked this rumination on collects was Charlotte’s preference for Compline because it requires less collect-hunting than the other offices. This leads me to recommend a sadly under-used resource, the Priest’s Handbook. This little text is, essentially, a customary that fleshes out the rubrics of the BCP. It gives instructions (supplemented by helpful diagrams) on how processions are to be done, how one properly censes the altar and such. It does approach the material from a moderate Anglo-Catholic stance, but I can’t think offhand of anything in it that would be terribly offensive to protestants. [LC, it’s like the MDE but…better.]

I mention it, because it is a handy work for any who lead public worship, not just priests, even if it is a congregation of one. In its sections on the Offices, it describes when, where, and how to cross oneself and—finally returning to the topic at hand—which collects to use when. It helpfully points out that after the collect of the day, there are seven collects of which we are to select one and that three are already specified for Sundays, Fridays, and Saturdays. In short, it suggests using the other four for the other four days of the week. I find this pattern both helpful and appropriate since, for instance, this places the MP collect “for the Renewal of Life” on Monday when I need it the most and the EP collect “for the Presence of Christ” that recalls the Eucharist for me hits on Thursday. Check your parish library or ask your priests if they have a copy of it.

4) That Having Been Said...
Speaking of patterns, it never hurts to remind people to check the “Addition Directions” placed after the “Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families” on page 141. I especially like the table of Suggested Canticles on 144 though I confess to strictly sticking to the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for EP. Again, these tables aren't terribly helpful where they are, so I’ve recopied it on page 84 and have labeled the canticles with their appropriate day and number. While this may come across as quite anal—just remember that I do MP before I’ve had any coffee and this cuts down on the amount of groggy decision-making that I have to do…