Hagiography from Exciting Holiness s1

Group: II Colour: White

The Innocents

28th December

Herod 'the Great' was appointed King of the Jews by the Roman authorities in Palestine and he proved to be ruthlessly efficient in his thirty-three years of dealing with his subjects. In Matthew's gospel, he tried to persuade the Magi, to whom he played the host on their journey seeking the one 'who has been born king of the Jews', to bring word of where they had found him. His desire was to eliminate Jesus and, when he realised that the Magi had tricked him and left the country, Herod poured out his wrath on all the male infants in the land. These were God's 'innocent' ones, paralleling the story of Pharaoh slaughtering the Hebrew children in Egypt. Hagiography from Exciting Holiness by Brother Tristam SSF

Collect 333 (Text shown) Post Communion Prayer 385 or 389 (Text shown)

Eucharist (Text shown) Jeremiah 31. 15-17 Psalm 124 1 Corinthians 1. 26-29 Matthew 2. 13b-18

Morning Prayer (Text not shown) Psalm 8; 36 Baruch 4. 21-27 or Genesis 37.13-20 Matthew 18. 1-10

Evening Prayer (Text not shown) Psalm 123; 128 Isaiah 49. 14-25 Mark 10. 13-16

1984 (Text not shown) Page 228

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Quotations and Psalms from The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used as permitted.

Collect 333

1984 Prayer Book Almighty God, who out of the mouths of infants hast ordained strength, and made them to glorify thee by their deaths: mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith, even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Contemporary Heavenly Father, whose children suffered at the hands of Herod: by your great might frustrate all evil designs, and establish your reign of justice, love and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer 385 or 389

385 God our Redeemer, whose suffering Church was heartened by the courage of your martyr N: so bind us by this eucharist to the sacrifice of Christ that our lives, broken and offered with his/hers/theirs, may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world. This we ask through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Or: God of courage, as we thank and praise you for your martyr N, grant that, strengthened by this food, we may like him/her/them run with perseverance the race that is set before us and win the victor's wreath that never fades. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

389 Source of all holiness and giver of all good things, may we who have shared at this table as strangers and pilgrims here on earth be welcomed with N and all your saints to the heavenly feast on the day of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jeremiah 31. 15-17

Thus says the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Thus says the LORD: Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for there is a reward for your work, says the LORD: they shall come back from the land of the enemy; there is hope for your future, says the LORD: your children shall come back to their own country.

Psalm 124

Biblical text

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side - let Israel now say - if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters.

Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Pointed Psalm

If the Lord himself had not been on our side, now may / Israel / say : If the Lord had not been on our side, when / enemies rose / up a/gainst us; Then would they have / swallowed • us a/live : when their / anger / burned a/gainst us; Then would the waters have overwhelmed us and the torrent gone / over our / soul : over our soul would have / swept the / raging / waters. But blessed / be the / Lord : who has not given us over to be a / prey / for their / teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the / snare of the / fowler : the snare is / broken and / we are de/livered. Our help is in the / name of the / Lord : who / has made / heaven and / earth.

1 Corinthians 1. 26-29

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

Matthew 2. 13b-18

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Josephgot up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’