From the Pastor: February 2009

Dear Members of Trinity;

This month we will continue to talk about what we do on Sunday mornings. We've discussed the Invocation, the Introit, the Kyrie, and the Gloria.  This month we will talk about that first prayer of the service, the Collect, and the greeting that is just before it called the Salutation. Collect is a strange name for a prayer, but it is all about collecting our thoughts together to speak to God about all that we will be hearing in His Word and the Sermon on that Sunday. The
Collect matches the theme for the day. It reflects the Introit before it and the Readings that will follow. Many times you will also hear it echoed in the Hymns that we sing together, especially the Hymn just prior to the Sermon. The Collect is a "collected" prayer. The church has been praying this kind of collected prayer for many centuries.

Many of the prayers that we use for Collects are very old. So, whenever we pray a Collect we are not only collecting our thoughts into a prayer, we are collecting the thoughts of the people of God throughout history too.

Traditionally, the Collect is shaped according to a five part form (and very often one single sentence):

• Address - names the person of the Trinity to whom the prayer is spoken, usually the Father
• Basis - the characteristic of God on which the prayer is based
• Petition - the particular blessing requested
• Benefit - the goal or desired outcome of the petition
• Doxology - prayer is through Jesus Christ, to the Father, in the Holy Spirit as one God

Just prior to the Collect there is a short greeting called the Salutation. Pastor says, "The Lord be with you," to which the people say, "And with your spirit." Or "And also with you." This little greeting is more than just being polite. It is actually a blessing exchanged between the Pastor and people. The pastor blesses the people entrusted to his care by declaring that the Lord is with them. And the people in turn remind their pastor that the Spirit Lord is with him by
virtue of his Office as he prays on their behalf. The pastor is the collective mouth of the congregation, speaking in a single voice the collected prayer of God's people.

This greeting is also very old. We see a similar greeting in the Old Testament book of Ruth. Boaz greets his workers in the field "The LORD be with you." and they replied, "The LORD bless you." (Ruth 2:4) They were also reminding each other of God's continued blessing to them.

The LORD be with you this day as you remember His blessings.

Pastor Watt.