Prayer on the Twenty Third Sunday after Trinity

Here is the Collect for this coming Sunday from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:
The Collect.
O GOD, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all godliness; Be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the devout prayers of thy Church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 I love the compact power of this Collect:
(1) God is our refuge and strength where we can run in times of trouble and find his protection (A quotation from Psalm 46.1). 
(2) "The author of all godliness" describes our God as the scriptwriter and originator of what piety looks like, and the source from which godliness flows ("…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philippians 2.12b-13).
(3) “Be ready … to hear the devout prayers of your Church.” The obvious sentiment is that God stands ready to hear us, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism 100 puts it: "What doth the preface of the Lord's prayer teach us? A. The preface of the Lord's prayer (which is, Our Father which art in heaven) teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others."
(4) "grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually" is a great exposition of Jesus’ promise in John 14.13 (and other places), "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

 Mike

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