The term “collect” by the way is an Middle English word for a short prayer, one that gathers together or collects together several themes. It was the term using in the 16th century Reformed Anglican Book of Common Prayer. This particularly one, “Lord of all power and might,” was set for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and was the work of Archbishop Thomas Cramner of Canterbury, who was the brilliant liturgical and literary mind behind the book.

This prayer remains in most modern Anglican prayerbooks including our own with slight changes. The original reads: “Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The main change in our current prayer is in the last phase: “and bring forth in us the fruit of good works.”

Let us look at the prayer on the reading sheet in the bulletin: “Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things”: Note first that all true prayer begins with God. So Jesus taught us to say “Our Father who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name”.

I have used the story before of the late Michael Ramsey who as Archbishop of Canterbury was presiding at some royal occasion in Westminster Abbey. He knew that at the end of the service he needed to reverence the high altar and then turn to the Queen and reverence her as monarch. He was apparently quite nervous on such occasions and was heard to mutter to himself “God first; Queen second”. Well prayer begins “God first”. Adoration and Thanksgiving directed to God is at the heart of our worship and praise and prayer. If you like God is the rock on which all the rest of our prayer rests.

The prayer begins with particular attributes of God: “Lord of all power and might”. The omnipotence and omnipresence of God is a theological given. We state in the Ecumenical Creed: “We believe in one God, the Father , the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.” The God of the Bible is the Lord of Creation; He is the Giver of Salvation; He is the Source of Inspiration. We call this God Trinity but in the sense of three aspects or understandings of the One God.

“Who art the author and giver of all good things:” This phrase sums up for me our understanding of creation. Not only in the sense that we believe the one all powerful, almighty God is the Creator of all that exists but that the Creation is good. The Book of Genesis makes that so clear in the creation stories that “God saw everything that he had made and it was very good”. God is the author and giver of all good things. As Christians we have a positive attitude to the material world around us both animate and inanimate; the world of nature; the human family. Perhaps we are only waking up to the implications of this understanding with regard to this fragile planet earth. Care and respect of each other and for the world around us is part of our recognition that God made us and it.

And having acknowledged God the prayer continues with the response of the believer.

“Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name.” At the very center of this eucharist we will join “with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven as we cry Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts” .

God's holy name is central to our faith . But as Christians we come to know God particularly through the person and work, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is for us the human face of God. In his face we see the transfiguring Glory of God. This brings to mind that memorable passage from Philippians: “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” As a boy I was taught a communion devotion: “Lord Jesus Christ I thee adore; help me to love thee more and more.” I still use it before or after communion. Some of you know the Orthodox “Jesus Prayer” (a prayer intended for repetition): “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me.” These prayers help us to graft into our hearts that love of God's Name so central to our faith. We love God because he first loved us as St John reminds us.

The prayer continues: “Increase in us true religion”. We are all sadly aware of how religion can be abused and used for evil ends. I remember on my first visit to Jerusalem 25 years ago meeting the then Mayor of Jerusalem, the justly famous Teddy Kollek, who was the last of the Austrian social democrat visionaries behind the founding of the State of Israel. Approaching his office we came across a large group of ultra Orthodox Jews protesting against the Mayor. We asked him what it was all about. Apparently in pursuit of an even handed approach to religious groups the City had given permission for a Mormon university to build nearby. I can always remember him saying “My problem is with religious extremists, Jewish, Christian and Moslem.” All religious traditions have been misused and abused both historically and in the present day as we are all too well aware. But that fact does not mean the rejection of religion as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and others argue but rather in terms of today's collect to aspire to “true religion”, that is religion that inspires and enlivens us and makes us better human beings. As Christians we know that religious practice is not an end in itself. At the end of the mass we are told to “to go in peace to love and to serve the Lord.” Our worship; our religious practice is the beginning not the end.

Then follows the phrase which I have always loved: “Nourish us with all goodness”. I always think of food which nourishes; which does us good. I hope you will all go and see the film “Julie and Julia” showing at present with the incomparable Meryl Streep as the famous television cook Julia Child. The film is full of food. But it is never simply food for food's sake. Both Julia Child and her young protege Julie certainly cook a lot of food but it is always eaten in the context of happy dinners, building relationships, giving pleasure, enhancing life. So we pray to God who through the Word of Scripture and through Sacramental food “nourishes us”, feeds us. We speak of being incorporated into the body of Christ in Baptism; in eucharist we are fed with the Body of Christ so that we may become that body more and more. God feeds us with his very self so that we may be who we truly are,“made in the image and likeness of God”.

“And bring forth in us the fruit of good works”. We know in this parish with our motto Fides Opera that Faith and Works stand together. The Epistle of James is all about that balance in the Christian life. In a few minutes we will join in the Baptismal Covenant we make that abundantly clear. We promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves” and to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” We know that all the religious practice in the world is worth nothing unless it is translated into acts of love and kindness and generosity.

So there you have it: one old prayer which summarizes our faith. Learn it and use it as part of your devotional practice. To conclude let us say it together: