Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 1 November 2020, All Saints’ Day 2020

All Saints’ Day … the Lamb on the Throne surrounded by the angels and saints

Patrick Comerford

Next Sunday, 1 November 2020, is All Saints’ Day in the Calendar of the Church. The readings, collects and post-communion prayer for All Saints’ Day should be used next Sunday, and the readings and propers for the Fourth Sunday before Advent, which would otherwise fall on this day, are not an option for using on Sunday next.

All Saints’ Day is one of the 12 Principal Feasts of the Church (see the Book of Common Prayer, p 18). Although it may be observed on a Sunday should it fall on a weekday, it may not be transferred from a Sunday to a weekday. At the time of writing, the relevant page on the Church of Ireland website is incorrect when it gives the readings and propers for the Fourth Sunday before Advent; but this is incorrect, and should only have been provided as a second option had All Saints’ Day fallen on a weekday this year.

This is one of the 12 Principal Holy Days on which, according to the Book of Common Prayer, ‘it is fitting that the Holy Communion be celebrated in every cathedral and in each parish church or in a church within a parochial union or group of parishes.’

The Book of Common Prayer, referring to these 12 Principal Holy Days, says: ‘the liturgical provision for [these] days may not be displaced by any other observance.’

The readings for All Saints’ Day this year (Year A), as provided in the Book of Common Prayer, the Revised Common Lectionary and the Church of Ireland Directory, are:

The Readings: Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Psalm 34; 1-10; Revelation 7: 9-17 or I John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

Christ the Pantocrator surrounded by the saints in the Dome of the Church of Analipsi in Georgioupoli, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The background and context:

From the third century, there is evidence of the celebrations of All Martyrs. The Eastern Church continues a fourth century tradition of celebrating the ‘Sunday of All Saints’ on the Sunday after Pentecost. East Syrians celebrate this on the Friday of Easter Week.

In the early seventh century, the Pantheon in Rome, which had been closed for over a century, was dedicated to Saint Mary and All Martyrs. By the eighth century, 1 November was growing in popularity for the celebration of All Saints, possibly originating in Ireland. By the ninth century, the date had reached Rome and from there spread throughout the Holy Roman Empire and the Western Church.

The Reformers in 16th century England followed the German reformers in producing a calendar with only New Testament saints and this festival. There was no distinction between ‘All Saints’ and ‘All Souls.’

‘The Holy Church throughout the World doth acknowledge thee’ … the Canticle Te Deum depicted in the World War II memorial window by Gerald Smith in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Jeremiah 31: 31-34:

This passage was written after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. But God now promises to make a new covenant, with all the people, the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will be unlike the covenant made at Sinai, which the people broke, even though God was like a husband to them.

That covenant was written on stone tablets. But this new covenant will be written on the hearts of people.

All the people will be faithful, and they shall follow the Law, not by compulsion but because this is their hearts’ desire. No longer will they need to taught or reminded about their mutual pledge with God, for all – from the least to the greatest – shall recognise God, and God shall forgive their past transgressions and forget all their sins. ‘The days are surely coming,’ says the Lord.

‘The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him’ (Psalm 34: 7) … the east window in All Saints’ Church, Blackrock, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 34: 1-10:

When we bless the Lord, the humble hear and are glad (verses 1-2). God answers those who seek his help, and he delivers them from their fears (verse 4). They shall be protected by the angels and delivered (verse 7).

We are invited to ‘taste and see that the Lord is gracious’ (verse 8). As his ‘holy ones,’ we shall fear the Lord and lack nothing (verses 9-10), for God meets all our needs.

The 24 elders and four evangelists before the Lamb of God on the Throne … the Altar in a church in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Revelation 7: 9-17:

In his vision on Patmos, Saint John the Divine sees the heavenly court with God enthroned as the ruler of all. Those gathered around him praise him as the Creator and Lord of all, and the Lamb is on the throne. In the cosmic liturgy, all creation proclaims the glory of the Lamb on the throne.

Saint John sees a great multitude, a countless number of people, from every nation, tribe, people and language, gathered before the Lamb on the throne.

They are robed in white, and in their hands they carry palm branches (verse 9), signs of victory and thanksgiving (see I Maccabees 13: 51; Matthew 21: 18; Mark 11: 18), and they sing their thanks to God and the Lamb on the throne, who has saved them.

This is no exclusive God, belonging to one tribe, or nation, or culture; this is ‘our God,’ the God of all (verse 10).

This multitude is joined by the whole court of heaven – the angels, and the four living creatures, praising and thanking God (verses 11-12).

These four living creatures were identified earlier as a human being, for wisdom; a lion for nobility; an ox for strength; and an eagle for soaring to the spiritual heights. Later, they became the symbols of the four evangelists: Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John.

The elect have come through a great ordeal, the final testing, ‘they have washed their robes ‘made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ Now they are before the throne of God, ceaselessly celebrating the celestial liturgy in God’s presence, protected by God, who shelters them (verses 14-15). No longer will they suffer or hunger, and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes’ (verses 16-17).

The Lamb of God on the throne … a ceiling fresco in a monastery in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I John 3: 1-3:

The writer tells us we ‘should be called children of God; and that is what we are.’

What we will be has not yet been revealed, but we know that we are God’s children now.

Later in this chapter, the writer goes on to describe those who are in Christ as the ‘little children’ of God (verse 7).

The Sermon on the Mount, by Cosimo Rosselli, from the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican

Matthew 5: 1-12:

This Gospel reading (Matthew 5: 1-12) is the most familiar account of the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes are familiar to us all, perhaps to the point that we find it difficult to read them afresh and to find new insights when it comes to preaching on them.

The Beatitudes will be familiar to many people who here them in church too – perhaps even to the point of familiar irreverence arising from Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.

The Beatitudes are culturally embedded in our society, in our literature, in our arts. But how do we apply the Beatitudes to our own lives? How do we present them afresh?

Christ and the Saints depicted in a dome in Saint Mark’s Basilica, Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The text:

1 Ἰδὼν δὲ τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος: καὶ καθίσαντος αὐτοῦ προσῆλθαν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ: 2 καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ ἐδίδασκεν αὐτοὺς λέγων,

3 Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι, ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.

4 Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται.

5 Μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσιν τὴν γῆν.

6 Μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται.

7 Μακάριοι οἱ ἐλεήμονες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται.

8 Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται.

9 Μακάριοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ θεοῦ κληθήσονται.

10 Μακάριοι οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.

11 Μακάριοί ἐστε ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ διώξωσιν καὶ εἴπωσιν πᾶν πονηρὸν καθ' ὑμῶν [ψευδόμενοι] ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ:

12 χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, ὅτι ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς: οὕτως γὰρ ἐδίωξαν τοὺς προφήτας τοὺς πρὸ ὑμῶν.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

The reredos in the Unitarian Church, Dublin, is inscribed with the Beatitudes, one on each panel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Covenant values

In the Sermon on the Mount in Chapters 5 to 7, Saint Matthew presents us with a covenant renewal document. About half of this material is also found in Saint Luke’s Gospel, but considerably less of it may be found in Saint Mark’s Gospel. Some of the material is identical to the other synoptic gospels, some is similar.

The Beatitudes are a declaration of the happy or fortunate state of the children of God who possesses particular qualities, and who, because of them, will inherit divine blessings.

It is interesting to compare the delivery of the Beatitudes to the delivery of the Ten Commandments. Here we have the renewal of the covenant, and a restatement, a re-presentation, of who the Children of God are.

Just as we sometimes find the Ten Commandments grouped into two sets, so we might see the Beatitudes set out in two groups of four, the first four being inward looking, the second four being outward looking.

We might see the first four Beatitudes as addressing attitudes, while the second four deal with resulting actions.

Are they ethical requirements for the present?

Or they eschatological blessings for the future?

Or are they are statements of present fact, identifying the qualities of a child of God and the consequent blessings that follow?

Few among us, I imagine, are ever going to commit murder.

But we all get ‘angry with a brother’ … sooner or later.

The Sermon on the Mount exposes our own present reality in a very stark and real way, and the Beatitudes are a core text for Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship and in the writings of towering Christian figures such as Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Oscar Romero.

Father Brian D’Arcy some years ago quipped in a radio interview how Dorothy Day once spoke of how her fellow Roman Catholics went to confession regularly and confessed to ‘breaking’ one of the Ten Commandments, but she wondered how often they confessed to ‘breaking’ one of the Eight Beatitudes.

Verse 1:

The scene opens with Jesus leaving the crowds and climbing up the mountain, like Moses in the Book Exodus leaving the crowd behind him, and climbing Mount Sinai.

Mountains are so important in so many Biblical stories – Mount Sinai, Mount Zion, Mount Tabor, the Mountain of the Transfiguration, the Mount of Calvary outside the city, the Mountain of the Ascension. They provide dramatic settings for covenantal encounters with the Living God.

Ἰδὼν (eidon), ‘when he saw [the crowds]’ – seeing. Perhaps what is being said here is: ‘Jesus went up the mountain because he saw the crowds.’

Τὸ ὄρος (to oros) ‘a mountainside’ – the hill, or the mountain. The use of the definite article may indicate a particular hill or mountain. Today, in modern Greek, to oros or to ayios oros, the Holy Mountain, refers exclusively to Mount Athos. In those days, would this have prompted the first readers to make immediate associations with the holy mountain, the mountain of the covenant, Mount Sinai?

Καθίσαντος (kathísantos), ‘sat down’ – sitting down. He went up, he sat down. In those days and in that tradition, a teacher sat down to teach. But there is a potential for double meaning or hidden understandings here, for the Greek verb is also used to set, to appoint, or to confer a kingdom on someone. So the new kingdom is being ushered in, Christ is sitting on his throne, his teachings are about kingdom values.

Οἱ μαθηταὶ (oi mathetai: ‘the disciples’ – are the beatitudes for the disciples? Are they the ‘poor in spirit,’ those who mourn … and so on? Are they for the crowd below? The text is not that specific.

Προσῆλθαν (proselthan (προσέρχομαι, prosérchomai), ‘came,’ came, to, approached, draw near. The disciples gathered around Jesus to hear his teaching.

Verse 2:

ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ (anoixas to stoma aftou): ‘he opened the mouth of him.’

ἐδίδασκεν (edídasken): he taught. The imperfect may be used here to make the point that the Sermon on the Mount is a summary of Christ’s teachings. In other words, ‘this is what he used to teach.’

Λέγων (légon), ‘saying.’ The participle is adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of his action of the verb ‘he taught.’

Verse 3:

Μακάριοι (Makárioi): Does this mean ‘blessed’? Many people may remember Archbishop Makarios, the President of Cyprus who was deposed in a coup that was followed by the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. ‘His Beatitude’ is a term of respect for metropolitans in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The word ‘blessed’ is not the best translation for μακάριος (makários). ‘Fortunate,’ ‘well off,’ or ‘happy’ might fit better.

Christ is telling those who hear him that they are fortunate to be this way. They are fortunate to possess these qualities of life. Why? Because it means they inherit the blessings or fortunes of God’s promised kingdom.

Οἱ πτωχοὶ (oi ptochoi), ‘the poor’ – those in total poverty, possessing nothing and with no means to earn a living other than by receiving alms.

Οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι (oi ptochoi to pneumatic), ‘the poor in spirit’ – those who are totally destitute spiritually and so recognise the need for their total dependence on God, ‘who know their need for God.’

ὅτι (oti): ‘for,’ ‘that,’ ‘because,’ or ‘since.’ This conjunction is used throughout the beatitudes.

Αὐτῶν ἐστιν (afton estin, ‘theirs is’ as a consequence, not as reward. In other words, those who are dependent on God possess the riches of his kingdom.

Verse 4:

Οἱ πενθοῦντες (oi penthountes): ‘those who mourn,’ the ones who are mourning. Is this describing those who mourn for events in their own lives, or those who mourn because of their needs before God, those who are broken before God?

They will be comforted, consoled, encouraged by consolation – αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται (aftoi paraklethésontai) – they will be comforted. Note the resonances with the word Paraclete for the Holy Spirit as the comforter.

Verse 5:

Οἱ πραεῖς (oi praeis), ‘the meek,’ the humble, the gentle, the self-effacing, those of mild of disposition or gentle spirit, perhaps those who do not make great demands on God, but submit to the will of God.

ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσιν τὴν γῆν (oti aftoi kleronomésousin tin gen): ‘for they will inherit the earth.’ They shall receive it by lot. They shall possess it.

‘Blessed are the Meek,’ which means the humble, patient, submissive and gentle is misheard in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian as: ‘Blessed is the Greek – apparently he’s going to inherit the earth.’ When they finally get what Jesus actually says, a woman says ‘Oh it’s the Meek … blessed are the Meek! That’s nice, I’m glad they’re getting something, ’cause they have a hell of a time.’

This is soon followed by the political activist and terrorist leader, Reg, saying: ‘What Jesus blatantly fails to appreciate is that it’s the meek who are the problem.’ This perfectly sums up the quickly growing annoyance of the violent with the peaceful attitude of Christ.

Verse 6:

Οἱ πεινῶντες (oi peinontes) – ‘those who hunger,’ those who are hungering.

Τὴν δικαιοσύνην (tin dikaiosúnin), ‘for righteousness,’ for justice, for God’s justice.

Many scholars who argue that Saint Matthew never really addresses the Pauline concepts of justification which is grounded on the faithfulness of Christ appropriated through faith.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ introduces us to a righteousness that is apart from obedience to the law. The Sinai covenant too demanded a righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, a righteousness that relates to the values of the Kingdom.

Χορτασθήσονται (chortasthísontai): ‘will be filled, will be fed, will be satisfied, to the full.’

Verse 7:

Οἱ ἐλεήμονες (oi eleímones), ‘the merciful.’ The quality of mercy is not strained, and the quality of mercy is illustrated later in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Lord’s Prayer, when we are reminded to pray that we are forgiven as we forgive others. However, we not being told here that those who show mercy will have mercy shown to them. The fortunate, the blessed, those to be congratulated, those who should be happy, are those who have experienced God’s mercy, and as a consequence, find themselves merciful toward others. These people know God’s mercy. I can never be perfect in showing mercy or forgiveness; what little I show can only illustrate, be a sign of, point towards, be a sacrament of the mecy shown by God in the Kingdom.

Verse 8:

Οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ (oi katharoi ti kardía), ‘the pure in heart.’ The desire to touch the divine probably best describes this quality. Those who possess it will ‘be like him,’ and ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται (oti aftoi ton Theo opsontai) and ‘see God,’ they will find themselves in God’s presence.

Verse 9:

Οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί (oi eirenopoioí), the reconcilers, those who make peace between warring sides. This is one and only use of this phrase in the New Testament. How unique and unusual a beatitude, yet, while it leaps off the pages, we try so often to scale down, to water down, its significance and its demands.

The verse saying ‘blessed are the peacemakers’ was famously misprinted in the second edition of the Geneva Bible as ‘blessed are the place makers.’

This the typographic error parodied in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, where those in the crowd listening to the sermon mishear Christ as saying: ‘Blessed are the cheese makers.’

‘Well, obviously it’s not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.’

Christ is not talking about those who seek or wish for peace, but those who make peace.

What is the difference between a peacemaker and a conflict-resolution counsellor?

When there are two conflicting demands, have they got to be given equal weight or respect?

How do you make peace between the oppressor and the oppressed?

Is conflict resolution enough?

Are there times when the demands for justice demand to be heard despite those who want a ‘bit of peace and quiet”’?

ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ θεοῦ κληθήσονται (oti aftoi uioi Theou klethísontai) – for they shall be called the sons of God, the children of God, those generated by God. If we are clones of God, then we act like God. And if we act like God, others may see what God is like, and may answer the invitation to be members of God’s family.

Verse 10:

Οἱ δεδιωγμένοι (oi dediogménoi), ‘those who are persecuted,’ the ones being persecuted. The perfect tense indicates persecution that began in time past and that continues into the present. The meaning of the word is usually ‘persecute’ in the New Testament, or ‘to put to flight,’ ‘to drive away.’ But it also carries a positive sense: to follow with haste, and presumably with intensity of effort, in order to catch up with, for friendly or hostile purpose – to run after, to chase after, to pursue, to hasten, to run, to press forward, to press on, ‘to follow without hostile intent.’

ἕνεκεν (eneken), ‘because of,’ for the sake of.

Verse 11:

Μακάριοί ἐστε (makárioí este) – ‘Blessed, happy, fortunate are you.’ Did you notice the change here from the third person found in the previous verses to the second person in this final beatitude?

ὅταν (otan) – ‘when.’ We have here an indefinite temporal clause expressing general time, “whenever.”

ὀνειδίσωσιν (oneidísosin) – [whenever] people insult, reproach or upbraid you.

Ψευδόμενοι (pseudómenoi – ‘falsely,’ under false pretensions, lying. The Greek word here, ψευδόμενοι, is not found in many of the early manuscripts. It may have been added in the process of redaction to reinforce the evil nature of the slander. Although when I am insulted as Christian, it often matters little whether I am being insulted for the sake of insult, or I am being insulted falsely.

ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ (eneken emou) – because of, or for the sake of me; in other words, because of, or for the sake of Christ. Possibly because of their testimony to Christ, but – probably better said as: because of their identification with Christ.

I digress for a moment as I think of what it would be like to be insulted falsely for being a Christian, to be accused of being a Christian. I was reminded in a sermon on Sunday last of the old poster slogan: ‘If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?’

Verse 12:

Χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε (Chaírete kai agallasthe) – ‘rejoice and be glad’; in fact, ‘rejoice and be exceedingly glad.’ Not merely you are blessed, but it’s also worth rejoicing and being glad, a pair introduced here, because we are going to be given two good reasons for such a joyous response.

Why? Because (ὅτι, oti).

The first because is: ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (ho misthos hymon polis en tois ouranois), the reward, the payment, the wage for you is great in the heavens. Present suffering is going to give way to something in the future that is exceptionally rewarding.

The second because is: οὕτως γὰρ ἐδίωξαν τοὺς προφήτας τοὺς πρὸ ὑμῶν (outos gar edíoxan tous profítas tous pro imon), ‘in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

So, we can look forward to being in good company.

Some closing thoughts:

The Beatitudes are culturally embedded in our society, in our literature, in our arts.

Writing on the Financial pages of The Guardian almost ten years ago [17 January 2011], Terry Macalister wrote: ‘From Tolstoy to Dostoevsky to Chekov, if anyone can tell a good story it’s the Russians.’ Well, in Chapter 2 of Boris Pasternak’s great Russian novel Doctor Zhivago, Larissa Feodorovna Guishar, who “was not religious” and “did not believe in ritual,” was startled by the Beatitudes, for she thought they were about herself.’

How do we apply the Beatitudes to our own lives?

The Berliner Dom in Berlin, popularly known as Berlin Cathedral … the images inside the dome illustrate the Beatitudes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 1-12 (NRSVA):

1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

Saints and Martyrs … the ten martyrs of the 20th century above the West Door of Westminster Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: White.

Penitential Kyries:

Lord, you are gracious and compassionate.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

You are loving to all,
and your mercy is over all your creation.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Your faithful servants bless your name,
and speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have knit together your elect
in one communion and fellowship
in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
Grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living
that we may come to those inexpressible joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This collect wonderfully expresses the doctrine of the whole church as the ‘mystical body of Christ’ (see Roman 12: 5, I Corinthians 12: 27; Colossians 1: 24; Ephesians 1: 23, 4: 12, 5: 30-32). The collect concludes by alluding to I Corinthians 2: 9. Thomas Cranmer composed this collect for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer:

Almkightie God,
whiche haste knitte together thy electe in one Communion and felowship,
in the misticall body of thy sonne Christe our Lord;
graunt us grace so to folow thy holy Saynctes in all virtues, and godly livyng,
that we maye come to those inspeakeable joyes,
whiche thou hast prepared for all them that unfaynedly love thee;
through Jesus Christe

The 1662 version substituted ‘blessed’ for ‘holy,’ and ‘in all virtuous and godly living’ replaced ‘in all virtues, and godly livyng.’ ‘Unspeakable’ has clearly changed its meaning, and here becomes ‘inexpressible.’

The Collect of the Word

God of the ages,
your saints who lived in faithful service surround your throne
and offer you praise and worship both night and day.
May we, your saints on earth,
join our voices with theirs
to proclaim your rule of righteousness and peace,
which comes to us through Jesus Christ now and for ever.

Introduction to the Peace:

We are fellow citizens with the saints
and the household of God,
through Christ our Lord,
who came and preached peace to those who were far off
and those who were near (Ephesians 2: 19, 17).

The Preface:

In the saints
you have given us an example of godly living,
that rejoicing in their fellowship,
we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory …

Post-Communion Prayer:

God, the 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 all your saints
to the heavenly feast on the day of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Blessing:

God give you grace
to share the inheritance of all his saints in glory …

All Saints depicted in the window in Saint Columb’s Cathedral, Derry, in memory of Canon Richard Babington (1837-1893) of All Saints’ Church, Clooney, Derry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Some suggestions for Prayers:

God of the past,
on this feast of All Saints
we remember before you, with thanks,
the lives of those Christians who have gone before us:
the great leaders and thinkers,
those who have died for their faith,
those whose goodness transformed all they did;
Give us grace to follow their example and continue their work.

God of love
grant our prayer.

God of the present,
on this feast of All Saints
we remember before you
those who have more recently died,
giving thanks for their lives and example and for all that they have meant to us.
We pray for those who grieve
and for all who suffer throughout the world:
for the hungry, the sick, the victims of violence and persecution.

God of love
grant our prayer.

God of the future,
on this feast of All Saints
we remember before you the newest generation of your saints,
and pray for the future of the church
and for all who nurture and encourage faith.

God of love
grant our prayer.

We give you thanks
for the whole company of your saints
with whom in fellowship we join our prayers and praises
in the name of Jesus Christ
Amen.

All Saints’ Church, Rome … the Anglican church where the hymn writer Bishop William Walsham How was chaplain (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A note on some hymns:

Church Hymnal, 459: One of the great hymns celebrating this day is ‘For all the saints, who from their labours rest,’ which was written by Bishop William Walsham How (1823-1897) as a processional hymn for All Saints’ Day.

The saints recalled in this hymn are ordinary people in their weaknesses and their failings. In its original form, it had 11 verses, although three are omitted from most versions – the verses extolling ‘the glorious company of the Apostles,’ ‘the godly fellowship of the prophets’ and ‘the noble army of martyrs’ were inspired by the 1662 Book of Common Prayer version of the canticle Te Deum.

The tune Sine Nomine (‘Without Name,’ referring to the great multitude of unknown saints) was written for this hymn by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) while he was editing the English Hymnal (1906) with Percy Dearmer.

When he wrote this hymn, Walsh How was Rector of Whittington, Shropshire. At the time, this was part of the Diocese of St Asaph, but following the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, the parish was transferred to the Diocese of Lichfield in the Church of England.

He became a canon St Asaph Cathedral, and spent time in Rome as chaplain of the Anglican Church there, All Saints’ Church, before returning to England.

While he was Bishop of Bedford, Walsham How became known as ‘the poor man’s bishop.’ He became the first Bishop of Wakefield, and died in Leenane, Co Mayo, in 1897 while he was on holiday in Dulough.

The hymn vibrates with images from the Book of Revelation. The saints recalled by ‘the poor man’s bishop’ in this hymn are ordinary people who, in spite of their weaknesses and their failings, are able to respond in faith to Christ’s call to service and love, and who have endured the battle against the powers of evil and darkness.

In its original form, this hymn had 11 verses, although three are omitted from most versions: the verses extolling ‘the glorious company of the Apostles,’ ‘the godly fellowship of the prophets’ and ‘the noble army of martyrs’ were inspired by the 1662 Book of Common Prayer version of the canticle Te Deum.

But the heart of the hymn is in the stanza in which we sing about the unity of the Church in heaven and on earth, ‘knit together in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of … Christ our Lord.’ Despite our ‘feeble struggles’ we are united in Christ and with one another in one ‘blest communion’ and ‘fellowship divine.’

Church Hymnal, 464: ‘God, whose city’s sure foundation’ was written by Cyril A. Allington (1872-1955), a former headmaster of Eton, while he was Dean of Durham for a service of the Friends of Durham Cathedral. The hymn is generally sung to the majestic tune ‘Westminster Abbey’ by Henry Purcell (ca 1659-1695), the first official Organist of Westminster Abbey. Until the arrival of Edward Elgar, he was regarded as the greatest English composer.

Thanks & Praise, 23: ‘Christ is surely coming, bringing his reward’ is by the Revd Christopher Idle, who has written hundreds of hymns and now lives in retirement in Bromley. The tune ‘Land of hope and glory’ is by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) and is arranged by Derek Verso.

Thanks & Praise, 43: ‘God everlasting, wonderful and holy’ is by Harold Riley (1903-2003). The tune Coelites plaudant is a melody from the Rouen Antiphoner (1728) that was harmonised by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), originally for ‘Christ, the Fair Glory of the Holy Angels’ by Athelstan Riley in the English Hymnal, co-edited by Vaughan Williams and Percy Dearmer.

‘The Tree of the Church’ (1895) by Charles Kempe … a window in the south transept of Lichfield Cathedral shows Christ surrounded by the saints (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Recommended Hymns:

Jeremiah 31: 31-34:

125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
382, Help us, O Lord, to learn
638, O for a heart to praise my God

Psalm 34: 1-10:

86, Christ is the King! O friends, rejoice
99, Jesus, the name high over all
634, Love divine, all loves excelling
372, Through all the changing scenes of life
376, Ye holy angels bright

Revelation 7: 9-17:

250, All hail the power of Jesu’s name
398, Alleluia! sing to Jesus!
346, Angel voices, ever singing
332, Come, let us join our cheerful songs
463, Give us the wings of faith to rise
694, Glory, honour, endless praises
466, Here from all nations, all tongues, and all peoples
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
467, How bright those glorious spirits shine!
670, Jerusalem the golden
275, Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious
474, Such a host as none can number
475, Who are these like stars appearing
376, Ye holy angels bright
492, Ye servants of God, your master proclaim
476, Ye watchers and ye holy ones

I John 3: 1-3:
92, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
226, It is a thing most wonderful
277, Love’s redeeming work is done
7, My God, how wonderful thou art
177, Once in royal David’s city

Matthew 5: 1-12:

630, Blessed are the pure in heart
293, Breathe on me, Breath of God
503, Make me a channel of your peace
507, Put peace into each other’s hands
308, Revive your Church, O Lord
712, Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
22, You shall cross the barren desert

Also suitable:

459, For all the saints, who from their labours rest
461, For all thy saints, O Lord
460, For all the saints in glory, for all your saints at rest
650, In Christ, our humble head
469, In our day of thanksgiving one psalm let us offer
471, Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!

All Saints … remembered in a street sign in All Saints’ Estate, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Access to All Saints … a street sign in All Saints’ Estate, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 25 October 2020, Fifth Sunday before Advent

Bishop Charles Gore’s statue outside Birmingham Cathedral … ‘… Hang all the law and the prophets’? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 25 October 2020, is the Fifth Sunday before Advent (Proper 25). The readings provided in the Revised Common Lectionary, and set out in the Church of Ireland Directory, for next Sunday are in two groupings, the Consecutive Readings and the Paired Readings:

The Continuous Readings: Deuteronomy 34: 1-12; Psalm 90: 1-6, 13-17; I Thessalonians 2: 1-8; and Matthew 22: 34-46.

There is a link to the Continuous Readings HERE.

The Paired Readings: Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18; Psalm 1; I Thessalonians 2: 1-8; Matthew 22: 34-46.

There is a link to the Paired Readings HERE.

The last Sunday in October may also be observed as Bible Sunday, with these readings:

Nehemiah 8: 1-4 (5-6), 8-12; Psalm 119: 97-104 or Psalm 119: 105-112; Colossians 3: 12-17; Matthew 24: 30-35.


Kerry Crescent in Calne, Wiltshire, recalls a FitzMaurice family title and a story told by Charles Gore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing the Readings:

Charles Gore (1853-1932) was one of the great, almost formidable theologians at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was the editor of Lux Mundi (1881), an influential collection of essays; the founder of the Community of the Resurrection (1892); and the first Bishop of Birmingham (1905). He was also from a well-known Irish family; his brother was born in Dublin Castle, his father, Charles Alexander Gore, was brought up in the Vice-Regal Lodge, now Arás an Uachtaráin, and his mother was from Bessborough, Co Kilkenny.

But formidable theologians are also allowed to play pranks on the unsuspecting. And it is told that Charles Gore loved to play a particular prank on friends and acquaintances when he was a canon of Westminster Abbey.

He would enjoy showing visitors the tomb of one of his collateral ancestors, the 3rd Earl of Kerry, with an inscription that ends with the words, highlighted in black letters and in double quotation marks: ‘hang all the law and the prophets.’

On closer inspection, he would point out, the words are preceded by ‘… ever studious to fulfil those two great commandments on which he had been taught by his divine Master …’ ‘…hang all the law and the prophets.’

A more recent Irish-born theologian of international standing, Professor David Ford, sees these two commandments as the key, foundational Scripture passage for all our hermeneutical exercises.

David Ford was born in Dublin, and from 1991-2015 he was the Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. Speaking at the Dublin and Glendalough Clergy Conference in Kilkenny eight years ago [2012], he was asked about some of the hermeneutical approaches he outlines in his book, The Future of Christian Theology (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). He said that if the two great commandments are about love, and God is love, then no interpretation is to be trusted that goes against love.

And he reminded the clergy present of Augustine’s great regula caritatis, the rule of love. If love is the rule, then the ‘how’ of reading scripture together is as important as the ‘what.’

In The Future of Christian Theology, he says: ‘Anything that goes against love of God and love of neighbour is, for Christian theology, unsound biblical interpretation.’

In other words, this passage, and its parallels in the other synoptic Gospels, provide for David Ford the key to understanding all Biblical passages.

Cambridge Divinity School … David Ford was Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge in 1991-2015 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12

This reading is the final chapter in the Book Deuteronomy and the conclusions of the Law or the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The wandering in the wilderness is over, and after 40 long years the people can now look to the promise of the future as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.

However, Moses has been told that he is going to die without entering the Promised Land because he ‘broke faith’ with God when the people demanded water and God provided it (see Numbers 20: 1-13).

God shows Moses the whole Land from a mountain near the northern end of the Dead Sea. Moses, now an old man, dies suddenly in Moab (verse 6). We are told he dies as he lived, ‘at the Lord’s command’ (verse 5). Joshua is his successor and is commissioned.

‘Satisfy us with your loving-kindness in the morning’ (Psalm 90: 14) … an early winter morning at the Rectory in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 90: 1-6, 13-17:

Psalm 90 is a moving reflection on the eternity of God and the shortness of our lives. We read a succession of poetic images conveying the brevity of human life: it flows as fast as a swollen river; it ends as quickly as a sleep or a dream; it fades like grass in parched land that withers by the end of the day; it is like a sigh, a mere breath, like a bird that lands briefly and then flies away.

The speed which these metaphors succeed one another mirrors the rapidity with which the days and the years pass.

The moral at the heart of the psalm is its lesson to remember how short life is, so that we may spend our time on those things that endure.

‘May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us’ (verse 17): according to the Sages, this is the blessing Moses gave to the people when they finished building the Tabernacle, adding: ‘May the Divine presence rest in the work of your hands.’

‘Our coming to you was not in vain … not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts’ (I Thessalonian 2: 1, 4) … hearts in a decoration in a bar in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I Thessalonians 2: 1-8

We began reading through I Thessalonians, the earliest letter from the Apostle Paul, and the earliest book in the New Testament, the previous Sunday.

Saint Paul recalls how he was ‘shamefully mistreated’ on Philippi. He now turns his back on the way other teachers and philosophers of his day seek popularity for ‘impure motives’ and through ‘trickery.’

He wants neither ‘flattery’ nor his own advantage. Instead, he has been gentle and caring, sharing all that he has.

In other words, instead of self-love, he has lived and worked in the love of God and the love of others.

‘Love All’ … a sculpture by Rachel Joynt in Templeogue Village, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 22: 34-46

In Saint Mark’s Gospel, these two commandments are cited in this way when one of the scribes comes and asks Christ which is the first commandment of all? (Mark 12: 28-31).

In Saint Luke’s Gospel, these two commandments are given in answer to a certain lawyer who stands up, tempts him, and asks him what he shall do to inherit eternal life (Luke 10: 25-28).

In this reading, the two great commandments come as part of a reply to a debate within the series of dialogues in the Temple in the week leading up to Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

The Sadducees believed that human life ended with our physical death. Some of them have argued with Jesus, and have tried to show him, by quoting from the Torah or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, what they see as the absurdity of belief in the Resurrection.

Christ has told them that they neither understand the ‘power of God’ (verse 29), to transform us into a new way of being alive when risen. Nor have they understood the purpose of the Scriptures.

The Pharisees now ‘test’ (verse 35) Christ by asking him a question that was often debated at the time (verse 36): of the 613 laws in the Torah, which is most important?

The first part of Christ’s answer would not have surprised them.

However, the second part of his answer, his understanding that a ‘second’ commandment (verse 39) is of equal weight (‘like it’) would have surprised them, for it was considered not be important.

Here Christ is citing Leviticus 19: 18, which says: ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ And he says this commandment is of equal importance with the first.

Yet, as Daniel Harrington says in his commentary on this Gospel (p 315), and as Sarah Dylan Breuer writes in agreement with him, ‘there is no hint in the Bible of the modern psychological emphasis on the need for self-esteem and the idea that one must love oneself before loving others.’

She says self-esteem is a fine and people have benefited a great deal from the insights of modern psychology. But these interior emotional states were not a focus in first-century Mediterranean cultures.

The earliest Christian commentary on this text after the Gospels is James 2: 1-17, which may be a major help in discussing this.

When Christ says ‘love your neighbour as yourself,’ he is essentially saying, ‘treat all those around you as you would your own flesh and blood’ – as sisters and brothers in one family, deserving of equal honour and special care.

It is worth noticing that in that passage, James treats ‘faith’ and ‘love’ almost as synonyms.

Developing a right relationship of actively loving God and our fellow humans provides the key to understanding the Scriptures and to our faith.

The Pharisees regarded themselves as the experts in Biblical interpretation. But Christ now asks them some questions (verse 42).

At the time, the general understanding and expectation among people was for a political ‘Messiah’ who was descended from David, ‘the son of David’.

At the time it was also thought the David was inspired by the Spirit to write the Psalms. But in verses 43-44, Christ asks: ‘How is … that David’ refers to ‘him’ (the Messiah) as ‘Lord’ (overlord), in writing ‘The Lord’ God (Yahweh) ‘said to my Lord’ (in other words, David’s overlord, whom Christ present in this dialogue as the Messiah) ‘sit …’

So (verse 45), how can the Messiah be both David’s son and his overlord?

While in English and Greek, the word ‘Lord’ (κύριος, kurios) occurs twice, Christ may have quoted Psalm 110: 1 in Hebrew; there the words are different. He was probably not unique in taking ‘my Lord’ there to be the Messiah, for a political Messiah would defeat his ‘enemies.’

And so, the Pharisees too are shown not to understand the Scriptures. And the two great commandments certainly do not provide them with the hermeneutical key to understanding the whole of Scripture, as Professor David Ford would want us to have.

‘Love is the answer’ … a window display in a shop in Skerries, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 22: 34-46 (NRSVA):

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37 He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ 43 He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

44 “The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet’”?

45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord’ (Matthew 22: 41) … a copy of Michelangelo’s statue of David in Florence (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green (Ordinary Time, Year A).

The Collect of the Day:

Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Help us to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Collect of the Word:

O God,
whose Son has taught us
that love is the fulfilment of your law;
stir up within us the fire of your Holy Spirit,
and pour into our hearts your greatest gift of love,
so that we may love you with our whole being,
and our neighbour as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God of all grace,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of his life and the word of his kingdom.
Renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

‘The city of palm trees … I will give it to your descendants’ (Deuteronomy 34: 3-4) … a palm tree in the Albanian city of Saranda (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12:

563: Commit your ways to God.
567: Forth, in thy name, O Lord I go.
653: Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom.
657: O God of Bethel, by whose hand.
323: The God of Abraham priase.
681: There is a land of pure delight.

Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18:

515, ‘A new commandment I give unto you’
494, Beauty for brokenness
39, For the fruits of his creation
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
535, Judge eternal, throned in splendour
525, Let there be love shared among us
497, The Church of Christ, in every age
509, Your kingdom come, O God!

Psalm 90: 1-6, 13-17:

6: Immortal, invisible, God only wise.
537: O God, our help in ages past.

Psalm 1:

649, Happy are they, they that love God
56, Lord, as I wake I turn to you
383, Lord, be thy word my rule

I Thessalonians 2: 1-8:

645: Father, hear the prayer we offer.
567: Forth, in thy name, O Lord I go.
653: Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom.
593: O Jesus, I have promised.
639: O thou who camest from above.
662: Those who would valour see (He who would valour see).
372: Through all gthe changing scenes of life.
529: Thy hand, O God, has guided.
491: We have a gospel to proclaim.

Matthew 22: 34-46:

515: ‘A new commandment I give unto you.’
250: All hail the power of Jesu’s name.
517: Brother, sister, let me serve you.
520: God is love, and where true love is, God himself is there.
125: Hail to the Lord’s anointed.
523: Help us to help each other, Lord.
495: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love.
525: Let there be love shared among us.
594: O Lord of creation, to you be all praise!
281: Rejoice, the Lord is King!
597: Take my life, and let it be.

‘Brother, sister, let me serve you’ (Hymn 517) … a painting in Saint Munchin’s College, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

‘Serving Brunch with Love’ … a sign outside a café on the Greek island of Paxos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 18 October 2020,Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

Christ Pantocrator … a fragment from a 13th century mural in the Church of the Archangel Michael in Preveliana in central Crete in the Museum of Christian Art in Iraklion … where do we see the face of Christ? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 18 October 2020, is the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIX). The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) are presented in two sets: the Continuous Readings and the Paired Readings.

The Continuous Readings: Exodus 33: 12-23; Psalm 99; I Thessalonians 1: 1-10; Matthew 22: 15-22.

There is a link to the Continuous Readings HERE.

The Paired Readings: Isaiah 45: 1-7; Psalm 96: 1-9 (10-13); I Thessalonians 1: 1-10.

Sunday 18 October may also be celebrated as the Feast of Saint Luke the evangelist. The readings for Saint Luke’s day are: Isaiah 35: 3-6 or Acts 16: 6-12a; Psalm 147: 1-7; II Timothy 4: 5-17; Luke 10: 1-9.

This posting also includes some suggested hymns for next Sunday, the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer, and some photographs that can be downloaded for use on service sheets or parish bulletins.

The seafront in Thessaloniki … I Thessalonians is Saint Paul's earliest letter and the earliest book in the New Testament (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing the readings:

I have often visited the Museum of Christian Art in an old church in Iraklion on the Greek island of Crete. The exhibits include many important icons that link the Byzantine tradition of icon writing with the development of modern Western European art. In a corner of this museum, there is a flaking and peeling fresco in which I could still feel clearly the face of Christ.

Sunday’s readings challenge us to ask where we see the face of God, and in asking whose face is on the coin presented to him, Christ may also be challenging us to consider where we see his face too.

It is possible to imagine a build-up to the Gospel reading in the themes we can find in the other readings, the Old Testament, Psalm and Epistle: Moses asks to see the glory of God, ‘Show me your glory, I pray’ (Exodus 33: 18), but is told ‘you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live’ (Exodus 33: 20); the Psalmist urges the people to tremble and bow down before God (Psalm 99); and Saint Paul reminds his readers in Thessaloniki how they have turned away from idols to ‘serve a living and true God’ (I Thessalonians 1: 9).

Moses and the Ten Commandments … an illustration in a Bible on display in the Monastir Synagogue in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Exodus 33: 12-23

In the verses immediately before this reading (verses 7-11), we are told that ‘the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend’ (verse 11).

Moses, who has found favour in the sight of God (verses 13, 16, 17) asks to see the glory of God (verse 18). God promises him ‘goodness’ (verse 19) and grace (‘gracious’), but God says Moses cannot see the face of God: ‘you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live’ (verse 20).

The people have already seen the golden calf and bowed down before it as an idol. But for many ancient peoples, to see a god’s face was to invite death.

Even so, God grants Moses more knowledge than he gives to others: he will see his ‘back’ (verse 23) but not his face.

The walls of the synagogue in Córdoba are decorated in Mudéjar style, with Biblical quotations, including verses from Psalm 99 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 99:

Psalm 99 is a hymn of praise to God as king. The endings of verses 3, 5 and 9 may be a refrain, said or sung by worshippers as they ‘extol’ (verse 9) God.

There are three sections in this psalm, and each ends with an acclamation of God’s holiness.

The first two sections, about God’s enthronement (verses 1-2) and about his justice (verse 4), end with the declaration that God is holy.

God, on his throne above the ‘cherubim’ (verse 1, the half-human, half-animal creatures thought to hover above the altar in the Temple), is to be praised by ‘all the peoples’ (verse 2).

In the third section (verses 6-8), Moses, Aaron and Samuel (verse 6) represent the three ‘crowns’ of leadership, prophet, priest and king: Moses was the greatest of the prophets; Aaron was the first High Priest; and Samuel anointed the first kings, Saul and David.

‘His holy mountain’ or ‘holy hill’ (verse 9) is no longer Mount Sinai but Mount Zion, the hill on which Jerusalem stands. But still God speaks to the people ‘out of a pillar of cloud’ (verse 9), so they cannot see his face.


This third section (verses 6-8) ends with a double use of the word holy:

Exalt the Lord our God
and worship him upon his holy hill,
for the Lord our God is holy (verse 9).

‘Wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming (I Thessalonian 1: 10) … Christ depicted in the dome of the Church of Panaghia Dexia in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I Thessalonians 1: 1-10

Thessaloniki was a port on the northern Aegean sea and the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. The Apostle Paul probably wrote I Thessalonians ca 41 AD several months after leaving the fledgling church he had founded there. This is considered not only the earliest of his extant writings, but also the earliest book in the New Testament.

Saint Paul has left Thessaloniki, and he both lacks information about how the new community is faring and is unable to visit himself. He sends his co-worker, Saint Timothy, probably from Athens, to visit these new members of the Church. Timothy returns and Saint Paul immediately writes this letter, primarily to respond to questions that hjave arisen within the community since he left, especially regarding the parousia or second coming of Christ to judge and rule.

This introduction to the first letter to the Church in Thessaloniki includes greetings of grace and peace from Saint Paul and his two companions, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy.

The Church members in Thessaloniki have become ‘imitators’ (verse 6) of Saint Paul and of Christ, being joyful in spite of persecution. They have become examples for the other believers to imitate throughout Macedonia and Achaia (verse 7).

People know how they have turned their faces from idols to God and now worship and serve the ‘living and true God’ (verse 9).

The denarius with the image of Caesar represented a day’s labour … Roman coins in a private collection in Callan, Co Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 22: 15-22

The Gospel story is set in Holy Week, the week between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, in the courtyards of the Temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 21: 23), the day after Christ overturns the tables of the money-changers.

The money-changers were in the Temple because the coins in use in the Roman Empire included images, such as the image of Caesar, who called himself ‘lord’ and ‘divine’ when those titles truly belong to God alone, and ‘priest’ when that title challenges the ritual purity and claims of the Temple. Images like those on the coin are forbidden in the Temple of the God who forbids such images.

Christ is teaching in the Temple, where the religious and civic leaders of Jewish society, the priests and the elders, have challenged him about the authority for his words and his deeds, his teaching and his action.

He declines to answer the question. Then he tells the Parable of the Wedding Feast, which was the Gospel reading for last Sunday [11 October 2020, Matthew 22: 1-14].

Now Christ is confronted by two further sectors of Jewish society, the followers of the Pharisees (verse 15) and the Herodians (verse 16), the people who supported Herod, the Roman puppet king, and his successors. They too are united in their plot to entrap Christ, and while they appear to speak to him with respect, they speak with irony.

The question they put to him is the subject of great debate in Jewish circles at the time: should religious and loyal Jews pay the annual poll tax to Rome? (verse 17).

Jewish opinion was divided on this question, and the Zealots among them claimed that God’s people should not be subject to pagan Gentiles.

But, like last week’s question about the baptism of John the Baptist, this is a loaded question. This is yet another question loaded with presuppositions, with built-in fallacies and false dichotomies. A few weeks ago, we had the well-known example of the sort of question all lawyers know not to ask: ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’

The question put to Christ in the Temple in this reading only allows one of two answers, Yes or No. But it is only a question about law. It does not ask, for example, whether it is moral to pay those taxes, or whether it is folly not to pay those taxes.

It is entrapment and it is fallacious. If Christ answers Yes, the Zealots and other Jews hostile to Roman rule are going to turn against him. On the other hand, if he says No, he risks being arrested for inciting rebellion against Rome.

Christ sees through the plot that is being set for him and the intended malice. He describes his interrogators as ‘hypocrites’ (verse 18) for pretending to respect him but intending to discredit him.

The coin they bring to Christ is a denarius (verse 19). The denarius was a silver coin and the most common Roman coin of the time. It is mentioned in the Bible more often than any other coin, and it is sometimes known as the ‘penny’ of the Bible because the King James Version uses that word for it.

The denarius was a day’s pay for workers and Roman troops. A few weeks ago [20 September 2020], in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Matthew 20: 1-16), we see that a denarius was the ordinary payment for a day’s labour (see Matthew 20: 2, 9, 10, 13).

There are other well-known examples of the denarius as common currency in the New Testament:

‘But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend”.’ (Luke 10: 33-35).

When he looked and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages [200 denarii] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little’ (John 6: 5-7).

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ (He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) (John 12: 4-6)

Having looked at the head on the denarius he is given, Christ then looks at the inscription. In the parallel accounts (Mark 12: 13-17; Luke 20: 20-26), he asks: ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ (Mark 12: 16), or ‘Whose head and whose title does it bear?’ (Luke 20: 24).

The denarius of Augustus bore on its obverse a head or bust of the emperor crowned with a laurel wreath and with the inscription: Caesar Augustus, Divi Filius, Pater Patriae, ‘Caesar Augustus, Son of God, Father of His Country.’

On the reverse was a depiction of the imperial princes, Gaius and Lucius, the adopted sons of Augustus, each with a spear in his hand, with a background of crossed spears, a star representing heavenly sanction, an image of the stipulum or ladle used by Roman priests in their libations, and the litius of the augurate, and the added inscription Principes Iuventutis (‘the first among the young’).

The coin handed to Christ in the Temple is most likely the denarius of Tiberius, which on its obverse has the inscription Ti Caesar Divi Avg F Avgvstvs (Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti Filius Augustus, ‘Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus, Augustus’), inscribed around an image of Tiberius with a laurel crown.

The reverse side depicts a seated woman as Pax. This was Livia Drusilia, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius; she died in AD 29 and was later deified by her grandson Claudius with the title Diva Augusta, and women were to invoke her name in their sacred oaths. On the coin, she holds a palm branch in her left hand and an inverted spear in her right hand, and the inscription on this side refers to Tiberius as Pontif Maxim (Pontifex Maximus), or ‘High Priest’ of the Roman State.

Christ does not even get around to flipping over the coin to read the inscription on the reverse side referring to Tiberius Caesar as the High Priest. But both inscriptions are affronts to monotheistic Jews, and so the coin should not have been in the hands of anyone in the Temple.

Yet, when Christ asks them to produce a denarius in that setting, they do so immediately. In other words, they themselves have already carried an image of Caesar and Diva Augusta, with those blasphemous inscriptions, into the Temple of the Lord God.

Until that moment when the coin is placed in Christ’s hand, he is caught in the horns of a dilemma. It is the Passover season, and Jerusalem is flooded with hundreds or thousands of pilgrims who have arrived to remember and celebrate God’s liberation of their ancestors from slavery under foreign rulers.

At Passover, parallels might have been drawn between Tiberius and Pharaoh. Tiberius Claudius Nero, or Tiberius Julius Caesar, was a tyrant in his own right. He was Roman Emperor from AD 14 to AD 37. He spent most of the latter years of his reign in the Villa Jovis on the island of Capri, leaving control of the empire in the hands of the prefect Lucius Aelius Sejanus.

While Tiberius was in Capri, rumours abounded as to what exactly he was doing there. Suetonius and Tacitus record lurid tales of sexual perversity, including graphic depictions of child molestation, and cruelty, and most of all his paranoia. Those who questioned or challenged his power and divinity were often thrown off the cliffs at the Villa Jovis onto the rocks below and into the sea.

If Christ says paying taxes to Caesar is wrong, he risks provoking immediate action against him by the Romans. If he says paying taxes to Rome is right, those who question him are ready to accuse him of betraying the memory and tradition, faith and beliefs of the people as they recall their liberation from slavery and oppression.

But Christ trips up those who are sent to question him by showing that they are bearing proclamations of Caesar’s lordship and high priesthood into the very Temple of the God they claim to be serving with ritual purity.

The obvious questions here are not about what is lawful, or even what is moral or wise, but: who is the divine son, and who is the great high priest?

Christ has won the argument. He has unmasked his critics. There is no need for any further argument, there is no need to say anything more, there is no need to answer the question.

Yet, having won the argument, he answers the question anyway. What he says would have meaning for any Pharisee present. He says: ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ (verse 21).

The word Christ uses in his answer, ἀπόδοτε, is translated as ‘render’ (KJV; RSV: ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’), ‘give back’ (NIV) or simply ‘give’ (NRSV, verse 21). But the verb ἀποδίδωμι (apodidomi) can mean to give back, restore or repay. It can mean to deliver, to give away for one’s own profit what is one’s own, to sell, to pay off, or to discharge what is due. It can refer to a debt, wages, tribute, taxes, or produce due.

Of course, to the Jews of that time, as to us now, all we have is given to us by God, and we owe everything to him.

So what in this world is God’s?

The alternative, paired Old Testament reading for Sunday (Isaiah 45: 1-7) is helpful here. God addresses King Cyrus of Persia, who is a gentile but nevertheless ‘anointed’ and called by the God of Israel (verse 1). It is not only the people of Israel who are God’s, but all to whom God gives life and breath.

God tells this gentile king that he is providing help ‘though you do not know me … so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things’ (Isaiah 45: 4-7). East or west, light or dark, in all circumstances, God is God, and there is none other.

The psalm for this Sunday describes God similarly as Lord of all peoples, of all the earth: ‘The Lord is king … he is high above all peoples’ (Psalm 99: 1-2).

Or, as Psalm 24: 1 puts it: ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.’

As far as any of this relates to the question Christ was asked in the Temple, everything belongs to God, who is the rightful Lord of the earth and all that is in it, the world and all people in it.

When it comes to any worldly power that competes and makes demands to be our lord, whether it is a figurehead, a flag, or the exclusive claims of some nation-state nationalism, this is a place reserved exclusively for the Lord God.

The coin’s inscriptions, with their claims about Caesar’s divinity and high priesthood, and the idolatrous images of one who claimed divinity and his mother who is about to be deified, turn this from a debate about paying a poll tax to an occupying foreign power to an unmasking of the duplicitous thinking of those who challenge Christ’s authority in the Temple, in his teaching and his table-turning, in his words and his deeds, while at the same time compromising their own claims to ritual purity within the bounds of the Temple.

Beneath the Villa Jovis in Capri, where the Emperor Tiberius threw his enemies off the cliff-top into the sea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 22: 15-22 (NRSVA):

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ 21 They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ 22 When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Saint Luke in a spandrel beneath the dome in Analipsi Church (Εκκλησία Ανάληψη) or the Church of the Ascension in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Reflecting on Saint Luke:

Saint Luke (Hebrew: לוּקָֻא; Greek: Λουκάς) the Evangelist, remembered in the Church Calendar on 18 October, is the author of the Third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles.

In depictions of the four evangelists, Saint Luke is traditionally represented in art and architecture as a winged ox. He is an interesting figure, not just as an evangelist, but as a writer who provides fascinating accounts of his travels – in all, he names 32 countries, 54 cities and nine islands – and as a key figure in the tradition of icons and iconography.

Although Saint Luke is not one of the Twelve, he figures throughout the New Testament. Apart from the Gospel he gives his name to and the Acts of the Apostles, he is also mentioned in the Epistle to Philemon (verse 24), Colossians (4: 14) and II Timothy (4: 11), which is part of the Epistle reading in the Lectionary readings for today.

Later traditions claim Saint Luke is one of the Seventy at the heart of the Gospel reading (Luke 10: 1-9), that he is one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or even that he is closely related to the Apostle Paul. But Saint Luke, in his own statement at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, tells us he was not an eyewitness to the events of the Gospel. On the other hand, he repeatedly uses the word ‘we’ as he describes Saint Paul’s missionary journeys in the Acts of the Apostles, indicating he was personally there so many times.

Yet, both the Gospel according to Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are detailed in history, expression, and narrative that are held in regard by Biblical historians and archaeologists for their accuracy and trustworthiness.

Saint Luke is also known as the ‘glorious physician,’ and – especially in the Eastern Church – as an icon writer.

It is said that Saint Luke was born in Antioch in Syria (now in Turkey) to Greek-speaking parents. As a physician, he was said to have had a skill for healing, but that he left all this behind around the year 50 AD and joined Saint Paul after they met in Antioch.

He may have accompanied Saint Paul on his missionary journeys before staying on in Troas (Troy) after Saint Paul’s departure, although it is also possible that he was with Saint Paul in Rome until Saint Paul was martyred (see II Timothy 4: 11; Acts 28: 16). Tradition says Saint Luke died in Thebes, in central Greece, at the age of 84.

Saint Luke gives us the great poetry of the canticles Magnificat (Luke 1: 46-55), Benedictus (Luke 1: 68-79) and Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2: 29-32). Saint Luke alone gives us the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Saint John the Baptist, and the Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple. Saint Luke introduces us to Elizabeth and Zechariah, the angels and the shepherds at the first Christmas, Simeon and Anna, the Christ Child lost in the Temple, the Good Samaritan, the unjust steward, the Prodigal Son, the healed Samaritan, Zacchaeus the tax-collector in Jericho, and the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus.

Saint Luke devotes significantly more attention to women. He presents Christ as the constant friend of the poor, the down-trodden, the marginalised, the side-lined, healing the sick, comforting even the despairing thief on the cross beside him.

Saint Luke as the Gospel writer and Saint Luke as the Iconographer presents the world with meaningful and accessible accounts and images of who Christ is. Without Saint Luke, how would we know about the earliest missionary endeavours of Saint Paul and the Apostolic Church?

Saint Luke remains an attractive and interesting Biblical figure ... as an evangelist, as someone who presents Christ in ways that can be understood in the language of the people, whether word or image, as someone who gives healing a proper place in ministry, as a friend of the poor and the sick, the marginalised and the stereotyped, as someone who, in all his travels and travails, remains faithful unto death to the ministry he is called to and is charged with.

‘Study for the Calf of Saint Luke’ by Graham Sutherland in the recent ‘Consequence of War’ exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green (Ordinary Time, Year A); Red (Saint Luke the Evangelist).

The Collect of the Day (Trinity XIX):

O God, without you we are not able to please you;
Mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect (Saint Luke):

Almighty God,
you called Luke the physician,
whose praise is in the gospel,
to be an evangelist and physician of the soul:
By the grace of the Spirit
and through the wholesome medicine of the gospel,
give your Church the same love and power to heal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect of the Word (Trinity XIX):

O God,
whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory,
as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear,
until we may look upon you without fear,
through Jesus Christ.

Note: No Collect of the Word is provided for a celebration of Saint Luke’s Day

Post Communion Prayer (Trinity XIX):

Holy and blessed God,
you feed us with the body and blood of your Son
and fill us with your Holy Spirit.
May we honour you,
not only with our lips but in lives dedicated
to the service of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post-Communion Prayer (Saint Luke):

Living God,
may we who have shared these holy mysteries
enjoy health of body and mind
and witness faithfully to your gospel,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Saint Paul preaching in Thessaloniki … a fresco in the Cathedral Church of Saint Gregory Palamas (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns (Trinity XIX):

Exodus 33: 12-23:

80, Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father
6, Immortal, invisible, God only wise
554, Lord Jesus, think on me
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me

Isaiah 45: 1-7:

501,Christ is the world’s true light
124, Hark the glad sound! the Saviour comes
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
6, Immortal, invisible, God only wise
97, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
73, The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended

Psalm 99:

686, Bless the Lord, the God of our forebears
688, Come, bless the Lord, God of our forebears
431, Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour
281, Rejoice, the Lord is King!
8, The Lord is King! Lift up your voice

Psalm 96: 1-9 (10-13):

166, Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
705, New songs of celebration render
196, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
710, Sing to God new songs of worship
8, The Lord is king! Lift up your voice
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done!
377, You shall go out with joy

I Thessalonians 1: 1-10:

86, Christ is the King! O friends, rejoice
320, Firmly I believe and truly
312, Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost
523, Help us to help each other, Lord
300, Holy Spirit, truth divine
584, Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult
637, O for a closer walk with God
639, O thou who camest from above
508, Peace to you
491, We have a gospel to proclaim

Matthew 22: 15-22:

10, All my hope on God is founded
259, Christ triumphant, ever reigning
263, Crown him with many crowns
353, Give to our God immortal praise
646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
94, In the name of Jesus
97, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
535, Judge eternal, throned in splendour
102, Name of all majesty
363, O Lord of earth and heaven and sea
493, Ye that know the Lord is gracious
509, Your kingdom come, O God!

Saint Paul and Saint Luke in a stained-glass window by Catherine O’Brien and An Túr Gloine in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns (Saint Luke):

Isaiah 35: 3-6:

231, My song is love unknown (verses 1, 2, 4, 7)
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
113, There is singing in the desert, there is laughter in the skies

Acts 16: 6-12a:

324, God, whose almighty word

Psalm 147: 1-7:

104, O for a tousand tongues to sing

II Timothy 4: 5-17:

566, Fight the good fight with all thy might
459, For all the saints, who from their labour rest
478, Go forth and tell! O Church of God, awake!
277, Love’s redeeming work is done
281, Rejoice, the Lord is King!
487, Soldiers of Christ, arise
492, Ye servants of God, your master proclaim

Luke 10: 1-9:

37, Come, ye thankful people, come
39, For the fruits of his creation
454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
478, Go forth and tell! O Church of God, awake!
455, Go forth for God; go forth to the world in peace
456, Lord, you give the great commission
305, O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
505, Peace be to this congregation
492, Ye servants of God, your master proclaim

Also suitable:

461, For all thy saints, O Lord
550, ‘Forgive our sins as we forgive’
460, For all your saints in glory, for all your saints at rest (verses 1, 2q, 3)
471, Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
712, Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord

Saint Luke the Physician and Evangelist … a stained-glass window in Saint Michael's Church, Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Saint John the Divine (left) and Saint Luke the Evangelist (right) in a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield … the work of Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), Victorian stained glass designer and manufacture (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)