Proper 28C’25
16 November 2025
Mal.4.1-12; Lk.21-5-9
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ…Amen.
– Collect for the Sunday of Proper 28, The Book of Common Prayer, p.236
I have just re-read today’s opening Collect. A “Collect” is the prayer that we say near the beginning of the service and (is spelled exactly like the word “collect” c-o-l-l-e-c-t; and why do we do we say it that way – you know – ‘because that’s the way we’ve always said it!’ The purpose of the prayer is an attempt to ‘collect’ the main points found in the readings and form them into a single prayer.
In one of our preaching classes in seminary we often heard things that were profound, or pithy, but always memorable. One was “Don’t let the lectionary stand in the way of a good sermon!” The other, “When all else fails preach the Collect!” Depending on what is going on in the world, in the preacher’s own life, or simply the luck of the draw of the readings nothing seems to gel – so preach the collect. However, there are times when the collect really is the better preaching path to go down.
Let’s take a look at the key words in this prayer and see what they offer to us.
Grant us so to Hear them…
Hear: To hear is to listen with both our physical and spiritual ears.
Priest and writer, Henri Nouwen believed that the spiritual life is a journey from absurdity to obedience—a pilgrimage from a noisy, worried, and deaf existence to a life of silent attentiveness, where we can truly hear God’s call to love and guidance.
To unpack this a bit more, he chose a couple of Latin words:
The word surdus in Latin, means “deaf”. By adding the prefix ab- the word becomes, absurdus, where the English word absurd is derived. He taught that a life lived without listening to the inner voice of God’s love becomes an absurd life—distracted, noisy, and disconnected from our true identity as the “Beloved” of God.
He believed that true listening results in Obedience. Again, Nouwen contrasts a couple of Latin words to make the point. Audire in Latin means, to listen. Ob-audire means to listen with full attention and the ob in ob-audire is the root of the word obedience. An obedient life, therefore, is about being “all ear” for God’s constant, guiding voice, and following wherever it leads us.
T.S. Eliot reminds us that God’s voice has a low volume level in his poem “Ash Wednesday,” he writes, “Where shall the word be found, where will the word / Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence” Quiet is essential.
Grant us so to Read them…
Read: We all are quite familiar with reading to get information; from a news article to a soup can, we know how to scan for the pertinent facts.
Lectio Divina or Spiritual Reading which is a deeper level of reading with the heart and mind. Daily Bible reading guide? No problem! There’s a great one in the Book of Common Prayer starting on page 934. There are also audio bibles, bible apps, There’s the eCP app where all you do is tap on the day and up will come all of the readings – it’s never been easier to include the bible in our daily lives!
Grant us so to Mark them…
Mark:
My suggestion is to purchase a bible you can allow yourselves to write in, to underline, and to write notes in the margins. As you carefully read, words or phrases will stand out and could hold special meaning for us – these are good places to underline or highlight. You might write a key phrase in your daily planner, or one a 3X5 note card or a note on your smartphone. One author recommends rereading just the highlighted passages from that day as way to close our time of study and to engrain the message.
Grant us so to Learn them…
Learn:
To learn, we get a clue from the early German word “lisnojanan,” which means “to follow or find the track” and can be a metaphor for following the truth wherever it may lead. Studying the bible can help us to “get on and stay on or to get back on track.” There are several ways to study the bible:
Inductive Study: Making careful observations of a passage and drawing conclusions based only on those observations. It typically follows the flow of Observation, Interpretation, and Application.
Topical Study: Choosing a specific topic (e.g., grace, forgiveness, prayer) and tracing it throughout the entire Bible to see what all of Scripture says about it. You will need a Concordance for this type of study (It lists every word in the bible and where it can be found.)
Character Study: Focusing on a specific biblical character to learn from their actions, strengths, weaknesses, and how God worked in their life.
Verse-by-Verse: A detailed, systematic analysis of each verse in a passage or book, breaking it down into its components and cross-referencing to other scriptures.
SOAP Method: A simple, devotional method using the acronym: Scripture (pick out a passage). Next comes Observation (what does it say?), then Application (how does it apply to my life?), Finally, Prayer (talk to God about it).
Grant us so to Inwardly Digest them…
Inwardly Digest: There are many things we can read and allow into our minds that can give us spiritual indigestion, but with the bible, read appropriately, we’ll discover new spiritual transformation.
I spoke with someone the other day who at one time hated a certain group of politicians. But after an extensive study on forgiveness throughout the bible, they felt compelled to let go of their hatred, and to start praying for them.
Drawing on the Latin ob-audire, meaning “to listen with full attention,” Nouwen defined obedience not as blind submission, but as being “total ear,” or as we say in the south – “all ears” meaning that we are completely open to the voice of God. This kind of listening gives us new eyes to see and new ears to hear, it gets into our bones, into our hands and feet and moves us to walk and talk with God – to love and serve the Lord. St. Paul in Romans wrote (12.2) “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Hear – Read – Mark – Learn and Inwardly Digest And what is the end of all of our learning?
The collect shows us as it closes: “That we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.” Amen.