Proper 25C, 2016,
At the heart of the Eucharistic liturgy crafted
by Thomas Cramner, was the prayer we refer to as the prayer of humble access.
“We
do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own
righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much
as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose
property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat
the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful
bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most
precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.” – (Book of Common Prayer 1662)
This prayer has been part of our
common liturgies in the Anglican tradition since 1548 and can be found in our
current prayer book on page 337 as part of the what is called the “Rite I” celebration
of the Eucharist. This prayer is intended as a means of setting ourselves in a place
of humility and gratitude as we prepare to receive the bread and the wine. With reverence, it seeks to remind us that while
we don’t assume God’s grace, it is granted; while we don’t deserve God’s love, it
is given.
It is a prayer that stands in
sharp contrast to a culture that all too often is one of entitlemen--“Don’t I
deserve?”, “I’ve earned it?”, “I worked hard for that!” or, as heard in the Gospel
today, “I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income!”
The prayer of humble access, is
not often prayed in Episcopal churches nowadays. But, it is one that I find
helpful as a counterpoint to the pride that, as theologian Karl Barth puts it,
becomes idolatry when that pride confuses the Creator and the creation, the Giver
and the gift—we don’t get to dictate who receives mercy, we don’t get to decide
who God loves.
Because when we do so, we
forget that we are all in need of
mercy and to deny God’s mercy is to deny what scripture has made clear, that
mercy is fundamental to the nature of God.
Which means that the petition, “God
be merciful to me, a sinner!” becomes a petition grounded in a deep trust in
God’s fundamental nature. These words
presuppose both that one is underserving AND that God will be merciful.
This petition is one I learned
in college. I did not learn it within the context of this particular Gospel
text, rather I learned it within the context of my own pain and sense of
unworthiness. I was really good at naming my own shortcomings, my own best
critic and a harsh one at that. What I struggled with was extending grace to
myself, and this prayer became a means by which I could remember that God had
and would continue to extend grace to me.
And I found that meditating
upon this prayer, “God have mercy on me, a sinner” centered and grounded me
upon three truths--truth number one, I’m a sinner; truth number two, God has
mercy on me; truth number three, I am dependent upon God.
“God be merciful to me, a
sinner” is a petition grounded in the tax collector’s awareness of his utter
reliance on God. The tax collector knows he does not deserve mercy; yet he also
knows that it is within God’s power to grant it. In contrast, the Pharisee, presumes
God’s grace as something he has earned—and in his sense of entitlement forgets
his own reliance upon God and denies God’s mercy to others, “God, I thank you
that I am not like other people…” and in this the Pharisee’s prayer proclaims
himself rather than God and denies the truth of God’s mercy for others. The Pharisee’s prayer, in this way is
divisive and stands in opposition to God’s grace filled nature.
Roman Catholic Priest, Cyprian
Consiglio, writes that “When I say, “have mercy on me, a sinner,” I unite
myself with all human beings from the beginning of the world who have
experienced separation from God. I realize that, as human beings, we are all
separated from God, from the source of our being. We are wandering in a world
of shadows, mistaking the outward appearance of people and things for the
reality. But at all times something is pressing us to reach out beyond the
shadows, to face the reality, the truth. The inner meaning of our lives, and so
to find God… the mystery which enfolds us.”
United with all human beings
from the beginning of the word…what a powerful understanding! And, this is an
understanding that the Pharisee and the judge from last week’s Gospel have not
yet reached—they do not see in other’s the belovedness that God has ascribed
them. In this they fall short…
Biblical scholar Sharon Ringe,
notes that both parables, that of the unjust judge and the one we heard today,
describe individuals who are “locked into the systems of social and economic
competition and the hierarchy of honor and prestige that favor the dominant
classes in their society. In both
parables, prayer is about the reversal of those systems.” (Ringe, Sharon, Luke, Westminster Bible Companion
(Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knowx Press, 1995), 225)
God’s justice can neither be constrained
or denied by those who have power in our culture.
And in both the parable we
heard last week, and that we hear today, God’s justice is shown to be better
than that which we, humans, can ask or imagine.
And, hence our hope.
And, from this place of hope, I
proclaim the good news of the Gospel. And, from this place of hope, I serve in
this place. And, from this place of hope, I hear the vision set forth in Joel—a
vision in which all those who have been denied justice by our own human
institutions experience the vindication of God’s grace and mercy.
The sentences of scripture
suggested at the close of evening prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, includes
the following from the letter to the Ephesians,
Glory to God whose power,
working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him
from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and
ever. Amen.
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