Our Triune Pod

What is a collect? 

It is a brief prayer with a particular structure that gathers the intentions of the community around the appointed Scripture readings for that Sunday.

What is its form or structure?

It’s made up of 5 parts.

These parts consist of: 

• ​An Address
• ​An Acknowledgment
• ​A Petition
• ​An Aspiration
• ​A Pleading

(That said, not every collect has all 5 parts–some have 4; others just 3. But the 5 part structure is pretty normative.)

So what’s an example?

Taken straight from one of the collects that we’ll pray in Lent:

“Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

-Fifth Sunday in Lent

1. ​The Address (is always to God: in this case “Almighty God”)
2. ​The Acknowledgment (highlights an aspect about God’s character or human nature: “You alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners”)
3. ​The Petition (is our ask: “Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise”)
4. ​The Aspiration (is the “so that” or the reason for our ask: “that among the swift and varied changes of the world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found”)
5. ​The Pleading (The Trinitarian or Christological “mediating” conclusion: “through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns”)

Today’s collect:

“O God, because 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, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

-Proper 17

The form or structure of today’s collect

1. ​The Address: "O God"
2. ​The Acknowledgment: “because without you we are not able to please you”
3. ​The Petition: “mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts”
4. ​The Aspiration: no aspiration in this collect
5. ​The Pleading: “through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

With the Resurrection of Jesus, God vindicates the way of the Cross. The way of power and domination—all too familiar to us—will one day die and stay dead. However, the way of compassion and love—no matter how seemingly insignificant or futile—may get trampled, but will ultimately be raised…

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Back to the collects!

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