Choral Services

The Gospel reading on this Second Sunday in Lent for Year B is Mark 8:31-38, wherein we have Christ rebuking his disciples who envision a kingdom of this world, and who find it hard to understand that the kingdom is won not by taking, but by self-giving. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Here are some sermons from previous years that you might find helpful as you make your way through this second week in Lent:

Self-discovery (2009) by Fr Mead
After the Disclosure (2005) by Fr Austin
Christ's Cross; God's Mission (2003) by Fr Mead

Collect:

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from thy ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of thy Word, Jesus Christ thy Son; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel reading on this Third Sunday in Lent for Year B is John 2:13-22, wherein we have Christ throwing the merchants out of the temple, after which he confounds the religious authorities:. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Here are some sermons from previous years that you might find helpful as you make your way through this third week in Lent:

Collect:

Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel reading on this Fourth Sunday in Lent for Year B is John 3:14-21, wherein we have the famous 3:16 passage followed by this: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Collect:

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which giveth life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Gospel reading on this Fifth Sunday in Lent for Year B is John 12:20-33, wherein we have Christ telling his disciples that the hour has come, saying: Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Here are some sermons from previous years that you might find helpful as you make your way through this fifth week in Lent:

Collect:

O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men: Grant unto thy people that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

From Fr Mead's sermon on the Eve of the Annunciation in 2001:

At Saint Thomas we have great respect for the holy season of Lent. We do not interrupt the Lenten observances of each day or the use of Lenten colors lightly. Only two feasts suffice to break the pattern. The feast of Saint Joseph on March 19 is one. The feast of the Annunciation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary... is the other.

The Annunciation is very important, because it is the actual beginning of our Lord Jesus Christ’s life in the flesh. The Church calendar places the Annunciation exactly nine months before the date of Christ’s birth, from March 25 to December 25, so we see that the Annunciation is the moment of Jesus Christ’s conception as a human being in the womb of his mother Mary.

Read the rest of Fr Mead's 2001 sermon here.

You might also want to read or listen to Fr Austin's sermon on the line from the Apostles' Creed: "who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary."

The complete Apostles' Creed series.

Collect:

We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts, that we who have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.