From living and chosen stones. . .

Part of a good collect is getting what we pray for correct.  Honestly, there have been so many times in which a prayer was prayed for the opening of this or the blessing of that and I was not sure what I was praying for so I was hesitant to add my Amen to the prayer.  Some of it is due to the in artful wording of the prayer itself.  Some of it was due to the fact that the one leading the prayer had not bothered to read it beforehand and simply did a very poor job of reading the words and thus rendered what might have been clear rather cloudy.  Some of it was due to the fact that the person leading the prayer did not appreciate careful or eloquent language and expressed such disdain in the way he read the prayer.  

Collects are not simple and yet they are not elaborate either.  The collect directs the attention of those praying heavenward not only by what is prayed but how it is prayed.  It is the same reason we continue to appreciate the outdated but eloquent language used for the Our Father or the Twenty-Third Psalm -- they are uplifting in the way the words are used as well as what is said.  These are definitely practiced prayers.  The collect was chanted or sung in part because this was an aid to the person praying the collect so that the words would unfold from the mouth in such a way that the meaning of the words was rendered more clear to those who were hearing and who would be expected to add their Amen to the words.

Just as heaven, according to the Revelation of St. John the Divine, will not be plain but well ornamented with the most precious earthly materials as ordinary, so the language of heaven will reflect this nobility.  Though some might not appreciate this, the vast majority of people do.  Think, for example, of the way we are attracted to the ancient and noble rituals that turn a prince into a king or a royal wedding.  The billions who tuned into such televised affairs were not looking to see or hear something plain but that which was lofty -- words and actions that hearkened back to the days when it was universally believed that divine providence sat the man or woman upon the throne.  If we would be interested and curious of such things in an age in which a monarch and the monarchy were more imagery than substance, why would we think that worship is the place where the collect should be replaced with Father God, we just wanna. . .?

Below is an example of a mission collect which draws our attention away from the decision moment so often described in conversion to the actions of our almighty God in choosing and chiseling the living stones He uses to build His heavenly temple.  At the same time it is a humble prayer preserving not only God's work in building His Church but also keeping His Church to the day when the earthly becomes the heavenly and Jerusalem on earth becomes Jerusalem the Golden.

O God, who from living and chosen stones prepares an eternal dwelling for Your majesty, increase in Your Church the spirit of grace You have bestowed, so that a people faithful to You may always increase in the heavenly building of Jerusalem.  Amen.