Transfiguration of our Lord (August 6th)

The Book of Common Prayer (1662) notes in the Calendar of the Church Year that August 6th is the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord, but it does not supply a collect, epistle and gospel for the same. However, the Canadian edition of the same Prayer Book (1962) and the American edition (1928) supply collect, epistle and gospel, but they are not identical.

In the BCP of the Episcopal Church the festival is called, “The Transfiguration of Christ” and the epistle is 2 Peter 1:13ff. and the gospel Luke 9:28ff. Here is the collect:

O God, who on the mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses thine only-begotten Son
wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that
we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may be permitted to
behold the King in his beauty, who with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost,
liveth and reigneth one God, world without end. Amen.

This was written by the American, Dr Huntington, when he was on top of Mt Sargent on Mt Desert Island in Maine. It was inspired by the Lukan account of the Transfiguration.

In the BCP of the Anglican Church of Canada the collect is as follows:

O God, who on the holy mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses thy well-beloved
Son wonderfully transfigured: Mercifully grant unto us such a vision of his
divine majesty, that we, being purified and strengthened by thy grace, may be
transformed into his likeness from glory to glory: through the same thy Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The epistle is 2 Peter 1:16ff. and the gospel is Matthew 17:1ff.

In the English Common Worship (2000) the collect is:

Father in heaven, whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured before
chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain, and spoke of the exodus he would
accomplish at Jerusalem: grant us strength so to hear his voice and bear our
cross that in the world to come we may behold him as he is; who liveth and
reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The epistle is 2 Peter 1:16-19 and the gospel is Luke 9:28-36.

To be sure, we can meditate upon all these readings and we can pray all three collects to remember and draw grace from this great event, wherein the divinity of our Lord radiated through his humanity, as he looked to heaven and steadfastly towards Jerusalem, where his great exodus work of redemption was to be undertaken.
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The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)