Commontide
Proper 9
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
The 4th Sunday after Trinity
Grant us, O Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who can do no good thing apart from you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Archbishop of Uppsala, Ecumenist, and Renewer of the Church
Ecumenical Commemoration
Nathan Söderblom was the Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala who, in the wreckage of the First World War, called the divided churches of Europe to work together for peace. A distinguished scholar of the history of religions before he was a bishop, he gathered Protestant and Orthodox leaders at Stockholm in 1925 in the movement that became one of the streams of modern ecumenism, and in 1930 he became the first churchman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Nathan Söderblom was born in Trönö, Gävleborg County, Sweden, on January 15, 1866. He studied theology at Uppsala University and the University of Paris, serving as a pastor and professor before his appointment as Archbishop in 1912. During World War I, his pacifist convictions led him to organize peace efforts and interfaith dialogue. In 1925, he convened the Life and Work Conference in Stockholm, bringing together Protestant leaders to discuss Christian responsibility in social and political life—a watershed moment in twentieth-century ecumenism. His historical work on religious development and theological writings on the nature of Christian community exercised profound influence on subsequent ecumenical theology. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930, the same year as Auguste Barclay. Söderblom died in office on July 12, 1931, at age 65, having shaped the trajectory of modern Protestant Christianity.
Söderblom stands as the founding architect of the Life and Work movement and the modern ecumenical movement's institutional foundation. He represents the recovery of the ancient conciliar tradition within Protestantism and the conviction that Christian unity is both a doctrinal and a practical imperative. His legacy shaped the World Council of Churches (1948) and remains determinative for Lutheran-Anglican ecumenical engagement. Within ACNA tradition, he exemplifies the principle that legitimate diversity in polity and theology must be pursued in visible communion and mutual accountability.