All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (October 24, 2020)

Evening Prayer 

The Service of Light

Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
A light no darkness can extinguish.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Carl P. Daw Jr.’s metrical version of the Phos hilaron, “O Light Whose Splendor Thrills and Gladdens.”

O Light whose splendor thrills and gladdens
with radiance brighter than the sun,
pure gleam of God's unending glory,
O Jesus, blest Anointed One;

as twilight hovers near at sunset,
and lamps are lit, and children nod,
in evening hymns we lift our voices
to Father, Spirit, Son: one God.

In all life's brilliant, timeless moments,
let faithful voices sing your praise,
O Son of God, our Life-bestower,
whose glory lightens endless days.

Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

We praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe!
Your word brings on the dusk of evening,
your wisdom creates both night and day.
You determine the cycles of time,
arrange the succession of the seasons,
and establish the stars in their heavenly courses.
Lord of the starry hosts is your name.
Living and eternal God,
rule over us always.
Blessed be the Lord,
whose word makes evening fall.
Amen.

Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.

Open this link in a new tab to Gavin Bryars’ choral arrangement of Psalm 141, “Lord, I Cry Unto Thee.”

Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
Lord, I cry unto thee.

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
Lord, I cry unto thee.

But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.

Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.
Give heed to my voice, let my cry come unto thee.

Silence is kept.

Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before you, O Lord, and let your loving kindness descend upon us, that with purified minds we may sing your praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host, and may glorify you forever and ever. Amen.

The Psalms

Open this link in a new tab to hear J. David Moore's choral arrangement of Isaac Watts' metrical version of Psalm 23, "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need."

My Shepherd will supply my need;
Jehovah is His Name:
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death
Thy presence is my stay;
One word of thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Does still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thy oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, or a guest,
But like a child at home.

Silence is kept.

O God, our sovereign and shepherd,
who brought again your Son Jesus Christ
from the valley of death,
comfort us with your protecting presence
and your angels of goodness and love,
that we also may come home
and dwell with him in your house for ever.
Amen.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The Gospel of Christ
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Silence is kept.

Homily

Harvest Time 

If you haven’t lived on a farm, worked on a farm, or been around farm folk, harvest may be a strange word to you. Harvest is a word that has several meanings. It can mean the crop ripening in the fields. It can mean the gathering of the ripened crop—ready for harvesting. It can mean the time of year at which the ripened crop is gathered. It also can mean the ripened crop once it is gathered and stored.

In the United States combines reap the ripened crop. A combine is a mechanical reaper, a complex machine that cuts and threshes the grain. In other parts of the world ripened crops may be gathered by hand with a scythe or a sickle. In those parts of the world harvesting is the most labor-intensive time of the year.

I have lived in parts of the United Kingdom and the United States where wheat was grown and I have some familiarity with the growing and harvesting of that particular crop. I am also old enough to remember scythes and sickles and the warnings I received from grandparents about their careless use. The edges of the blades of these tools must be kept very sharp. Scythes and sickles were used to mow hay as well as reap the wheat and other grains. In my childhood they were used to trim the verge on the side of country roads and to cut down noxious weeds like stinging nettles.

At one time whole communities would turn out to bring in the harvest. Heavy rain could cost the entire harvest, not only making the wheat difficult to reap but also causing it to rot in the field. If a community had a poor harvest, it would starve in the winter months. The community might be forced to eat the precious “seed corn” needed for the next planting season. A failed harvest was a serious calamity for a community. Those who did not die from starvation were forced to turn vagabond, wandering from place to place in search of food. Famine was not uncommon in the days of subsistence agriculture in the New World as well as the Old World. Famine still stalks parts of our world to this day.

Food insecurity—not having “reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food”—is a problem in the twenty-first century United States. According to the US Department of Agriculture, household food insecurity affected 13.6 percent of households with children in 2019. With the COVID-19 pandemic and growing unemployment that percentage has increased as has the percentage of food insecure households without children.

Food insecurity is what is sometime called a “hidden” problem because people who have not had a personal experience of food insecurity do not consider it a problem. If they themselves have not had the experience or they do not know anyone that has had the experience, they are not in touch with the problem. It does not register in their minds as a problem at all, much less as a serious one. They have not lived in a neighborhood with no supermarkets, had to travel a long distance to purchase food with insufficient funds, relying on others for transportation, or had to stretch a small quantity of food to feed a large household.

The harvest to which Jesus directed his disciples’ attention is still plentiful. The population of our planet has grown greatly since the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry over two thousand years ago. If we look around us, we will see the harvest--in our neighborhood, our workplace, our school, and our community. The crowds of people in our country and other countries that we see on the news on the TV or the internet are still “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” The laborers are still few and we still need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Those laborers do not have to be priests. They do not have to be pastors. They do not have to be missionaries. They can be ordinary people like ourselves. In fact, they can be ourselves.

When we begin to pray that the Lord send out more laborers into his harvest, we are likely to discover that the Lord who is prompting us to pray for more laborers is prompting us to become one of those laborers. He may not be sending us to a foreign land but he is sending us to our relatives, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow students, and our coworkers. He is also sending us to our community’s poor and needy and those who keep up a good front but are still in need.

Even in the midst of a pandemic there are ways of laboring in the harvest. For example, we might keep in regular phone contact with an elderly woman living alone and buy and deliver groceries to her door.

An article that I read this week made a great point. In our witness to others, we do not have to be commissioned salespersons, just satisfied customers. You can read the article for yourself at https://lifewayvoices.com/discipleship-evangelism/evangelism-is-sharing-an-experience-not-closing-a-deal/.

In the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry all kinds of laborers worked in the harvest. Some reaped the grain. Others bound sheaves and loaded them onto carts. As in later times the whole community would join in the harvest—men, women, and children, old and younger together. That’s something that we should keep in mind.

When we pray to the Lord to send out more laborers into his harvest, we shouldn’t be surprised if he sends out our entire church, the whole community working together to bring in the harvest.

That reminds me of the nineteenth century American gospel song by Knowles Shore. If you have not heard it before, I’ll let the late Tennessee Earnie Ford introduce you to it in today’s dismissal hymn.

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear Carl P. Daw Jr.’s metrical version of the Magnificat.

Refrain:
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.

For God has looked with favor,
on one the world thought frail;
and blessings through the ages will echo
the angel's first "All hail." [Refrain]

God's mercy shields the faithful
and gives them safe retreat
to arms that turns to scatter
the proud in their conceit. [Refrain]

The mighty have been vanquished;
the lowly lifted up.
The hungry find abundance;
the rich, an empty cup. [Refrain]

To Abraham's descendants
the Lord will steadfast prove,
for God has made with Israel
a covenant of love. [Refrain]

Intercessions

Let us complete our evening prayer to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For peace from on high and our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For the welfare of all churches and for the unity of the human family, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For (name), our bishop, and (name), our pastor, and for all ministers of the Gospel, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For our nation, its government, and for all who serve and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For this city (town, university, monastery…). For every city and community, and for all those living in them, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For the good earth which God has given us and for the wisdom and will to conserve it, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For the safety of travelers, the recovery of the sick, the care of the destitute and the release of prisoners, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For an angel of peace to guide and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For a peaceful evening and a night free from sin, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For a Christian end to our lives and for all who have fallen asleep in Christ, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

In the communion of the Holy Spirit (and of all the saints), let us commend ourselves and one another to the living God through Christ our Lord.
To you, O Lord.

Free Prayer

In silent or spontaneous prayer all bring before God the concerns of the day.

The Collect

Lighten our darkness,
Lord, we pray,
and in your great mercy
defend us from all perils and dangers of this night,
for the love of your only Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said.

And now, as our Saviour has taught us,
we are bold to say,

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Dismissal

Open this link in a new tab to hear the gospel song, “Bringing in the Sheaves.”

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Refrain:
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
[Refrain]

Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping's over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
[Refrain]

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

The Lord bless us and keep us.
The Lord make his face to shine upon us
and be gracious to us.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon us
and give us peace. Amen