All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (December 19, 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 John Scott’s arrangement of “Creator of the Stars of Night.”
Creator of the stars of night
Thy people’s everlasting light
O Jesus, Saviour of us all
Regard thy servants when they call
Thou, grieving at the bitter cry
Of all creation doomed to die
Didst come to save a ruined race
With healing gifts of heav’n’ly grace
Thou camest, bridegroom of the bride
As drew the world to eveningtide
Proceeding from a virgin shrine
The Son of Man, yet Lord divine
At thy great name, majestic now
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow
And things in heav’n and earth shall own
That thou art Lord and King alone
To thee, O holy One, we pray
Our judge in that tremendous day
Preserve us, while we dwell below
From ev’ry onslaught of the foe
All praise, eternal Son, to thee
Whose advent sets thy people free
Whom with the Father we adore
And Spirit blest, for evermore. Amen.
Thanksgiving
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
creator of light and darkness.
In this holy season.
you renew your promise to reveal among us
the splendor of your glory,
enfleshed and visible to us in Jesus Christ your Son.
Through the prophets
you teach us to hope for his reign of peace,
Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
you open our blindness to the glory of his presence.
Strengthen us in our weakness.
Support us in our stumbling efforts to your will
and free our tongues to sing your praise.
For to you all honour and blessing are due,
Now and for ever. Amen.
Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Tony Alonso’s responsorial setting of the evening psalm, “Psalm 141—Like Burning Incense, O Lord.”
Like burning incense, O Lord,
let my rise to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
let my prayer rise to you.
1 I call out to you,
Come quickly to my aid.
My song cries out to you,
O listen to me now.
I raise my hands in off’ring to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
2 Let me speak your truth;
watch over all I say.
Keep my thoughts on you;
let goodness rule my heart.
Keep me far from those who do harm.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
3 Never let me dine
with those who seek to harm.
Keep your holy ones
always at my side.
Plant your wisdom deep in my soul.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
4 I look to you for help;
I seek your loving eyes.
Guard my life for you;
Spare me from all wrong.
Keep all evil far from my heart.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
5 Glory be to God
and to God’s only Son,
glory to the Spirit,
three in one,
now and for ever. Amen.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
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 Daniel Kallman’s choral arrangement of Jonathan Asprey’s paraphrase of Psalm 84, “How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place.”
How lovely is thy dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts, to me.
My soul is longing and fainting,
The courts of the Lord to see.
My heart and flesh, they are singing,
For joy to the living God.
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of hosts, to me.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
Where he can settle down.
And the swallow she can build a nest,
Where she may lay her young.
Within the court of the Lord of hosts,
My King, my Lord and my God.
And happy are those who are dwelling where
The song of praise is sung.
And I’d rather be a door-keeper
And only stay a day,
Than live the life of a sinner
And have to stay away.
For the Lord is shining as the sun,
And the Lord, he’s like a shield;
And no good thing does God withhold
From those who walk the way.
How lovely is thy dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts, to me.
My soul is longing and fainting,
The courts of the Lord to see.
My heart and flesh, they are singing,
For joy to the living God.
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of hosts, to me.
Silence is kept.
Lord God,
sustain us in this vale of tears
with the vision of your grace and glory,
that, strengthened by the bread of life,
we may come to your eternal dwelling place;
in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Gospel of Christ
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Silence is kept.
Homily
A Parable of the Kingdom
Unless you grew up in the sticks, in a farming district like I did, you most likely have not had an opportunity to see wheat grow from planting to maturity. My family lived in the Hertfordshire countryside when I was born but moved to one of the new housing estates around the age that I first began to attend school. We frequently visited a farmer and his wife who were friends of my grandparents. The farmer and his wife grew wheat so I had the opportunity to see wheat growing at its various stages when my family visited them. My mother, my older brother, and I lived with my grandparents.
A field of ripening wheat is an impressive sight. I can still see that field in my mind’s eye.
When my grandfather retired for the first time, he bought a small farm in Suffolk and grew wheat, barley, and oats. One of my memories from that time is that of my grandfather driving a tractor and pulling a seed drill behind the tractor.
When my family moved to the United States, we eventually settled in what was at the time a rural district. The primary crop grown in that district was pine trees. At one time cotton had been grown in the district but it badly depleted the soil. The piece of property that my grandfather and my mother bought had pine seedlings growing on it. I watched those seedlings grow from a height where I could jump over them into mature pine trees.
I now live on the edge of a small university town in what is largely a rural district. There is some cattle and chicken farming but most of the farmland is used to grow wheat, corn (or maize), soy beans, tobacco, and more recently hemp.
The strains of wheat that are grown in the fields on the outskirts of town is winter wheat. Winter wheat is planted in the autumn. It sprouts and develops into young plants. The plants do not begin to head—to produce an ear—until early spring. They need to experience 30 to 60 days of cold winter before they enter that stage of growth. The plants reach maturity in June when the ripened grain is harvested. Wheat farmers no longer use hand sickles or scythes to cut the ripened wheat. They use a combine, a mechanical harvester that not only cuts the wheat but also threshes it.
The harvesting of the wheat was labor-intensive in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Day laborers were often hired to help with the harvest. The corners of the field were left uncut so that the poor and widows might glean the ripened grain.
In the Parable of the Wheat Jesus compares the growth of the kingdom of God with the growth of seeds of wheat that a farmer has scattered and sown. When we think of a kingdom, we are apt to think of a physical territory—a realm where a king or queen rules or, in the case of a constitutional monarchy, plays a role in the government of that territory.
God’s kingdom, however, does not occupy a particular territory. Rather it occupies people’s hearts, their innermost selves. The heart is the field in which the seeds of the kingdom grow.
The farmer of the parable does not know what causes the wheat seeds to grow. We, on the other hand, do know what causes the kingdom’s seeds to grow—God’s grace, the power of God’s presence in our lives. The more we cooperate with God’s grace, the more God transforms our hearts and our lives and the more we grow to maturity.
Our natural inclination is to rebel against God. However, God is at work in us “to will and do his good pleasure.” God’s good pleasure is that we cooperate with him in our renovation, our restoration to humanity’s original state, to that state when we did not question God’s word but lived in harmony with God. God was the king of our hearts, and not ourselves, and his righteous rule was reflect in our lives, in lives of obedience to God.
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ann Krentz’s choral arrangement of the Magnificat, “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness.”
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
My soul proclaims your greatness, Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
You looked upon my lowliness,
and I am full of grace.
Now ev’ry land and ev’ry age
this blessing shall proclaim—
great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To all who live in holy fear
Your mercy ever flows.
With mighty arm you dash the proud,
Their scheming hearts expose.
The ruthless you have cast aside,
the lonely throned instead;
the hungry filled with all good things,
the rich sent off unfed.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To Israel, your servant blest,
your help is ever sure;
the promise to our parents made
their children will secure.
Sing glory to the Holy One,
give honor to the Word,
and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,
one God, by all adored.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name,
and holy is your name.
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
Almighty God,
give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
In which Jesus came among us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. 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
O Christ, who holds the open gate,
O Christ who drives the furrow straight,
O Christ, the plough, O Christ, the laughter
Of holy white birds flying after.
Lo, all my heart’s field red and torn
and thou wilt bring the young green corn*,
the young green corn* divinely springing,
the young green corn* for ever singing.
And when the field is fresh and fair
thy blessed feet shall glitter there,
and we will walk the weeded field,
and tell the golden harvest’s yield.
The corn* that makes the holy bread
by which the soul of man is fed,
the holy bread, the food unpriced,
thy everlasting mercy, Christ.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
May the God of peace equip us with everything good for
doing his will, working in us what is pleasing to him,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
* In the British isles wheat is called "corn." What is called corn in the United States is called "maize," or "Indian corn."
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