All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (February 6, 2021)

Evening Prayer

The Service of Light

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

Open this link to hear Carl P. Schalk’s setting of the Phos Hilaron, “Joyous Light of Glory.”

Joyous light ,
joyous light, of glory
of the immortal Father,
Heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ,
We have come to the setting of the Sun
And we look to the evening light.
We sing to God,
we sing to God,
we sing to God,
we sing to God
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
You, you are worthy of being praised,
of being praised with pure voices forever.
O Son of God,
O Son of God,
O Son of God,
O Son of God
O Giver of life,
The universe proclaims your glory.

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 hear Peter Inwood’s setting of Psalm 141, “O Lord, Let My Prayer Rise Before You Like Incense.”

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

1. Lord, I am calling:
hasten to help me.
Listen to me as I cry to you.
Let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

2. Lord, set a guard at my mouth,
keep watch at the gate of my lips.
Let my heart not turn to things that are wrong,
to sharing the evil deeds done by the sinful.
No, I will never taste their delights.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

3. The good may reprove me,
in kindness chastise me,
but the wicked shall never anoint my head.
Ev’ry day I counter their malice with prayer.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

4 To you, Lord, my God, my eyes are turned:
in you I take refuge;
do not forsake me.
Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those who do evil.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

5 Praise to the Father, praise to the Son,
all praise to the life-giving Spirit.
As it was, is now and shall always be
for ages unending. Amen.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you as incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

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 a new tab to hear Marty Haughen’s paraphrase of Psalm 23, “Shepherd me, O God.”

Refrain:
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.

1 God is my shepherd, so nothing shall I want,
I rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace. Refrain

2 Gently you raise me and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing the music of your name. Refrain

3 Though I should wander the valley of death,
I fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope. Refrain

4 You have set me a banquet of love
in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love beyond my power to hold. Refrain

5 Surely your kindness and mercy
follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore. Refrain

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

John 15:18-25 The World’s Hatred

“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.

Silence is kept.

Homily

Vehicles of God’s Grace

Some American Christians have a persecution complex. Anything that someone says or does and with which they disagree, they see as a form of persecution. They then use this imagined persecution to justify speaking and acting in unchristian ways, in ways that Jesus himself would not countenance.

Christian leaders have compared these folks to the boy who cried wolf. He repeatedly cried wolf when he was in no danger from a wolf. He thought that it was a huge joke to trick the people of his village in this way. He was given the task of tending the village’s sheep and he found the task boring. Playing this trick of the villagers added a little excitement to his day. The villagers eventually ignored his cries for help. When a wolf attacked him, figuring that he was an easier meal than one of the sheep, the villagers did not come to his rescue. The wolf killed the boy and devoured him.

What these folks are calling persecution is not persecution. It is nothing compared to the genuine persecution Christians are suffering outside the United States. Their leaders are arrested, tortured, and imprisoned. They are killed. Their daughters are kidnapped and raped. Their churches are torn down. Their villages are burned.

When Jesus talks about persecution, he is talking about things said and done to his followers on the account of his name. He is not talking about the words and actions that his followers provoke themselves through their hypocrisy, their indifference, their judgmentalism, their pridefulness, their recklessness, and their self-righteousness—the reaction of nonbelievers to their failure to live in accordance with Jesus’ teaching and example.

Yes, Christians can expect persecution for their faith in Jesus and their obedience to him. As Jesus says, the servant is not greater than his master. If he was persecuted, his followers will be persecuted. However, the persecution that they can expect is persecution that they will experience because they put their trust in him, keep his words, obey his commandments, and walk the path that he walked. It is the persecution that a servant receives because he is faithfully serving his master.

For example, Jesus did not command his followers to gather in large numbers to hear a professional worship band and a celebrity preacher. Gathering in large numbers to worship God is our preference and not Jesus’ command.

What Jesus did teach his followers was to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves, to do to others what we would wish done to us, to love each other as he has loved us, and to love even those folks whom we might otherwise hate and despise.

We do not need to gather in large numbers to worship God. The early church gathered in the houses of its members. In the twenty-first century we can gather online as well as in person.

Temporary restrictions on large gatherings imposed by state and local health authorities to prevent the spread of a dangerous virus are not persecution. A ban on all religious gatherings irrespective of their size, including online gatherings, for no good cause, however, is persecution.

Some businesses may receive what we see as preferential treatment and be granted more leeway than churches and religious organizations but this treatment, while it may be unfair, does not amount to persecution. When closely examined, their business activities may present far less of a health risk than our religious activities.

Other businesses may indeed be receiving more favorable treatment due to the role that they play in the state and local economy and the influence that they exercise in state and local government. This, however, is unfair treatment, not persecution. The solution, from a public health perspective, may be to impose greater restrictions on these businesses, not reduce the restrictions on churches and religious organizations.

What would then be persecution in such a case? Persecution would be intentional restricting of religious activity not out of public health concerns but out of well-documented, longstanding hostility toward a particular religious group by the state or local health authorities. From examining the evidence, a reasonable person would conclude that this hostility is real and not imagined, has been systematic and not sporadic, and is not confined to one or two individuals but is a policy of the institution itself. This policy does not have to be an official one.

We cannot, however, conclude from one or two officials or employees expressing a negative opinion of Christians or acting toward Christians in a negative manner that the entire organization is prejudiced against Christians. We would be over-generalizing.

This may be a rather precise way of looking at persecution. However, it is far better than treating everything that we do not like as a form of persecution, exaggerating its seriousness, and then overreacting to it. Like the boy who cried wolf, we will not be taken seriously after a while.

Jesus does warn us against persecution. At the same time he does not encourage us to adopt a paranoid attitude that the world is out to get us. Such an attitude would render the task that he has given to his disciples impossible. The powers of darkness may seek to encourage us to think that way. They will do anything to keep us from fulfilling Jesus’ great commission to make disciples of all people groups. They will foster any attitude in us that will interfere with that task. Our own inclination to sin, to rebel against God, will latch onto such attitudes.

A paranoid attitude toward the world is also a denial of God’s grace, the power of his presence at work in the world.

Jesus does not treat the world as if it is beyond redemption. Early in John’s Gospel, we read, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life….”

We need to remember that. We have been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light to proclaim his mighty works. The giving of his only Son is one of God’s mighty works. We have been tasked with sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. We cannot turn our backs on the world and retreat into our little Christian enclaves, our own little ghettos. We are to be in the world but not of the world.

Like Jesus, we must be about our heavenly Father’s business. We must be vehicles of his grace to the world. We must be wise as snakes and gentle as doves. We should not court opposition, go out of our way to provoke disfavor and ill-will toward ourselves. At the same time, we should faithfully represent our Lord in the world. When the world sees and hears us, they should see and hear Jesus. If the world does persecute us, it will be Jesus whom they are persecuting.

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear Ann Krentz’s choral arrangement of “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

Be present, merciful God,
and protect us through the hours of this night:
that we, who are wearied by the changes
and chances of this fleeting world,
may rest on your eternal changelessness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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 to hear Tony Alonso’s hymn, “God Sends Us Forth to Love and Serve.”

1 God sends us forth to love and serve,
make know God’s name, and live God’s word,
reflect God’s love and mirror God’s grace
till all have seen the Savior’s face.

2 Nourished by Christ with word and bread,
burning with love and Spirit-led,
sent to embrace a world in need
to make God known in word and deed.

3 Called to the ones the world ignores—
hungry and thirsty, weak and poor—
let us bear Christ, who heals all pain
and comfort those with guilt or shame.

4 So, with the cross to lead the way,
let us go forth in peace today
till every end of earth has known
the saving love of God alone.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us praise 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