All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (Februart 21, 2021)

 

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 Louis Bourgeois’ hymn, “O Gladsome Light, O Grace.”

1 O gladsome Light, O Grace
of God the Father’s face,
The eternal splendour wearing;
celestial, holy, blest,
our Saviour Jesus Christ,
joyful in Thine appearing.

2 Now, ere day fadeth quite,
we see the evening light,
our wonted hymn outpouring;
Father of might unknown,
Thee, His incarnate Son,
and Holy Ghost adoring.

3 To Thee of right belongs
all praise of holy songs,
O Son of God, Lifegiver;
Thee, therefore, O Most High,
the world doth glorify,
and shall exalt for ever.

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,
the Shepherd of Israel,
their pillar of cloud by day,
their pillar of fire by night.
In these forty days you lead us
into the desert of repentance
that in this pilgrimage of prayer
we may learn to be your people once more.
In fasting and service you bring us back to your heart.
Open our eyes to your presence in the world
and free our hands to lead others
to the radiant splendour of your mercy.
Be with us in these journey days
for without you we are lost and will perish.
To you alone be dominion and glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Randall De Bruyn’s arrangements of Psalm 141 from The Grail (England).

Like burning incense, O Lord, let my prayer rise up to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord, let my prayer rise up to you.

I have called to you, Lord, hasten to help me.
Hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer arise before you like incense.
the raising of my hands like the evening oblation.

Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth,
keep watch, O Lord, at the door of my lips!
Do not turn my heart to things that are wrong,
to evil deeds with those who are sinners.

Never allow me to share in their feasting.
If the righteous strike or reprove me, it is a kindness;
but let the oil of the wicked n’er anoint my head.
Let my prayer be ever against their malice.

To you, Lord God, my eyes are turned;
in you I take refuge; spare my soul!
From the trap they have laid for me keep me safe;
Keep me from the snares of those who do evil.

Glory to the Father and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Like burning incense, O Lord, let my prayer rise up 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 Carl F. Schalk’s choral arrangement of Psalm 130, “Out of the Depths.”

Out of the depths I have called to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice,
Lord, hear my voice,
Lord, hear my voice;
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

If you, Lord, you, Lord, were to note
what is done amiss,
O Lord, who could stand?
For there is forgiveness with you,
therefore you shall be feared,
I wait for the Lord;
my soul wait for him;
in his word,
in his word is my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, wait for the Lord,
wait for the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy,
with him there is plenteous redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel
from all their sins.

Silence is kept.

Father, we commend to your faithful love
those who are crying from the depths;
help them to watch and pray
through their time of darkness,
in sure hope of the dawn of your
forgiveness and redemption;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

Ephesians 4: 25-5:2 The New Life

Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up faith, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Silence is kept.

Homily

Imitators of God

If Paul was alive today and he went online, he would be astounded by what he found. He would find men and women who claim to be Christians, followers of Jesus, but who are doing all the things that he told the Ephesians in his letter to the church at Ephesus to put away—not doing them once in a while but all of the time.

Paul might be prompted to question whether they were indeed what they claimed to be. At the very least he might question whether they had been taught Jesus, whether they had been taught to put away their old way of thinking as well as their old way of acting, whether they had been taught to cloth themselves, in Paul’s words, “in the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” This is what he had asked the Ephesians in his letter to the church at Ephesus.

Paul is very clear in his letters that the old self, our old way of thinking and acting, is not compatible with being a follower of Jesus. One cannot claim to be a Jesus follower and lie, cheat, steal, hold grudges, say spiteful things to other people, lash out at them, or do any of the other things that Paul told the Ephesians to put away. Nor can one duck out of being kind, gentle, considerate, respectful, generous, and forgiving toward others. These things are evidence that God is indeed working in our lives.

If we have truly surrendered our lives to Jesus, other people will see changes in the way that we think and act. We will become a different person. This does not happen all at once, but it does happen. If we claim to have turned to Jesus and nothing has happened in our lives, if we go on thinking and acting like we always have, we have not fully surrendered our lives to Jesus. We cannot hide behind the claim, “I’m still a work in progress.” That might be true at the very beginning but not five or ten years later. Not even two years later.

God works in us to make us more like Jesus, more loving, more compassionate, thinking and acting in ways that are pleasing to God. But we also must work with God. As the late Urban “Terry” Holmes, an Episcopal priest and a professor at Sewanee’s St. Luke’s Seminary, said, God give us plenty of turning room, room to turn around in. However, God does expect us to turn away from our old life to a new life in Jesus, a new life in which Jesus is not just our Savior, he is also our Lord, a new life in which we do things Jesus’ way, not ours. We put away our old way of thinking and acting, our old way of living. We put away the grudges, the thoughts of revenge, the dishonesty, the cheating, the malicious gossip, the harsh unkind words, the name-calling, the belittling remarks, the quarrelsomeness, the outbursts of rage, the unreasonable demands, the deliberate cruelty, all the things that were our old self. We learn to be more loving, more patient, kinder, gentler, more like Jesus, all the things that Paul in his letter to the Galatians calls the “fruit of the Spirit.”

A worthwhile spiritual discipline is to regularly ask God to show us what areas of our lives we have not fully surrendered to Jesus, to his lordship over our lives. And then pray for grace to surrender that area of our life completely to Jesus and then take the steps that we need to take, trusting that God will indeed supply us with the grace for which we prayed.

One thing to remember is that God nudges. He does not nag. He will draw to our attention an area of our life where there is unrepented sin, where we are still rebelling against him. He will encourage us to turn around, to turn away from what we are doing, and to surrender that area of our life to Jesus.

God, however, will not beat us up over what we are doing. He will not tell us that we are worthless or beyond hope of his forgiveness. He will not suggest that we are incapable of changing.

The life of faith may be described as a life of constant turning. We turn away from what grieves God, from what saddens the heart of God. We turn to what he gives him joy. What makes God rejoice is seeing us become more and more like Jesus, living our lives Jesus’s way, living our lives in love, living our lives as God’s beloved children.

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear the Magnificat from Thomas Tallis’ Short Service.

My soul doth magnify the Lord:
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded:
the lowliness of his hand-maiden.

For behold, from henceforth:
all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me:
and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him:
throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm:
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat:
and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things:
and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel:
as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:
and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
world without end. Amen.

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 Steven C. Warner’s choral arrangement of the traditional Irish hymn “To Christ the Seed.”

To Christ, the seed,
to Christ, the harvest.
Into the barn of Christ
may we be brought.

To Christ the depths,
the fish, the oceans.
Into the nets of Christ
may we be caught.

From birthing through age,
from age to our parting,
Your two strong arms, O Christ,
be around us all.

From age to end –
not end, but birthing,
Into the House of Heaven
may we be called.

To Christ – be the harvest;
To Christ – his nets for us all,
Into the arms of Christ
may we be called.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

May our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our Father,
comfort our hearts and establish them
In every good work and word. Amen