All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (March 17, 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 David von Kampen’s choral arrangement of “Joyous Light of Glory.”

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 the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy of being praised
with pure voices forever.
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
The universe proclaims your glory,
your glory, your glory.

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 arrangement 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 hear Donald Fishel’s choral arrangement of Psalm 91, “Be With Me, Lord.”

Refrain:
Be with me, Lord,
when I am in trouble.
Be with me, Lord.
Be with me, Lord,
when I am in trouble.
Be with me, Lord.

1 You who dwell in the shelter, in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in his shadow of the Almighty,
say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I trust.”
Refrain

2 No evil shall befall you, no evil shall befall you,
nor affliction come near, come near your tent,
for to his angels he has given command about you,
that they guard you in all your ways.
Refrain

3 Upon their hands, upon their hands,
they shall bear you up, bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the asp and the viper;
You shall trample down the lion and the dragon.
Refrain

4 Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high
because he acknowledges my name.
He shall call upon me,
and I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress;
I will deliver him and glorify him.
Refrain

Silence is kept.

Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
and, as you have bound us to yourself in love,
leave us not who call upon your name,
but grant us your salvation,
made known in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

Luke 19: 1-10 Jesus and Zacchaeus

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Silence is kept.

Homily

“Zacchaeus, Come Down!”

If you attended Sunday School as a kid, you may have sung the song, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.” I did not, I must confess, attend Sunday School as a kid. I was the odd duck among the youngsters in my church. When the other kids went off to Sunday School, I stayed with the adults and listened to the sermon. I was not coaxed into a Sunday School classroom until my second year in high school and then to teach a class of fourth graders. The Sunday School superintendent may have been looking for a babysitter for the class. Instead, she got a Bible teacher. I picked up a lot about teaching the Bible to elementary school children when I was in elementary school in England where children, when I was a youngster, began the day with a Bible lesson. I heard the Zacchaeus song for the first time when my nieces started to go to Sunday School.

Whenever I read today’s Bible reading, I have a mental image of Zacchaeus peering down at Jesus below him from the height of the sycamore tree. And Jesus looking up at Zacchaeus with a loving smile on his face. Salvation came to Zacchaeus’ house that day. Salvation in the person of Jesus. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

The story of Zacchaeus is a story of God’s grace. Zacchaeus must have heard the reports that preceded Jesus wherever he went. They would have reached the ears of a tax collector like Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus’ livelihood depended upon his knowledge of what was going on in the region surrounding Jericho where he collected taxes, upon his knowledge of other people’s business—whether they had a good crop or made a profit from a recent trading venture.

We may complain about taxes in our day, but in Jesus’ time people had a far less equitable tax system than we do today. Whoever governed a province would sell the right to collect taxes to private individuals. These individuals paid the taxes that the ruler had decided to levy on the people of the province and then they collected from the people what they had paid and more. Indeed, they gouged as much money from the people as they could. If someone did not come up with the money for their taxes, the tax collectors would seize their property or sell them, their wife, and their children into slavery. As a consequence, they were hated and despised by the general population. They were shunned by respectable people.

God was working in Zacchaeus’ heart when he began to experience a desire to see the one about whom he had been hearing reports. While Zacchaeus’ short stature may have prevented him from seeing Jesus on the account of the crowd surrounding Jesus, I suspect that the crowd would not have welcomed him in their midst if he had been taller. They would have barred his way and prevented him from seeing Jesus.

So Zacchaeus did not the next best thing. He climbed a sycamore tree that was on the path which Jesus would be taking. For a short man climbing a sycamore tree would have not been easy. Sycamore trees do not have branches low to the ground. They have thick, gnarled trunks like an olive tree. Zacchaeus would have gotten a lot of scrapes and bruises trying to climb up that tree. But he persisted and reached a branch where he could see Jesus through the sycamore tree’s heavy foliage.

When Jesus walked to the base of the sycamore tree and looked up at Zacchaeus, I have a suspicion that he already knew that Zacchaeus was there, perched on a branch. Indeed, God had given Zacchaeus the perseverance to climb the tree. The meeting between Jesus and Zacchaeus was God’s doing from the very start. Grace works that way. God had been preparing Zacchaeus’ heart for his encounter with Jesus.

Those who saw Jesus accompany Zacchaeus to his house complained. In the minds of those who saw Jesus going to Zacchaeus’ house, no self-respecting Jew, much less a rabbi, or teacher, would go to the house of a tax collector.

I can imagine their complaining. There is a lot of same kind of ill-tempered complaining on the internet today. People, including those who describe themselves as Christians, find fault with just about everything. They seem to have forgotten what Jesus told his disciples, “Be wise as serpents and peaceful as doves.”

I believe that we are on safe ground if we conclude that Jesus called Zacchaeus a “Son of Abraham,” not because of his decision to give half of his possessions to the poor and to pay back fourfold those whom he may have cheated, but because of the faith which underlay his decision. Zacchaeus, like Abraham, had put his trust in God, in God’s love and goodness. He had believed in Jesus and shown himself truly a “Son of Abraham.” And God’s grace, God himself working in his heart, had enabled him to do so.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to be his ambassadors to the world, to be his representatives. God is going to put Zacchaeuses in our path too—people whom some folks do not think are respectable, men and women who are struggling with alcohol or drug addiction or both; people who have been in jail; men and women who do not have a job or a roof over their heads; people who do not look like us or speak like us or eat the same kind of food that we eat; women who are living with a man who is not their husband or their kids’ father, people who one way or another do not fit into our tribe. As Jesus’ representatives we are called to show them compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and generosity—but not in a condescending way as if we are better than they are or superior to them. After all, we are Zacchaeuses too, sinners in need of grace. Unlike Zacchaeus we may have not run ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, but like Zacchaeus we need the power of God’s presence in our lives. We need God’s mercy and his forgiveness.

As I was reminded by a video that I watched earlier today, we are beggars telling other beggars where they can find bread. On second thought, we are not just beggars telling other beggars where they can find bread, we are beggars who are sharing what bread we have been given with other beggars like ourselves. God shows grace to us so that we may show grace to others.

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear Richard Hillert’s choral arrangement of the Magnificat.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior;

For He has regarded
the low estate of His handmaiden.

For behold henceforth
all generations will call me blessed.

For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name;

And His mercy is on those who fear Him
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones
and has exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent empty away.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy
as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
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 (of blessed Patrick, 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,
in your providence you chose your servant Patrick
to be the apostle of the Irish people,
to bring those wandering in darkness and error
to the true light and knowledge of your Word:
Grant that walking in that light
we may come at last to the light of everlasting life;
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 in a new tab to hear Dwight Beal’s “Hymn of St. Patrick.”

Christ be with me and within me
Christ behind me and before
Christ beside me and to win me
Christ to comfort and restore

Christ beneath me and above me
Christ in quiet and in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger

Christ be with me and within me
Christ behind me and before
Christ beside me and to win me
Christ to comfort and restore

Christ beneath me and above me
Christ in quiet and in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger

Christ in every heart that’s broken
Christ in every joy and pain
Christ in every word that’s spoken
Christ in sun and moon and rain

Christ in resting and in rising
Christ the Lord of all my life
Christ to guide me and to shield me
Christ protecting me in strife

[Instrumental Interlude]

Christ be with me and within me
Christ behind me and before
Christ beside me and to win me
Christ to comfort and restore

Christ beneath me and above me
Christ in quiet and in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger

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

Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s choral arrangement of Adam Tice’s “May God Keep and Bless You.”

May God keep and bless you,
and nothing distress you.
May God guard and guide you,
and friends walk beside you.

May God’s arms surround you,
and fear not confound you.
May God’s light shine through you,
and night not subdue you.

As you sleep and wake
may your prayers arise
as love songs for God,
whose love never dies,
whose love never dies.