All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (April 28, 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 Carl P. Daw Jr.’s evening hymn, “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.
Blessed are you, O Lord Redeemer God,
You destroyed the bonds of death
and from the darkness of the tomb
drew forth the light of the world.
Led through the waters of death.
we become the children of light
singing our Alleluia
and dancing to the music of new life.
Pour out your Spirit upon us
that dreams and visions bring us
ever closer to the kingdom
of Jesus Christ our Risen Savior.
Through him and in the Holy Spirit
all glory be to you, Almighty Father,
this night and for ever and ever.
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 in a new tab to hear Luke Mayernik’s responsorial setting of Psalm 113, "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord."
Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, for ever.
1 Praise, you servants of the Lord
praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord
both now and for ever.
Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, for ever.
2 From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the Lord to be praised.
High above all the nations is the Lord;
above the heavens is his glory.
Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, for ever.
3 Who is like the Lord, our God,
who is enthroned on high
and looks upon the heavens
and the earth below?
Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, for ever.
4 He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
to seat them with princes,
with princes of his own people.
Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, for ever.
Silence is kept.
Lord Jesus, surrendering the brightness of your glory, you became mortal so that we might be raised from the dust to share your very being. May the children of God always bless your name from the rising of the sun to its going down, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
Ephesians 2: 1-10 From Death to Life
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Silence is kept
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
The Homily
Created for Good Works
We were created to do good. Doing good was from the very beginning meant to be our way of life. We cannot, however, do good without God’s grace going beforehand.
Out of his great love for us God enables us not only to believe in Jesus and have eternal life but also to do good, to do what is pleasing to God. Just as our salvation is God’s doing so is the good that we do. Like our salvation, it is a gift from God.
We cannot earn gold stars from God for doing good. Doing good will not affect our salvation one smidgen. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. It is God who has put things right between God and us, not we ourselves.
What is translated in the NRSV as “good works,” can also be translated as “good deeds.” What are the good deeds that God has intended from the beginning should be our way of life? To answer this question, we need to study what Jesus taught and epitomized and what the apostles taught, where they echo Jesus’ teaching in their own teaching and lay stress on his example.
Here are some conclusions that I have drawn from my own study of their teaching. They do not provide a shopping list of “good deeds” from which we can pick. However, they do offer some guiding principles.
God created us to be “do-gooders.” The term “do-gooder” has acquired a pejorative sense but that is what God created us to be—do-gooders. We are to devote our lives to doing good. As disciples of Jesus, we are to emulate Jesus. As the apostle Peter told the centurion Cornelius and his close friends and relatives who had gathered to hear Peter:
You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. (Acts 10: 36-38, NRSV)
Jesus did good because it was part of his mission. He was showing the mercifulness of God. He did good because it was also his nature, the nature of the Son of God enfleshed as a human being. As Jesus’ disciples we are not only expected to keep his words and obey his teaching but also to do what he did—to follow his example.
In the sermon on the mountain Jesus appears to contradict himself. Early in the sermon Jesus says
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, NRSV)
Later on in the sermon Jesus tell those who had flocked to hear him,
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6: 1-4, NRSV)
There is, however, no contradiction between what he said earlier and what he says in this passage. What Jesus is telling us is motivations matter. Doing good should be such an integral part of ourselves that it is evident to everyone. A city on a hill can be seen from a great distance. In the time of Jesus it would have been visible even at night due to the many lamps in the houses and the watch fires on the city wall. It would have stood out against the sky. A lamp, when it is lit, fills a dark room with light. In a city neighborhood or a rural community Christians should have a reputation of helping others and doing good. The people of the neighborhood or the community should be overheard saying, “Jesus is really making a difference in the lives of those folks. They are blessing to the neighborhood (or community).”
In this passage Jesus is warning his disciples and the crowd gathered to hear him against parading their good deeds in front of others in order to draw attention to themselves, to win the praise and adulation of others. Whether Jesus was speaking tongue-in-cheek or referring to actual practice, Jesus warned them not to blow a trumpet in the synagogue or the street like the hypocrites when they gave alms to the poor. Giving alms to the poor was a religious obligation, not an act of kindness. Almsgiving was one of the religious duties of a devote Jew. The hypocrites to whom Jesus refers were the Pharisees and the scribes who went to great lengths to make a public display of their piety. When they tithed, prayed, and fasted, they made a big production of it. While they were overly-scrupulous in their observance of the minutia of the regulations and traditions of the Jewish religion, they were singularly lacking in what Jesus taught God desired most from us—mercy.
This does not mean that we cannot use crowdfunding or point other people to a need that they can help meet. It does not mean that we cannot promote a worthy cause. It does mean that we should weigh our motives whenever we do good. At the same time, we should not let any hesitancy over our motives prevent us from doing good. We can overthink our motives. There are spiritual forces which are opposed to God and which are working in the world that would dissuade us from doing good. They will exploit our uncertainty, our doubt, and our tendency to beat ourselves up over the littlest things.
When it comes to doing good, Jesus made no distinction between the deserving and the undeserving, a distinction which we may be prone to make ourselves. In his teaching about loving our enemies and the Parable of the Good Samaritan he makes the point that we should do good to others irrespective of whether they are deserving in our minds.
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48 NRSV)
In his letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul puts it this way. “…and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 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." (Ephesians 4: 32 -5:2, NRSV)
God shows us his favor and goodwill because he is choses to do so. It is not because we merit God’s favor and good will or deserve it or are worthy of it in any way. Nor is it because we have somehow earned it. It is God’s wish, God’s desire, God’s intent. We call this unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor and goodwill that God shows us grace. Jesus taught that since God is gracious toward us, we should also be gracious to others.
God’s grace takes various forms. It takes the form of God’s influence working in us, in others, and in the world. It takes the form of the power of God’s presence transforming our lives and the lives of others. It takes the form of the nudging of the Holy Spirit encouraging and urging us to do what is pleasing to God. It takes the form of Jesus’ teaching and example which shows us how we can please God. It takes the form of the good that we do ourselves. We are not just the beneficiaries of God’s grace, but we are also the instruments of God’s grace. We are the means whereby God works in the lives of others and in the world while working in our own lives. When we do good, we are furthering God’s purposes.
The good that we do should be pleasing to God. It should honor and glorify God. It is not to please us, to please others, or to please the world. Here we need to turn to the Scriptures for guidance, to the teaching and example of Jesus and to the teaching of the apostles. While it may not be particular to our times, what we are seeing today is Christians doing what they believe is good, but which has little to do with what Jesus taught and exemplified, with what the apostles echoed in their teaching. For example, Christians are going online; sparing with other Christians; using harsh, unkind words; egging their fellow Christians and others on in taking dangerous or unwise actions; and stirring up enmity and ill feeling when they should be pursuing reconciliation and healing. We are all susceptible to this temptation. It is, however, not the work of the Holy Spirit. God does not tempt us to do evil. It is the prompting of our sinful human nature, a fallen world, and a busy devil.
One thing that we should not forget in our desire to do good in our needy, suffering world is that the overriding purpose of Jesus’ mission was to put things right between God and us. There are many ways that we can do good in the world: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the prisoner, welcome the stranger and the sojourner in our midst, oppose human trafficking; be an advocate for women and children, the elderly and the disabled; champion the downtrodden. We can embrace these and other worthy causes. But in our desire to do good we should not neglect the souls of those to whom we are seeking to do good. We should not overlook their need for Jesus. Among the good works that God has prepared for us to walk in, to be our way of life, is to point other people to Jesus. Both rich and poor need Jesus. Both great and small. Both young and old. They may not recognize their need for him, but they need him nonetheless. It is a need that we should seek to do all we can not to leave unmet.
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear the Carl P. Daw Jr. 's paraphrase of the Magnificat, "My Soul Proclaims with Wonder."
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
O God,
whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people:
help us when we hear his voice
to know him who calls us each by name,
and to follow where leads;
who with you and the Holy Spirit
Ives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
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 hymn, “Christ Has No Body Now But Yours.”
Refrain
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands but yours.
Here on this earth yours is the work,
to serve with the joy of compassion.
No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,
no hands but yours to sooth all its suffering,
no touch but yours
to bind the broken hope of the people of God.
Refrain
No eyes to see as Christ would see,
to find the lost, to gaze with compassion;
no eyes but yours
to glimpse the holy joy of the city of God
Refrain
No feet but yours to journey with the poor,
to walk this world with mercy and justice.
Yours are the steps
to build a lasting peace for the children of God.
Refrain
Through every gift, give back to those in need:
as Christ has blessed so now be his blessing,
with every gift a benediction
be to the people of God.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
May the God of peace, who brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make us perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in us what is pleasing in his sight.
Amen.
Out of his great love for us God enables us not only to believe in Jesus and have eternal life but also to do good, to do what is pleasing to God. Just as our salvation is God’s doing so is the good that we do. Like our salvation, it is a gift from God.
We cannot earn gold stars from God for doing good. Doing good will not affect our salvation one smidgen. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. It is God who has put things right between God and us, not we ourselves.
What is translated in the NRSV as “good works,” can also be translated as “good deeds.” What are the good deeds that God has intended from the beginning should be our way of life? To answer this question, we need to study what Jesus taught and epitomized and what the apostles taught, where they echo Jesus’ teaching in their own teaching and lay stress on his example.
Here are some conclusions that I have drawn from my own study of their teaching. They do not provide a shopping list of “good deeds” from which we can pick. However, they do offer some guiding principles.
God created us to be “do-gooders.” The term “do-gooder” has acquired a pejorative sense but that is what God created us to be—do-gooders. We are to devote our lives to doing good. As disciples of Jesus, we are to emulate Jesus. As the apostle Peter told the centurion Cornelius and his close friends and relatives who had gathered to hear Peter:
You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. (Acts 10: 36-38, NRSV)
Jesus did good because it was part of his mission. He was showing the mercifulness of God. He did good because it was also his nature, the nature of the Son of God enfleshed as a human being. As Jesus’ disciples we are not only expected to keep his words and obey his teaching but also to do what he did—to follow his example.
In the sermon on the mountain Jesus appears to contradict himself. Early in the sermon Jesus says
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16, NRSV)
Later on in the sermon Jesus tell those who had flocked to hear him,
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6: 1-4, NRSV)
There is, however, no contradiction between what he said earlier and what he says in this passage. What Jesus is telling us is motivations matter. Doing good should be such an integral part of ourselves that it is evident to everyone. A city on a hill can be seen from a great distance. In the time of Jesus it would have been visible even at night due to the many lamps in the houses and the watch fires on the city wall. It would have stood out against the sky. A lamp, when it is lit, fills a dark room with light. In a city neighborhood or a rural community Christians should have a reputation of helping others and doing good. The people of the neighborhood or the community should be overheard saying, “Jesus is really making a difference in the lives of those folks. They are blessing to the neighborhood (or community).”
In this passage Jesus is warning his disciples and the crowd gathered to hear him against parading their good deeds in front of others in order to draw attention to themselves, to win the praise and adulation of others. Whether Jesus was speaking tongue-in-cheek or referring to actual practice, Jesus warned them not to blow a trumpet in the synagogue or the street like the hypocrites when they gave alms to the poor. Giving alms to the poor was a religious obligation, not an act of kindness. Almsgiving was one of the religious duties of a devote Jew. The hypocrites to whom Jesus refers were the Pharisees and the scribes who went to great lengths to make a public display of their piety. When they tithed, prayed, and fasted, they made a big production of it. While they were overly-scrupulous in their observance of the minutia of the regulations and traditions of the Jewish religion, they were singularly lacking in what Jesus taught God desired most from us—mercy.
This does not mean that we cannot use crowdfunding or point other people to a need that they can help meet. It does not mean that we cannot promote a worthy cause. It does mean that we should weigh our motives whenever we do good. At the same time, we should not let any hesitancy over our motives prevent us from doing good. We can overthink our motives. There are spiritual forces which are opposed to God and which are working in the world that would dissuade us from doing good. They will exploit our uncertainty, our doubt, and our tendency to beat ourselves up over the littlest things.
When it comes to doing good, Jesus made no distinction between the deserving and the undeserving, a distinction which we may be prone to make ourselves. In his teaching about loving our enemies and the Parable of the Good Samaritan he makes the point that we should do good to others irrespective of whether they are deserving in our minds.
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48 NRSV)
In his letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul puts it this way. “…and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 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." (Ephesians 4: 32 -5:2, NRSV)
God shows us his favor and goodwill because he is choses to do so. It is not because we merit God’s favor and good will or deserve it or are worthy of it in any way. Nor is it because we have somehow earned it. It is God’s wish, God’s desire, God’s intent. We call this unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor and goodwill that God shows us grace. Jesus taught that since God is gracious toward us, we should also be gracious to others.
God’s grace takes various forms. It takes the form of God’s influence working in us, in others, and in the world. It takes the form of the power of God’s presence transforming our lives and the lives of others. It takes the form of the nudging of the Holy Spirit encouraging and urging us to do what is pleasing to God. It takes the form of Jesus’ teaching and example which shows us how we can please God. It takes the form of the good that we do ourselves. We are not just the beneficiaries of God’s grace, but we are also the instruments of God’s grace. We are the means whereby God works in the lives of others and in the world while working in our own lives. When we do good, we are furthering God’s purposes.
The good that we do should be pleasing to God. It should honor and glorify God. It is not to please us, to please others, or to please the world. Here we need to turn to the Scriptures for guidance, to the teaching and example of Jesus and to the teaching of the apostles. While it may not be particular to our times, what we are seeing today is Christians doing what they believe is good, but which has little to do with what Jesus taught and exemplified, with what the apostles echoed in their teaching. For example, Christians are going online; sparing with other Christians; using harsh, unkind words; egging their fellow Christians and others on in taking dangerous or unwise actions; and stirring up enmity and ill feeling when they should be pursuing reconciliation and healing. We are all susceptible to this temptation. It is, however, not the work of the Holy Spirit. God does not tempt us to do evil. It is the prompting of our sinful human nature, a fallen world, and a busy devil.
One thing that we should not forget in our desire to do good in our needy, suffering world is that the overriding purpose of Jesus’ mission was to put things right between God and us. There are many ways that we can do good in the world: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the prisoner, welcome the stranger and the sojourner in our midst, oppose human trafficking; be an advocate for women and children, the elderly and the disabled; champion the downtrodden. We can embrace these and other worthy causes. But in our desire to do good we should not neglect the souls of those to whom we are seeking to do good. We should not overlook their need for Jesus. Among the good works that God has prepared for us to walk in, to be our way of life, is to point other people to Jesus. Both rich and poor need Jesus. Both great and small. Both young and old. They may not recognize their need for him, but they need him nonetheless. It is a need that we should seek to do all we can not to leave unmet.
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear the Carl P. Daw Jr. 's paraphrase of the Magnificat, "My Soul Proclaims with Wonder."
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
O God,
whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people:
help us when we hear his voice
to know him who calls us each by name,
and to follow where leads;
who with you and the Holy Spirit
Ives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
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 hymn, “Christ Has No Body Now But Yours.”
Refrain
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands but yours.
Here on this earth yours is the work,
to serve with the joy of compassion.
No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,
no hands but yours to sooth all its suffering,
no touch but yours
to bind the broken hope of the people of God.
Refrain
No eyes to see as Christ would see,
to find the lost, to gaze with compassion;
no eyes but yours
to glimpse the holy joy of the city of God
Refrain
No feet but yours to journey with the poor,
to walk this world with mercy and justice.
Yours are the steps
to build a lasting peace for the children of God.
Refrain
Through every gift, give back to those in need:
as Christ has blessed so now be his blessing,
with every gift a benediction
be to the people of God.
Refrain
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
May the God of peace, who brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
the great shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make us perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in us what is pleasing in his sight.
Amen.
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