All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (May 1, 2021)
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 4: 1-16 The Unity of the Body of Christ
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”
(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Silence is kept
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
The Homily
New Testament scholars are divided over whether the letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul himself, dictated by Paul to one of his followers, or written by one of Paul’s followers after his death. They are also divided over whether the letter was originally written to the church at Ephesus or for general circulation. On one thing they do agree. Whoever wrote the letter beautifully sums up Paul’s teaching in the letter.
The Bible can be compared to a quilt that different quilters worked on at different times, each quilter working on a block of the quilt. A quilt is a bed cover made in three layers that are sewn together. The top layer is assembled from small pieces of fabric to form a pattern. While different quilters worked on each block at a different time and several quilters may have worked on the same block at different times, one Person oversaw and guided what they were doing, determined what got put into the quilt and what got left out. That one Person was the Holy Spirit.
It does not matter if the letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul himself, dictated to a disciple, or written by a disciple following his death, what got written, what got recognized as "God-breathed," and what got accepted as canonical Scripture is what the Holy Spirit intended should be in the Bible. We may not fathom why a passage is in the Bible, but it is there for a reason even if we cannot grasp what that reason is.
Some people ask what is the point of all the genealogies in the Old Testament? They do make any difference to us now. I read about one people group in Southeast Asia or the Pacific, who showed little interest in the Bible and the Christian faith until a missionary translated the genealogies in the Old Testament into their native tongue. This particular people group set great store in genealogies. When they discovered that there were genealogies in the Bible, it was like turning on a light switch. Their whole attitude toward the Bible and the Christian faith changed. Who is to say that the genealogies were not put in the Bible to be catalyst for that people group to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord?
Every part of the Bible is in the Bible for a reason. It may frustrate us at times because we cannot figure out the reason but there is a reason for it being in the Bible. Sometimes we wish that the Bible provided more details. What is written down, however, is all that is necessary for achieving God’s purposes. There is a master pattern to the Bible just as there is a master pattern even to a crazy quilt. In its seeming randomness there is a design.
Now the statement that I just made may make some of us uncomfortable. There are things in the Bible with which we are uneasy and things which we may dislike. There are things that challenge our belief. I do not rule out that they may be in the Bible for that very purpose.
When reading the Bible and we come across something that we do not understand and is disconcerting us, my advice is to keep reading and get the bigger picture and not to focus on a few passages that unsettle us. A part of Jesus’ mission was to put us straight about God’s character, to clear up any misconceptions that we might have. For example, the Pharisees and the scribes against whom Jesus warned his disciples and the multitude believed that they could fob off God with their strict adherence to the ritual laws and regulations of the Jewish religion. God would be satisfied with their outward conduct and would pay no attention to the inward leanings of their hearts. They were wrong. This is a temptation into which we still fall.
Today’s reading focuses on the unity of the gathered church, the local manifestation of the Body of Christ. All who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit are united to Jesus and to each other and form the Body of Christ. They share a mystical union with Jesus and each other. In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul called to the attention of the church at Corinth that its members were the temple of Holy Spirit, not individually but collectively. The whole congregation was the Holy Spirit’s temple.
The Jews believed that the inner sanctuary of Temple in Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies was God’s dwelling place. They realized that God did not solely occupy that one spot. However, it was “the” point of contact for them with God. For the Jews the world centered on the Temple.
Paul is telling the Corinthians that the local gathering of believers in the Holy Spirit’s temple, God’s dwelling place. The mystical union that they share with Jesus and each other is also a mystical union with God. The Holy Spirit is God himself indwelling the believer.
In sacramental terms the local church, the local gathering of believers, the “congregation of the faithful,” as the Thirty-Nine Articles describes that gathering, is a visible sign of an invisible reality. It can be a means of grace not only the believers forming the local church but to their community and beyond.
The author of the letter to the Ephesians begins today’s reading with these words, “I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love, and peace are what Paul calls “fruit of the spirit” in his letter to the Galatians.
Too often the local church exhibits what Paul calls the “works of the flesh” in the same letter—"fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” You may be thinking to yourself, “Not in my church!” But if we are honest with ourselves a lot of that has been going on in local churches in the last few years. Those who call themselves Christians have not been living lives worthy of the calling to which they claim to have been called. They have not been living in a manner worthy of the gospel. Today’s reading speaks to our time as much as it did to the time in which was written if not more so.
In addition to urging believers to live lives that are worthy of their calling, living together in unity and godly love, today’s reading draws to our attention that all believers share the same anointing of the Holy Spirit. No believer has a special anointing that sets them apart from other believers in the local church, in the Body of Christ in its local manifestation. The different ways the Holy Spirit makes his presence known in us, the “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” as Paul calls them in the first letter to the Corinthians, are not gifts to the individual believer. They are gifts to the local church. They are expressions of God’s grace—the power of God’s presence working in the local church. They are gifts given to build up the local church to the end that all believers in the local church “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” They become the kind of disciples of Jesus that God has been working in them to make them.
If a local church is not producing that kind of disciple, something has gone wrong in that church. As Jesus himself drew to the attention of his disciples and the crowds that flocked to hear him, a tree is known by its fruit. A healthy tree bears abundant fruit. An unhealthy tree bears little or no fruit. There is a good chance that the members of the church may not have been adequately or properly discipled. They may have not received the right kind of teaching. They may have not received the right kind of spiritual guidance and direction. This is apt to happen when members of the congregation are encouraged to see the clergy as the ministers of the church and themselves as helpers of the clergy rather than see themselves as ministers in their own right who have primary responsibility for the work of ministry of the local church, and the clergy as trainers and coaches who equip them for that responsibility.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not given to create a separate class of believers in the local church, a class of believers that is superior to the other believers in the church, a class of believers who are meant to rule over the local church, act as go-betweens for the local church with God; to dispense God’s grace to the local church on his behalf. As Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, no member of the Body of Christ can claim to be more valuable or more important than the other members of the Body of Christ. The New Testament recognizes only one priesthood beside Jesus’. It is the priesthood of all believers.
Today’s reading further draws to our attention that when all the members of the Body of Christ in its local manifestation are working properly, they will support and encourage the growth of the whole body. They will build up the body in love. They will work together to see that everyone attains the maturity in Christ that is God’s desire for them.
This points to the need for the good stewardship of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has given to a local church, to encourage their use not only in the church but also outside the church. God will give gifts that can be used to build connections with the community and to conduct various ministries in the community. These gifts will also further the growth of the whole body as it reaches and engages the community, showing and sharing the love of Jesus.
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
Saving God,
who called your Church to witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be reconciled to you;
through him who died for us and rose again
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. 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 John S. Foley’s hymn, “One Bread, One Body.”
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
Gentile or Jew,
servant or free,
woman or man
no more.
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
Many the gifts,
many the works,
one in the Lord
of all.
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
Grain for the fields,
scattered and grown,
gathered to one
for all.
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
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.
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 4: 1-16 The Unity of the Body of Christ
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”
(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Silence is kept
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
The Homily
Spiritual Body Building
New Testament scholars are divided over whether the letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul himself, dictated by Paul to one of his followers, or written by one of Paul’s followers after his death. They are also divided over whether the letter was originally written to the church at Ephesus or for general circulation. On one thing they do agree. Whoever wrote the letter beautifully sums up Paul’s teaching in the letter.
The Bible can be compared to a quilt that different quilters worked on at different times, each quilter working on a block of the quilt. A quilt is a bed cover made in three layers that are sewn together. The top layer is assembled from small pieces of fabric to form a pattern. While different quilters worked on each block at a different time and several quilters may have worked on the same block at different times, one Person oversaw and guided what they were doing, determined what got put into the quilt and what got left out. That one Person was the Holy Spirit.
It does not matter if the letter to the Ephesians was written by Paul himself, dictated to a disciple, or written by a disciple following his death, what got written, what got recognized as "God-breathed," and what got accepted as canonical Scripture is what the Holy Spirit intended should be in the Bible. We may not fathom why a passage is in the Bible, but it is there for a reason even if we cannot grasp what that reason is.
Some people ask what is the point of all the genealogies in the Old Testament? They do make any difference to us now. I read about one people group in Southeast Asia or the Pacific, who showed little interest in the Bible and the Christian faith until a missionary translated the genealogies in the Old Testament into their native tongue. This particular people group set great store in genealogies. When they discovered that there were genealogies in the Bible, it was like turning on a light switch. Their whole attitude toward the Bible and the Christian faith changed. Who is to say that the genealogies were not put in the Bible to be catalyst for that people group to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord?
Every part of the Bible is in the Bible for a reason. It may frustrate us at times because we cannot figure out the reason but there is a reason for it being in the Bible. Sometimes we wish that the Bible provided more details. What is written down, however, is all that is necessary for achieving God’s purposes. There is a master pattern to the Bible just as there is a master pattern even to a crazy quilt. In its seeming randomness there is a design.
Now the statement that I just made may make some of us uncomfortable. There are things in the Bible with which we are uneasy and things which we may dislike. There are things that challenge our belief. I do not rule out that they may be in the Bible for that very purpose.
When reading the Bible and we come across something that we do not understand and is disconcerting us, my advice is to keep reading and get the bigger picture and not to focus on a few passages that unsettle us. A part of Jesus’ mission was to put us straight about God’s character, to clear up any misconceptions that we might have. For example, the Pharisees and the scribes against whom Jesus warned his disciples and the multitude believed that they could fob off God with their strict adherence to the ritual laws and regulations of the Jewish religion. God would be satisfied with their outward conduct and would pay no attention to the inward leanings of their hearts. They were wrong. This is a temptation into which we still fall.
Today’s reading focuses on the unity of the gathered church, the local manifestation of the Body of Christ. All who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit are united to Jesus and to each other and form the Body of Christ. They share a mystical union with Jesus and each other. In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul called to the attention of the church at Corinth that its members were the temple of Holy Spirit, not individually but collectively. The whole congregation was the Holy Spirit’s temple.
The Jews believed that the inner sanctuary of Temple in Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies was God’s dwelling place. They realized that God did not solely occupy that one spot. However, it was “the” point of contact for them with God. For the Jews the world centered on the Temple.
Paul is telling the Corinthians that the local gathering of believers in the Holy Spirit’s temple, God’s dwelling place. The mystical union that they share with Jesus and each other is also a mystical union with God. The Holy Spirit is God himself indwelling the believer.
In sacramental terms the local church, the local gathering of believers, the “congregation of the faithful,” as the Thirty-Nine Articles describes that gathering, is a visible sign of an invisible reality. It can be a means of grace not only the believers forming the local church but to their community and beyond.
The author of the letter to the Ephesians begins today’s reading with these words, “I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love, and peace are what Paul calls “fruit of the spirit” in his letter to the Galatians.
Too often the local church exhibits what Paul calls the “works of the flesh” in the same letter—"fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” You may be thinking to yourself, “Not in my church!” But if we are honest with ourselves a lot of that has been going on in local churches in the last few years. Those who call themselves Christians have not been living lives worthy of the calling to which they claim to have been called. They have not been living in a manner worthy of the gospel. Today’s reading speaks to our time as much as it did to the time in which was written if not more so.
In addition to urging believers to live lives that are worthy of their calling, living together in unity and godly love, today’s reading draws to our attention that all believers share the same anointing of the Holy Spirit. No believer has a special anointing that sets them apart from other believers in the local church, in the Body of Christ in its local manifestation. The different ways the Holy Spirit makes his presence known in us, the “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” as Paul calls them in the first letter to the Corinthians, are not gifts to the individual believer. They are gifts to the local church. They are expressions of God’s grace—the power of God’s presence working in the local church. They are gifts given to build up the local church to the end that all believers in the local church “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” They become the kind of disciples of Jesus that God has been working in them to make them.
If a local church is not producing that kind of disciple, something has gone wrong in that church. As Jesus himself drew to the attention of his disciples and the crowds that flocked to hear him, a tree is known by its fruit. A healthy tree bears abundant fruit. An unhealthy tree bears little or no fruit. There is a good chance that the members of the church may not have been adequately or properly discipled. They may have not received the right kind of teaching. They may have not received the right kind of spiritual guidance and direction. This is apt to happen when members of the congregation are encouraged to see the clergy as the ministers of the church and themselves as helpers of the clergy rather than see themselves as ministers in their own right who have primary responsibility for the work of ministry of the local church, and the clergy as trainers and coaches who equip them for that responsibility.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not given to create a separate class of believers in the local church, a class of believers that is superior to the other believers in the church, a class of believers who are meant to rule over the local church, act as go-betweens for the local church with God; to dispense God’s grace to the local church on his behalf. As Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, no member of the Body of Christ can claim to be more valuable or more important than the other members of the Body of Christ. The New Testament recognizes only one priesthood beside Jesus’. It is the priesthood of all believers.
Today’s reading further draws to our attention that when all the members of the Body of Christ in its local manifestation are working properly, they will support and encourage the growth of the whole body. They will build up the body in love. They will work together to see that everyone attains the maturity in Christ that is God’s desire for them.
This points to the need for the good stewardship of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has given to a local church, to encourage their use not only in the church but also outside the church. God will give gifts that can be used to build connections with the community and to conduct various ministries in the community. These gifts will also further the growth of the whole body as it reaches and engages the community, showing and sharing the love of Jesus.
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
Saving God,
who called your Church to witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be reconciled to you;
through him who died for us and rose again
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. 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 John S. Foley’s hymn, “One Bread, One Body.”
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
Gentile or Jew,
servant or free,
woman or man
no more.
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
Many the gifts,
many the works,
one in the Lord
of all.
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
Grain for the fields,
scattered and grown,
gathered to one
for all.
One bread, one body,
one Lord of all,
one cup of blessing
which we bless.
And we, though many,
throughout the earth,
we are one body
in this one Lord.
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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