All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (May 12, 2021)
Evening Prayer
The Service of LightJesus 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 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 Heather Sorenson’s choral arrangement of Psalm 121, “I Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills.”
I lift my eyes unto the hills,
the hills from where my help is come.
My help, it cometh from the Lord
Who made heaven,
heaven and earth.
I lift my eyes unto the hills,
the hills from where my help is come.
My help, it cometh from the Lord
Who made heaven,
heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved,
Neither will He sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper,
The Lord is thy shade.
The sun shall not smite thee by day;
the moon shall not smite thee by night.
The Lord shall protect thee from ev’ry evil.
He shall preserve thy soul,
The Lord shall protect thee from ev’ry evil.
He shall preserve thy soul
for-ever, for-ever,
for-ever, for-ever,
for-ever
He will preserve thy soul.
I lift my eyes unto the hills,
the hills from where my help is come.
My help, it cometh from the Lord
My help, it cometh from the Lord
My help, it cometh from the Lord
Who made heaven,
heaven and earth.
Amen, Amen.
Silence is kept.
Lord, ever watchful and faithful,
we look to you to be our defense
and we lift our hearts to know your help;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Elaine Hagenberg’s choral arrangement of Martin Luther’s hymn, “All Praise to Thee, Eternal God.”
All praise to Thee, Eternal God,
Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for Thy throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Thou comest in the darksome night
To make us children of the light;
To make us, in the realms divine,
Like Thine own angels round Thee shine.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
A little Child, Thou art our Guest,
That weary ones in Thee may rest;
Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth;
That we may rise to Heaven from earth.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia, Amen. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
Colossians 1: 15-23 The Supremacy of Christ
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in [or by] him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in [or by] him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled [or you have been reconciled] in his fleshly body [or in the body of his flesh] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.
Silence is kept
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
The Homily
Son of Man, Son of God
In today’s reading the apostle Paul is telling us that not only was Jesus truly human. but also Jesus was truly divine. Unlike the demi-gods of Roman and Greek mythology, who were part human and part divine, Jesus was fully God. “For in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. “
Colossae was an ancient city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, in southern Anatolia, which is a part of modern Turkey. The religious beliefs of its inhabitants were syncretic, combining the beliefs of Judaism, Gnosticism, and paganism. The Colossians venerated angels, particularly the Archangel Michael whom they believed had caused a healing spring to gush from a fissure in the earth. During Paul’s time Colossae was a part of what would become the Eastern Roman Empire.
The Colossians’ religious beliefs would have affected how the small Christian community in Colossae perceived Jesus. Paul’s aim was to clear up any misunderstandings. These misunderstandings would have ranged from the Jewish belief that Jesus was a prophet; the Gnostic belief that Jesus received an aeon, or emanation of God, at his baptism; to the pagan belief that Jesus was a demigod or a god in human guise. All these beliefs were at odds with the orthodox teaching of the gospel. Jesus, while fully human, is fully God. This is the point of today’s reading.
It was these beliefs and the belief systems of which they were a part, which were influential in Paul’s time and with which Paul contended in his ministry as an apostle. They would trouble the Christian Church in later centuries. They bedevil the Church today. A number of popular books published in recent years have renewed interest in them.
The LifeWay-Ligonier Ministries 2020 State of Theology survey reveals that a majority of adults in the United States now believe that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more. This includes many Christians. These books have helped to shape that way of thinking.
Why does it matter? In its summary of the survey’s findings Ligonier Ministries offers one explanation: Jesus “personally claimed to be the Son of God and equal with God (Matt. 11:27; Mark 14:61–62; John 10:33). That is why His enemies sought His death. The Bible and the historic creeds of the Christian church plainly declare that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. However, if Jesus’ claim to be God is false, then He was either delusional or deceptive, but He could not have been a great teacher.”
Indeed, Jesus’ teaching would be one voice among many voices clamoring for our attention, each claiming to represent the truth, in a world that views truth as relative. All opinions are equally right and equally wrong. Even the view that truth is relative by its own logic may be wrong.
There are two other reasons why this development should concern us. If Jesus was not fully human and fully God, his suffering and death on the cross did not reconcile us with God. It did not open to us the way of our salvation. We are still alienated from God. Only a Jesus who is truly human and truly God could affect a lasting reconciliation between God and us, which the Bible tells us is ours by grace through faith in Jesus. Only a Jesus who is both man and God could make it stick.
Jesus also claimed that his teaching came from God. He only said what the Father told him to say. His words were God’s words. The Bible upholds this claim.
If Jesus was just an itinerant preacher, a wandering sage, who got himself in hot water with the Jewish religious authorities, his teaching loses its heft. It carries no more weight than any other set of ideas or principles. It is not an expression of God’s grace toward us nor is it a channel of God’s grace to us. Its power to transform lives will not come from God but from ourselves, our own willingness to live according to its precepts.
Among the consequences are that we are free to do whatever we please, provided that the shifting values of our society do not prohibit it or condemn it. We can hate. We can despise. We can retaliate. We can exploit. We can abuse. We can do whatever is right in our own eyes, whatever is gratifying to us.
On the other hand, if Jesus had the relationship with God that he claimed and which the Bible maintains, it is different matter altogether. This brings us to a question that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Who do you say Jesus is?
The Bible tells us that to draw near to God, we must first believe that God exists. To enjoy the restored relationship with God, which God offers us by grace through faith in Jesus, to experience a transformed life, a good place to start is to believe that Jesus is whom he said that he was—Son of man, Son of God, God enfleshed as a human being.
It takes one simple act of faith, an act of faith that God is gently encouraging us to make, an act of faith that God is kindly enabling us to make. God is no high-powered salesman urging us to buy something that we do not need and do not want. God is love, love that would have us turn from sin and death and live, love that would see renewed in us the bright image of God, which we were created to be, children of light, walking in God’s marvelous light.
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Chaz Bower’s choral arrangement of “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness, Lord.”
My soul proclaims your greatness, Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
You looked upon my lowliness,
and I am full of grace.
Now ev’ry land and ev’ry age
this blessing shall proclaim—
great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To all who live in holy fear
Your mercy ever flows.
With mighty arm you dash the proud,
Their scheming hearts expose.
The ruthless you have cast aside,
the lowly throned instead;
the hungry filled with all good things,
the rich sent off unfed.
To Israel, your servant blest,
your help is ever sure;
the promise to our parents made
their children will secure.
Sing glory to the Holy One,
give honor to the Word,
and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,
one God, by all adored,
on God, by all adored.
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
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant that we may walk in his way,
rejoice in his truth,
and share his risen life;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for 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 Kathleen Thomerson’s hymn, “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light.”
I want to walk as a child of the light
I want to follow Jesus
God sent the stars to give light to the world
The star of my life is Jesus
In Him, there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The Lamb is the light of the city of God
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus
I want to see the brightness of God
I want to look at Jesus
Clear sun of righteousness, shine on my path
And show me the way to the Father
In Him, there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The Lamb is the light of the city of God
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus
I'm looking for the coming of Christ
I want to be with Jesus
When we have run with patience the race
We shall know the joy of Jesus
In Him, there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The Lamb is the light of the city of God
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus
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 Karen Schneider Kirner’s choral benediction, “From Age to Age.”
Bless to us, O Lord, the earth beneath our feet.
Bless to us, O Lord, the path on which we walk.
Bless to us, O Lord, the heart of our desires.
From age to age, eternally
may we find rest in you.
Bless to us this day and bless to us this night.
Bless to us our hands and bless our feet that dance.
Bless us with the dreams on which we set our hopes.
From age to age, eternally
may we find rest in you.
Bless to us the way that leads us back to you.
Bless to us the ones on which we set our love.
Bless us with the grace that leads us to your peace.
From age to age, eternally
may we find rest in you
On the other hand, if Jesus had the relationship with God that he claimed and which the Bible maintains, it is different matter altogether. This brings us to a question that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Who do you say Jesus is?
The Bible tells us that to draw near to God, we must first believe that God exists. To enjoy the restored relationship with God, which God offers us by grace through faith in Jesus, to experience a transformed life, a good place to start is to believe that Jesus is whom he said that he was—Son of man, Son of God, God enfleshed as a human being.
It takes one simple act of faith, an act of faith that God is gently encouraging us to make, an act of faith that God is kindly enabling us to make. God is no high-powered salesman urging us to buy something that we do not need and do not want. God is love, love that would have us turn from sin and death and live, love that would see renewed in us the bright image of God, which we were created to be, children of light, walking in God’s marvelous light.
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Chaz Bower’s choral arrangement of “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness, Lord.”
My soul proclaims your greatness, Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
You looked upon my lowliness,
and I am full of grace.
Now ev’ry land and ev’ry age
this blessing shall proclaim—
great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To all who live in holy fear
Your mercy ever flows.
With mighty arm you dash the proud,
Their scheming hearts expose.
The ruthless you have cast aside,
the lowly throned instead;
the hungry filled with all good things,
the rich sent off unfed.
To Israel, your servant blest,
your help is ever sure;
the promise to our parents made
their children will secure.
Sing glory to the Holy One,
give honor to the Word,
and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,
one God, by all adored,
on God, by all adored.
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
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant that we may walk in his way,
rejoice in his truth,
and share his risen life;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for 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 Kathleen Thomerson’s hymn, “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light.”
I want to walk as a child of the light
I want to follow Jesus
God sent the stars to give light to the world
The star of my life is Jesus
In Him, there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The Lamb is the light of the city of God
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus
I want to see the brightness of God
I want to look at Jesus
Clear sun of righteousness, shine on my path
And show me the way to the Father
In Him, there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The Lamb is the light of the city of God
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus
I'm looking for the coming of Christ
I want to be with Jesus
When we have run with patience the race
We shall know the joy of Jesus
In Him, there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The Lamb is the light of the city of God
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus
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 Karen Schneider Kirner’s choral benediction, “From Age to Age.”
Bless to us, O Lord, the earth beneath our feet.
Bless to us, O Lord, the path on which we walk.
Bless to us, O Lord, the heart of our desires.
From age to age, eternally
may we find rest in you.
Bless to us this day and bless to us this night.
Bless to us our hands and bless our feet that dance.
Bless us with the dreams on which we set our hopes.
From age to age, eternally
may we find rest in you.
Bless to us the way that leads us back to you.
Bless to us the ones on which we set our love.
Bless us with the grace that leads us to your peace.
From age to age, eternally
may we find rest in you
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