All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (June 16, 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 Rufino Zaragoza’s hymn, “Radiant Light Hymn.”

Radiant Light Divine,
shine throughout this night.
Jesus, Holy One,
praise to you our Light.
As the daylight fades,
and come eventide,
dwell among us, Holy Fire.

Cristo,
Luz del mundo,
Luz y Amor.
Cristo,
Luz del mundo,
Luz y Amor.

Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

We praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe!
Your word brings on the dusk of evening,
your wisdom creates both night and day.
You determine the cycles of time,
arrange the succession of the seasons,
and establish the stars in their heavenly courses.
Lord of the starry hosts is your name.
Living and eternal God,
rule over us always.
Blessed be the Lord,
whose word makes evening fall.
Amen.

Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Tony Alonso’s responsorial setting of Psalm 141, “Like Burning Incense, O Lord.”

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

1 I call out to you,
Come quickly to my aid.
My song cries out to you,
O listen to me now.
I raise my hands in off’ring to you.

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

2 Let me speak your truth;
watch over all I say.
Keep my thoughts on you;
let goodness rule my heart.
Keep me far from those who do harm.

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

3 Never let me dine
with those who seek to harm.
Keep your holy ones
always at my side.
Plant your wisdom deep in my soul.

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

4 I look to you for help;
I seek your loving eyes.
Guard my life for you;
Spare me from all wrong.
Keep all evil far from my heart.

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

5 Glory be to God
and to God’s only Son,
glory to the Spirit,
three in one,
now and for ever. Amen.

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

Silence is kept.

Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before you, O Lord, and let your loving kindness descend upon us, that with purified minds we may sing your praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host, and may glorify you forever and ever. Amen.

The Psalms

Open this link in a new tab to hear Thomas Keesecker’s arrangement of Carl P. Daw Jr.’s paraphrase of Psalm 84, “How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place” for SAB choir, organ, and optional assembly.

How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!

How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!
My thirsty soul desires and longs
within thy courts to be;
my very heart and flesh cry out,
O living God, for thee.

How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!

Beside thine altars, gracious Lord,
the swallows find a nest;
how happy they who dwell with thee
and praise thee without rest,
and happy they whose hearts are set
upon the pilgrim's quest.

How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!

They who go through the desert vale
will find it filled with springs,
and they shall climb from height to height
till Zion's temple rings
with praise to thee, in glory throned,
Lord God, great King of kings.

How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!

One day within thy courts excels
a thousand spent away;
how happy they who keep thy laws
nor from thy precepts stray,
for thou shalt surely bless all those
who live the words they pray.

How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts, to me!
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of Hosts! Amen!

Silence is kept.

Lord God,
sustain us in this vale of tears
with the vision of your grace and glory,
that, strengthened by the bread of life,
we may come to your eternal dwelling place;
in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Open this link a new tab to hear Handt Hanson’s “Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil.”

Lord, let my heart be good soil,
open to the seed of your Word.
Lord, let my heart be good soil,
where love can grow and peace is understood.
When my heart is hard,
break the stone away.
When my heart is cold,
warm it with the day.
When my heart is lost,
lead me on your way.
Lord, let my heart,
Lord, let my heart,
Lord, let my heart be good soil.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

Mark 4: 13-23 The Parable of the Sower

And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away [or stumble]. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.

The Homily

How We Become Good Soil

Jesus used parables not just to illustrate what he was teaching but to challenge his listeners to think about what he was saying. He took common everyday things from the lives of his audience and turned them into brief stories.

Jesus also used figurative language—figures of speech like similes and metaphors—to get across the point that he was making. A simile is “a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind.” Similes “uses the words like and as to compare things.” For example, “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.” A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that literally signifies one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy. Metaphors “directly state a comparison.” For example, “I am the gate….”

Jesus was a master of memorable words and phrases, words and phrases that stick in the mind. They are like the burs that attach themselves to us when we walk through long grass. They cling to us and are hard to pull off. He knew what he was saying would not sink in right away. It would take time like rainwater percolating down into the ground.

Jesus’ reputation as a teacher, storyteller, and miracle worker traveled ahead of him. Some people came to hear him out of curiosity. Others came to hear him because they wanted to hear him for themselves, wondering in their own minds whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Promised One. Many came because they were sick, blind, mute, lame, or demon-oppressed, and desired healing or deliverance.

Let’s take a look at some things that they would have known when they heard Jesus’ parables, things that most of us do not know. These things may give us a different perspective of the parable that Jesus explains to his disciples in today’s reading—the Parable of the Sower.

In the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry farmers plowed their fields with an oxen-drawn plow before they planted the seeds. They would have saved the seeds from their previous harvest. The seeds that they would have planted would have been precious to them. If they produced a bountiful crop, the farmer and his family would not only have had food for the winter months but also seed for the next planting and a surplus to sell to the grain dealers for money to purchase what they could not grow or raise themselves and to pay off any debts. The farmer, when sowing the seed, would not have scattered them willy-nilly. He would also have had a member of the household—a son or a servant—to follow him and drive off the birds that might eat the seeds that he was scattering. He would likely have avoided rocky ground and thorn patches if he could. The seeds were far too precious. A bad harvest would have resulted in the farmer and his family starving or selling themselves into slavery.

The sower in the parable is either an incompetent farmer or an incompetent field hand—perhaps a day worker hired for seed time. He is sowing the willy-nilly. He does not appear to be giving much attention to what he is doing. During the days of his earthly ministry Jesus lived in an agrarian society. I do not believe that the willy-nilly sowing of the seed would have been lost on Jesus’ original audience. I also believe that Jesus himself knew that it would not be lost on his audience. What then was Jesus telling his listeners about the sower?

A clue may be found in Jesus’ sermon on the mountain, in Matthew 5: 44-45. “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.” God bestows his grace upon all people, not just those that he knows will open their hearts and minds to his grace and benefit from it. All human beings are recipients of God’s grace.

If we think about it, the parable is itself an expression of God’s grace, of God's goodwill and favor towards us. In the parable Jesus is telling his audience about what can prevent them from becoming beneficiaries of God’s grace—the evil one, trouble or persecution, and “the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things.”

I believe that we can safely conclude that in drawing this to the attention of his disciples and to the attention of future generations of his disciples, Jesus is telling them how they can, with the help of God’s grace, become the kind of soil in which the seed of God’s Word bears fruit. Otherwise, there is little point of drawing this to our attention.

What else do we gain from knowing what can happen to the seed of God’s Word? The knowledge that one may be a loser in what amounts to a cosmic lottery can lead only to desperation and despair. To cause desperation and despair is out of character for Jesus.

While Jesus in his teaching gives stern warnings about the consequences of our actions, he also offers a message of hope, of God’s kindness and mercy. The miracles that he performs—healing the sick, cleansing lepers, restoring sight to the blind, raising the dead, driving out demons—bear witness to that kindness and mercy.

Having imparted to us the knowledge of what can keep us from benefiting from God’s Word, Jesus has given us a choice. We are not the hapless victims of what is sometimes described as fate—forces completely beyond our control. We can act upon that knowledge, and we can seek God’s deliverance from the Evil One. We can seek God’s support in times of trouble or persecution. We can seek God’s help to live lives free from “the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things.” In what we call the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray for these very things, to pray that God will enable us to do his will; will supply our daily needs; will forgive our sins; will save us from hard testing, from the time of trial; and will deliver us from evil. The Parable of the Sower is more than an explanation of why some hearers of God’s Word bear fruit and others do not.

The part Jesus’ teaching can play in our fruitfulness is a reminder of the character of God about which Jesus teaches us in the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree. From that parable we learn about God’s willingness to stand up for us with himself, to give us more time to bear fruit, and to take steps to enable us to do so. This is consistent with the character of God described in the Old Testament, the character of a God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; a God who does not desire the death of sinner but that he repent and live, a God who, when Israel went repeatedly whoring after other gods, did not abandon her.

God not only digs around our roots and fertilizes the soil in which we are growing to increase the likelihood that we will bear fruit, God also prunes us, cutting away the unnecessary foliage, branches and leaves, like a vinedresser prunes a grapevine for the winter, to enable us to bear more fruit. God is constantly caring for us and tending us like a gardener cares for a garden and tends it. God enables us to have the desire to do what is pleasing to him and when we have such a desire works with us to carry it out. In his mercy and love God enables us to be good soil in which the seeds of his Word will bear fruit. 

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear John Michael Talbot and Jackie Francois’ adaptation of the Magnificat, “My Soul Proclaims the Greatness of the Lord.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit exalts in God my Savior.
For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness,
and my name will be forever exalted.
For the mighty God has done great things for me,
and his mercy will reach from age to age.

And holy, holy, holy is his name.

He has mercy in ev’ry generation.
He has revealed his power and his glory.
He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance,
and has lifted up the meek and the lowly.
He has come to help his servant Israel;
he remembers his promise to our fathers.

And holy, holy, holy is his name.
And holy, holy, holy is his name.

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

Almighty God,
without you we are unable to please you:
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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 Cawood's hymn, "Almighty God, Your Word Is Cast."

1 Almighty God, your word is cast
like seed into the ground;
now let the dew of heav'n descend
and righteous fruits abound,
and righteous fruits abound.

2 Let not the foe of Christ and man
this holy seed remove,
but give it root in ev'ry heart
to bring forth fruits of love,
to bring forth fruits of love.

3 Let not the world's deceitful cares
the rising plant destroy,
but let it yield a hundredfold
the fruits of peace and joy,
the fruits of peace and joy.

4 Oft as the precious seed is sown,
your life-giving grace bestow,
that all whose souls the truth receive,
its saving pow'r may know,
its saving pow'r may know.

The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us praise the Lord,

Thanks be to God.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore.
Amen.