All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (September 19, 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 F. Bland Tucker’s translation of the Phos hilaron, “O Gracious Light.”
O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ,
In you the Father’s glory shone.
Immortal, holy, blest is he,
And blest are you, his holy Son.
Now sunset comes, but light shines forth,
the lamps are lit to pierce the night.
Praise Father, Son, and Spirit: God
Who dwells in the eternal light.
Worthy are you of endless praise,
O Son of God, Life-giving Lord;
Wherefore you are through all the earth
And in the highest heaven adored.
O Gracious Light!
Thanksgiving
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Blessed are you, Creator of the universe,
from old you have led your people by night and day.
May the light of your Christ make our darkness bright,
for your Word and your presence are the light of our pathways,
and you are the light and life of all creation.
Amen.
Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen's adaptation of Psalm 141, "Let My Prayer Rise Up Like Incense Before You."
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
O God, I call to you, come to me now;
hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
Keep watch within me, God;
deep in my heart may the light of your love be burning bright.
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
All praise to the God of all, Creator of life;
all praise be to the Christ and the Spirit of love.
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
Silence is kept.
May our prayers come before you, O God, as incense, and may your presence surround and fill us, so that in union with all creation, we might sing your praise and your love in our lives. Amen.
The Psalms
Open this link in a new tab to hear Michael Joncas’ setting of Psalm 84, “How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place.”
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord,
My heart and my flesh cry out;
Even the sparrow may find a home,
The swallow a nest for her young;
Your altars, my king and my God.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
How happy are they who may dwell in your courts,
How happy when you are their strength;
Though they might go through the valley of death,
They make it a place of springs.
Your first rain will bring it to life.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
O Lord of Hosts hear my cry,
And harken, O God of Jacob;
One day in your house is worth much more to me
Than ten thousand anywhere else.
The Lord is my sun and my shield.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
Silence is kept.
In darkness and in light,
in trouble and in joy,
help us, heavenly Father,
to trust your love,
to serve your purpose,
and to praise your name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Charles McCartha’s adaptation of “Jesus. Loves the Little Children.”
Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Ev’ry child the apple of His eye
and precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Jesus calls us to share His love
and care for others in need,
spreading hope and light in our neighborhood,
helping all the world to see:
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
O God, I call to you, come to me now;
hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
Keep watch within me, God;
deep in my heart may the light of your love be burning bright.
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
All praise to the God of all, Creator of life;
all praise be to the Christ and the Spirit of love.
Let my prayer rise up like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
Silence is kept.
May our prayers come before you, O God, as incense, and may your presence surround and fill us, so that in union with all creation, we might sing your praise and your love in our lives. Amen.
The Psalms
Open this link in a new tab to hear Michael Joncas’ setting of Psalm 84, “How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place.”
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord,
My heart and my flesh cry out;
Even the sparrow may find a home,
The swallow a nest for her young;
Your altars, my king and my God.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
How happy are they who may dwell in your courts,
How happy when you are their strength;
Though they might go through the valley of death,
They make it a place of springs.
Your first rain will bring it to life.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
O Lord of Hosts hear my cry,
And harken, O God of Jacob;
One day in your house is worth much more to me
Than ten thousand anywhere else.
The Lord is my sun and my shield.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord God of Hosts!
Silence is kept.
In darkness and in light,
in trouble and in joy,
help us, heavenly Father,
to trust your love,
to serve your purpose,
and to praise your name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Charles McCartha’s adaptation of “Jesus. Loves the Little Children.”
Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Ev’ry child the apple of His eye
and precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Jesus calls us to share His love
and care for others in need,
spreading hope and light in our neighborhood,
helping all the world to see:
Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Ev’ry child the apple of His eye
and precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Jesus calls us to sing His song
and fill the earth with praise.
Come and shout the news from the mountaintop,
sing a song of joy today!
Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Ev’ry child the apple of His eye
and precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
Mark 9: 33-37 Jesus Defines the New “Greatness”
So they came to Capernaum. And when they were indoors he asked them, “What were you discussing as we came along?”
They were silent, for on the way they had been arguing about who should be the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve, and said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”
Then he took a little child and stood him in front of them all, and putting his arms round him, said to them, “Anyone who welcomes one little child like this for my sake is welcoming me. And the man who welcomes me is welcoming not only me but the one who sent me!”
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
The Homily
Wow!! “Anyone who welcomes one little child like this for my sake is welcoming me. And the man who welcomes me is welcoming not only me but the one who sent me!” Whoever welcomes one little child for Jesus’ sake welcomes Jesus. Whoever welcomes Jesus, welcomes not only Jesus but our heavenly Father who sent him!! Let what Jesus said sink in.
When my nieces were little, their parents decided that it was time for the family to start attending church. One Sunday they went with their children to a church in a town near where they lived. The members of the church showed in no uncertain terms that children were not welcome in their church. My older brother and his wife never went back to that church, nor did they try another church. Taking the children to church got handed off to one of my brother’s sisters-in-law who took the girls to her church.
I later learned that the church to which they had gone had closed its doors. One might say that Jesus took away its candlestick because it was unwilling to welcome him. I cannot say that for certain was the case, but that it could have been.
Shortly after the girls began to attend their aunt’s church, they came home one Sunday with a horror story, yes, a horror story. A volunteer in the church’s children’ ministry had taken a doll and with a pair of scissors had cut off the doll’s head. The volunteer told the children in the room, “If you’re bad, God will cut off your head!!” My brother and his wife decided that the girls were not going to go back to that church. The girls were very upset. Their aunt was upset too.
God used that incident to get me to go back to church. My mother decided to take the girls to her church, and I agreed to sit with them during the service. It was the Episcopal church that I had attended as a teenager and where I had been confirmed. There the girls found love and a ready welcome. The girls quickly made friends and sat with their friends during the service, I ended up in the choir and serving as a lay reader and a chalice bearer. A chalice bearer administers the cup during the distribution of the communion elements.
At my mother’s church the children’s ministry preceded the service. The children joined their parents for the service. If they were baptized, they received communion with their families. The church had monthly Celebration Sundays, Sundays where the different children’s ministry classes would bring the projects they had been working on to the service—for example, the banners they had made. They might perform a song with hand gestures. An older child might read a passage from the Bible.
While I was at that church, I learned to value and appreciate the work of children’s ministry staff and volunteers. Those with whom I became acquainted invested themselves fully in what they were doing. The children’s ministry staff and volunteers of the church which I now attend are very enthusiastic about what they are doing too. They are devoted to teaching the children about Jesus, how Jesus loves them, and how they can show Jesus their love for him. I admire and respect them. They do an incredible job.
As important as a children’s ministry is, welcoming the children involves more than having a top-rate children’s ministry. It includes involving them at age appropriate activities in our Sunday worship, in the church’s various ministries, and that sort of thing. For ourselves it may mean letting a child sit next to us and helping them with the hymnal and the service book if our church uses these worship tools. The children of a church are a part of the church family. They are not the future of the church. They are the church of today.
One thing that I learned in the 1980s is that children cannot be taught faith. They must catch it. They catch faith from being around people who have faith. The more they are around people who have faith, the more they are likely to catch faith. When we separate them from the rest of the church into their own children’s church, we are reducing the likelihood that they will catch faith.
The child who shares a pew with us is not just a member of the church family. They are a representative of Jesus. They are his proxy. They are sharing our pew in Jesus’ place. The child who is sitting beside us is Jesus.
Jesus comes to us in all kinds of ways. He comes to us in the Word. He comes to us the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. He comes to us through the Holy Spirit. He comes to us in his gathered people. And he comes to us in the children. Yes, he is in every child that we welcome. When we welcome them, we welcome him and the One who sent him. Jesus may not show up on Sunday in a seamless white robe. He will show up in khaki shorts or a pink or blue dress and a hair ribbon.
I would go as far as to say, that, when we welcome the inner child of the past of an adult, we are also welcoming Jesus. For in each of us is a child, a hurting child who may be still experiencing the loneliness, the pain, the rejection we experienced when we were younger. When we welcome an adult, we also welcome the child in them. When we love that adult, we also love the love the child in them. In welcoming and loving the child in them, we welcome and love Jesus. We welcome and love God.
When we smile at the child sitting beside us, Jesus will smile back. When we look across the sanctuary, catch someone’s eye, and smile at them, and they return the smile, the smile they return will be Jesus’.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. The more Jesus opens my heart to love him, the more I love those in my life, those God has put there for me to love. How about you?
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear John Philip Newell’s adaptation of the Magnificat, “The Song of Mary.”
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your Presence.
You have cherished my womanhood.
You have honored earth’s body.
All will know the sacredness of birth.
All will know the gift of life.
Your grace is to those who are open.
Your mercy to the humble in heart.
The dreams of the proud crumble.
The plans of the powerful fail.
You feed the hungry with goodness.
You deny the rich their greed.
The hopes of the poor are precious.
The birth pangs of creation are heard.
You have been faithful to the human family.
You are the seed of new beginnings.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
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
God and Father of all,
you have taught us through your Son
that the last shall be first,
and have made a little child a measure of your kingdom
give us the wisdom from above,
so that we may understand that in your sight,
the one who serves is the greatest of all.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of Holy Spirit,
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 "Tune My Heart According to Your Will."
Ostinato Refrain:
Tune my heart according to your will.
Oh, tune my heart according to your will.
O Lord! Tune my heart wholly according to your will.
1 Send your wisdom in my heart,
may she be with me and work in me!
For in God’s will, in God’s will is our peace.
2 Within my inmost being you invite my soul,
to let go of familiar, consent to be made new.
For in God’s will, in God’s will is our peace.
3 I am your word; may I respond to you.
May my life answer you; may I resonate with you.
For in God’s will, in God’s will is our peace.
4 For you alone, you occupy my life.
May your love act in me, in everything I do.
Come, transform me, Lord, wholly according to your will.
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us praise the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
May God, Creator, bless us and keep us,
may Christ be ever light for our lives,
may the Spirit of love be our guide and path,
for all of our days. Amen.
all the children of the world.
Ev’ry child the apple of His eye
and precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Jesus calls us to sing His song
and fill the earth with praise.
Come and shout the news from the mountaintop,
sing a song of joy today!
Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Ev’ry child the apple of His eye
and precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
Mark 9: 33-37 Jesus Defines the New “Greatness”
So they came to Capernaum. And when they were indoors he asked them, “What were you discussing as we came along?”
They were silent, for on the way they had been arguing about who should be the greatest. Jesus sat down and called the twelve, and said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.”
Then he took a little child and stood him in front of them all, and putting his arms round him, said to them, “Anyone who welcomes one little child like this for my sake is welcoming me. And the man who welcomes me is welcoming not only me but the one who sent me!”
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
The Homily
Welcome a Child, Welcome Jesus
Wow!! “Anyone who welcomes one little child like this for my sake is welcoming me. And the man who welcomes me is welcoming not only me but the one who sent me!” Whoever welcomes one little child for Jesus’ sake welcomes Jesus. Whoever welcomes Jesus, welcomes not only Jesus but our heavenly Father who sent him!! Let what Jesus said sink in.
When my nieces were little, their parents decided that it was time for the family to start attending church. One Sunday they went with their children to a church in a town near where they lived. The members of the church showed in no uncertain terms that children were not welcome in their church. My older brother and his wife never went back to that church, nor did they try another church. Taking the children to church got handed off to one of my brother’s sisters-in-law who took the girls to her church.
I later learned that the church to which they had gone had closed its doors. One might say that Jesus took away its candlestick because it was unwilling to welcome him. I cannot say that for certain was the case, but that it could have been.
Shortly after the girls began to attend their aunt’s church, they came home one Sunday with a horror story, yes, a horror story. A volunteer in the church’s children’ ministry had taken a doll and with a pair of scissors had cut off the doll’s head. The volunteer told the children in the room, “If you’re bad, God will cut off your head!!” My brother and his wife decided that the girls were not going to go back to that church. The girls were very upset. Their aunt was upset too.
God used that incident to get me to go back to church. My mother decided to take the girls to her church, and I agreed to sit with them during the service. It was the Episcopal church that I had attended as a teenager and where I had been confirmed. There the girls found love and a ready welcome. The girls quickly made friends and sat with their friends during the service, I ended up in the choir and serving as a lay reader and a chalice bearer. A chalice bearer administers the cup during the distribution of the communion elements.
At my mother’s church the children’s ministry preceded the service. The children joined their parents for the service. If they were baptized, they received communion with their families. The church had monthly Celebration Sundays, Sundays where the different children’s ministry classes would bring the projects they had been working on to the service—for example, the banners they had made. They might perform a song with hand gestures. An older child might read a passage from the Bible.
While I was at that church, I learned to value and appreciate the work of children’s ministry staff and volunteers. Those with whom I became acquainted invested themselves fully in what they were doing. The children’s ministry staff and volunteers of the church which I now attend are very enthusiastic about what they are doing too. They are devoted to teaching the children about Jesus, how Jesus loves them, and how they can show Jesus their love for him. I admire and respect them. They do an incredible job.
As important as a children’s ministry is, welcoming the children involves more than having a top-rate children’s ministry. It includes involving them at age appropriate activities in our Sunday worship, in the church’s various ministries, and that sort of thing. For ourselves it may mean letting a child sit next to us and helping them with the hymnal and the service book if our church uses these worship tools. The children of a church are a part of the church family. They are not the future of the church. They are the church of today.
One thing that I learned in the 1980s is that children cannot be taught faith. They must catch it. They catch faith from being around people who have faith. The more they are around people who have faith, the more they are likely to catch faith. When we separate them from the rest of the church into their own children’s church, we are reducing the likelihood that they will catch faith.
The child who shares a pew with us is not just a member of the church family. They are a representative of Jesus. They are his proxy. They are sharing our pew in Jesus’ place. The child who is sitting beside us is Jesus.
Jesus comes to us in all kinds of ways. He comes to us in the Word. He comes to us the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. He comes to us through the Holy Spirit. He comes to us in his gathered people. And he comes to us in the children. Yes, he is in every child that we welcome. When we welcome them, we welcome him and the One who sent him. Jesus may not show up on Sunday in a seamless white robe. He will show up in khaki shorts or a pink or blue dress and a hair ribbon.
I would go as far as to say, that, when we welcome the inner child of the past of an adult, we are also welcoming Jesus. For in each of us is a child, a hurting child who may be still experiencing the loneliness, the pain, the rejection we experienced when we were younger. When we welcome an adult, we also welcome the child in them. When we love that adult, we also love the love the child in them. In welcoming and loving the child in them, we welcome and love Jesus. We welcome and love God.
When we smile at the child sitting beside us, Jesus will smile back. When we look across the sanctuary, catch someone’s eye, and smile at them, and they return the smile, the smile they return will be Jesus’.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. The more Jesus opens my heart to love him, the more I love those in my life, those God has put there for me to love. How about you?
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear John Philip Newell’s adaptation of the Magnificat, “The Song of Mary.”
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your Presence.
You have cherished my womanhood.
You have honored earth’s body.
All will know the sacredness of birth.
All will know the gift of life.
Your grace is to those who are open.
Your mercy to the humble in heart.
The dreams of the proud crumble.
The plans of the powerful fail.
You feed the hungry with goodness.
You deny the rich their greed.
The hopes of the poor are precious.
The birth pangs of creation are heard.
You have been faithful to the human family.
You are the seed of new beginnings.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
My soul sings of you, O God.
My spirit delights in your presence.
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
God and Father of all,
you have taught us through your Son
that the last shall be first,
and have made a little child a measure of your kingdom
give us the wisdom from above,
so that we may understand that in your sight,
the one who serves is the greatest of all.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of Holy Spirit,
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 "Tune My Heart According to Your Will."
Ostinato Refrain:
Tune my heart according to your will.
Oh, tune my heart according to your will.
O Lord! Tune my heart wholly according to your will.
1 Send your wisdom in my heart,
may she be with me and work in me!
For in God’s will, in God’s will is our peace.
2 Within my inmost being you invite my soul,
to let go of familiar, consent to be made new.
For in God’s will, in God’s will is our peace.
3 I am your word; may I respond to you.
May my life answer you; may I resonate with you.
For in God’s will, in God’s will is our peace.
4 For you alone, you occupy my life.
May your love act in me, in everything I do.
Come, transform me, Lord, wholly according to your will.
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us praise the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
May God, Creator, bless us and keep us,
may Christ be ever light for our lives,
may the Spirit of love be our guide and path,
for all of our days. Amen.
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