All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (November 13, 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 Joyous Light of Glorious God from Kent Gustavson’s Mountain Vespers.

Joyous light of glorious God,
heavenly, holy, Jesus Christ,
We have come to the setting of the Sun
and we look to the ev’ning light.
We sing to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our voices pure voices together.
O precious God, giver of life,
we sing your praises forever.

Joyous light of glorious God,
heavenly, holy, Jesus Christ,
We have come to the setting of the Sun
and we look to the ev’ning light.
We sing to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our voices pure voices together.
O precious God, giver of life,
we sing your praises forever.

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 Psalm 141 from Kent Gustavson's Mountain Vespers.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

O God, I call you; come to me quickly;
Hear my voice when I cry to you.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Set a watch before my mouth,
and guard the doors of my lips.
Let not my heart incline to any evil thing;
Never occupied in wickedness.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

My eyes are turned to you, O God,
in you I take refuge.
My eyes are turned to you, O God,
Strip me not of my life.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

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 Karin Young Wimberly's "The Lord's My Shepherd."

The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want
He lets me rest in pastures green
He leadeth me by waters still
He restores my soul; restores my soul

Even though I walk through the darkest vale
I will fear no evil, for you’re with me
Your rod and staff, protect and guide
You comfort me; you comfort me

The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want
He lets me rest in pastures green
He leadeth me by waters still
He restores my soul; restores my soul

Even though I walk through the darkest vale
I will fear no evil, for you’re with me
Your rod and staff, protect and guide
You comfort me; you comfort me

[Instrumental interlude]

You prepare a table, a feast for me
In the presence of my enemies
You anoint my head with holy oil
My cup overflows; it overflows

Surely goodness and God’s mercy great
Shall follow me all my days of life
And I’ll dwell within the house of God
My whole life long; my whole life long

Surely goodness and God’s mercy great
Shall follow me all my days of life
And I’ll dwell within the house of God
My whole life long; my whole life long
my whole life long

Silence is kept.

O God, our sovereign and shepherd,
who brought again your Son Jesus Christ
from the valley of death,
comfort us with your protecting presence
and your angels of goodness and love,
that we also may come home
and dwell with him in your house for ever.
Amen.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

1 John 4: 7-13 Let us love: God has shown us love at its highest

To you whom I love I say, let us go on loving one another, for love comes from God. Every man who truly loves is God’s son and has some knowledge of him. But the man who does not love cannot know him at all, for God is love.

To us, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been his sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. We see real love, not in that fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins.

If God loved us as much as that, surely we, in our turn, should love each other!

It is true that no human being has ever had a direct vision of God. Yet if we love each other God does actually live within us, and his love grows in us towards perfection. And, as I wrote above, the guarantee of our living in him and his living in us is the share of his own Spirit which he gives us.

Silence is kept.

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

The Homily

Love—An Open Window to God

In today’s reading the apostle John encourages us to keep on loving one another, drawing to our attention that God is the source of love. Implicit in what he is saying is the love that we have for each other comes from God.

Everyone who truly loves is a child of God, John points out, and has some knowledge of God. On the other hand, anyone who does not love cannot know God for God is love. John ties our knowledge of God, as limited as it may be, to our loving each other. If we are uninterested, unable, or unwilling to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, it is impossible for us to know God. God, after all, is love!

When we love each other, we gain knowledge of love. With that knowledge, we also gain knowledge of God. Loving each other is like throwing open the shuttered window of a dark room from the inside. The room is filled with light and outside we see a beautiful garden. Those who do not love do not open the shuttered window. They never get to see the beautiful garden or to smell the fragrance of the flowers which waft through the open window. They imprison themselves in lightless, musty room.

God’s greatest demonstration of his love, John stresses, is his sending of Jesus into the world to give us life through him. Jesus was not just God’s only begotten son, he is the Son, the second person of the Trinity, whom the Father loves. Jesus obediently went as the Father bid him. He humbled himself, left behind his glory, and became a human being like us. The Father did not force him to go. He went out of love for the Father.

If God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to make personal atonement for our sins, then we, in turn, John further points out, should love each other! If we genuinely believe that God loves us, we will seek to emulate God’s love for us and love our brothers and sisters in Christ. God’s love for us will inspire in us love for each other.

If we love each other God lives in us, John goes on to tell us, and his love has its full effect in us. Our love for each other is evidence of God’s presence within us. He has made us a dwelling place. Living in us God not only touches our lives with his love, but he also transforms us with his love.

The share of the Holy Spirit which God gives us, John tells us, is his guarantee that we live in him, and he lives in us. By indwelling us in the person of the Holy Spirit, God unites us to himself. We enter a mystical union with God, a union that unites us with the Father and the Son.

How then do we go about loving each other, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ? The first two of John Wesley’s three “simple rules” may be helpful in this regard.

The first rule is to do no harm; to avoid all kinds of evil behavior. We can do harm to each other in many different ways. Of the different kinds of evil behavior, many involve our relationship with each other.

Some common ways that we harm each other and some common kinds of evil behavior in which we engage are lying to each other, spreading rumors about each other, gossiping about each other, being unfriendly toward each other, snubbing each other, humiliating each other in front of others, making disparaging or spiteful remarks to each other, saying cruel things about each other, ghosting each other, giving each other the silent treatment, harboring grudges against each other, acting in vengeful ways toward each other, being rude and disrespectful to each other, losing our temper with each other, bullying each other, betraying each other, letting each other down and the list goes on.

Surprised? Christians can be quite mean-spirited in the ways that they treat each other. When we turn from sin and turn to Jesus, our character is not transformed without conscious thought or attention. Poof! And we have the character of Jesus himself. The new birth is a new birth. It is a beginning. We must work at becoming a new person, cooperating with God’s grace working in us.

The different ways we harm each other and different kinds of evil behavior in which we engage, and which affect our fellow Christians can become habits. They are wired so deeply into our brain that we perform them automatically. They also have feelings and ways of thinking associated with them, attached to them. They are, however, not inherent but acquired. Our brain does not completely relinquish control of these behaviors. It does have moment-by-moment control of how we are behaving and can shut off undesirable behaviors. The first step is to identify the undesirable behaviors and what triggers them.

One of the ways of unlearning undesirable behaviors is to replace them with desirable behaviors. We persist in these desirable behaviors until they themselves become habits! It takes some work, but we can do it. Remember, we have the Holy Spirit nudging us to become our best self and God’s grace giving us the will and the power to do it!

Wesley’s second “simple rule” is to do good to others, in particular our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can do good to each other in multiple ways. First of all, we can be kind to each other. We can treat each other exactly as we would wish to be treated. We can be friendly, generous, and helpful to each other. We can care about each other. We can give thought to each other’s feelings. We can work to better understand each other and to feel what each other feels. We can keep jealousy, fear, anxiety, anger, and resentment from coming between us and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can be patient, compassionate, and forgiving. We can measure each other as we would wish to be measured. We can focus on each other’s positive traits and not each other’s negative ones. We can refuse to let the negative bias that influences people to influence us. We can make allowances for each other. We can refuse to let the negative bias that influences people to influence us. We can offer each other encouragement and support. We can be honest and straightforward. We can show ourselves to be trustworthy and dependable. We can be loyal. We can build up each other’s faith. We can pray for each other. These are just a few of the things that we can do.

Leaning into loving each other we will experience God’s love in a way that we have not experienced it before. We will also show the power of God at work in our lives. We will come to a deeper knowledge of God.

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear the Magnificat from Kent Gustavson’s Mountain Vespers.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For you have looked with favor on your lowly servant;
from this day all generations will call me blessed.

1 You O God have done great things
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you
n ev’ry generation.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For you have looked with favor on your lowly servant;
from this day all generations will call me blessed.

2 You have shown the strength of your arm,
you have scattered the proud in their conceit.
You have cast the might down from thrones
and have lifted up the lowly.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For you have looked with favor on your lowly servant;
from this day all generations will call me blessed.

3 You have filled the hungry with good things,
the rich you have sent away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel
you’ve remembered your promise of mercy.
The promise you made
to Sarah and Abraham.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For you have looked with favor on your lowly servant;
from this day all generations will call me blessed.

Glory to you, O Lord our God
With your love and power.
Glory to you, O Lord our God
With your love and power.
Amen

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

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.

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 Douglas Nolan’s choral arrangement of Karen Crane’s “Where There Is Love.”

Where there is love,
doors are opened
hope restored
and fears released.
Where there is love
the path is clear.
Oh, let the light of love live in me.

Where there is love,
hearts are mended,
grace bestowed
and souls redeemed.
Where there is love,
we can begin.
Oh, let the light of love live in me.

Oh, let God’s love flow through me,
like the air I breathe,
every word that I say
be a testament of grace.
In my song, in my prayer,
love will flourish there.
Love will heal and restore.
Let me shine love’s light evermore.

Where there is love,
chains are broken,
spirits soar,
and hearts are set free.
Where there is love,
All things are possible.
Oh, let the light of love live in me.
Let the light of love live in me.
Let there be love.

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

May the Lord bless and protect us
May he show us mercy and kindness
May the Lord be good to us and give us peace
Numbers 6: 24-26