All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (November 27, 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 John Scott’s arrangement of “Creator of the Stars of Night.”

Creator of the stars of night
Thy people’s everlasting light
O Jesus, Saviour of us all
Regard thy servants when they call

Thou, grieving at the bitter cry
Of all creation doomed to die
Didst come to save a ruined race
With healing gifts of heav’n’ly grace

Thou camest, bridegroom of the bride
As drew the world to eveningtide
Proceeding from a virgin shrine
The Son of Man, yet Lord divine

At thy great name, majestic now
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow
And things in heav’n and earth shall own
That thou art Lord and King alone

To thee, O holy One, we pray
Our judge in that tremendous day
Preserve us, while we dwell below
From ev’ry onslaught of the foe

All praise, eternal Son, to thee
Whose advent sets thy people free
Whom with the Father we adore
And Spirit blest, for evermore. Amen.

Thanksgiving

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

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
creator of light and darkness.
In this holy season.
you renew your promise to reveal among us
the splendor of your glory,
enfleshed and visible to us in Jesus Christ your Son.
Through the prophets
you teach us to hope for his reign of peace,
Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
you open our blindness to the glory of his presence.
Strengthen us in our weakness.
Support us in our stumbling efforts to your will
and free our tongues to sing your praise.
For to you all honour and blessing are due,
Now and for ever. 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 the evening psalm, “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 Liam Lawton’s adaptation of Psalm 84, “How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place.”

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, my God!
How lovely is your dwelling place, is your dwelling place, O God!

1 My soul is thirsting for the Lord,
how it yearns for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and soul ring out for joy to God,
the living God.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, my God!
How lovely is your dwelling place, is your dwelling place, O God!

2 The sparrow finds herself a home
and the swallow a nest for her brood.
She lays her young by your altars, Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, my God!
How lovely is your dwelling place, is your dwelling place, O God!

3 One day, O Lord, within your courts
is better than a thousand elsewhere.
The threshold of the house of God I prefer
to the household of the wicked.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, my God!
How lovely is your dwelling place, is your dwelling place, O God!

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.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

Jeremiah 33: 14-16  A Promised King

The Lord said, “The time is coming when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the people of Israel and Judah. At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will do what is right and just throughout the land. The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called ‘The Lord Our Salvation.’

Silence is kept.

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

Homily

Preparing for the Arrival of a King

In today’s reading Jeremiah prophesizes the coming of the Messiah, God’s Anointed, a descendant of King David, whom he believed would restore the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem and the worship of the Temple at Jerusalem. Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians, and they would take its inhabitants into captivity in their empire.

When the people of Israel had demanded an earthly king like the surrounding nations, God had warned them what would happen if he acceded to their demand. They refused to listen to God and persisted in their demand. Israel would become divided into two kingdoms—Israel and Judah. First Israel and then Judah would be conquered by invaders and the elites of their societies taken into captivity. At the time of Jesus’ birth foreigners ruled Judaea and Judaea was a client state of Rome.

Jeremiah’s prophesy was fulfilled, but it was not fulfilled in the way that the Jews of the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry expected. They were expecting a military leader, a warrior king like King David, who would restore the two kingdoms and reunite them. Instead, they got their true King, God himself, in the person of Jesus. But the story does not end there.

Jesus would be brutally executed on a cross, only to rise from the dead after three days. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus promises to return again, not as a savior but as the King and Judge of humankind, the living and the dead.

In the Western Church the four Sundays that precede the Feast of the Nativity, which the Western Church celebrates on December 25 of each year, have been traditionally set aside as a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the return of Jesus at the Second Coming. This season is known as the Advent Season. Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The first Sunday in this season marks the beginning of the liturgical year for the Western Church.

Regrettably the Advent Season in some churches is overshadowed by the secular Christmas season, which follows Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Instead of observing the traditions and customs of Adventide and singing its hymns and carols, they sing Christmas hymns and carols.

Christmas, however, has its own season—the Twelve Days of Christmas, which begins on Christmas Eve and ends on Twelfth Night, the eve of the Feast of Epiphany.

In my experience the observance of the secular Christmas season instead of the Advent Season mutes our celebration of Christmas. By the time Christmas arrives, we are tired of singing Christmas hymns and carols. We may not even celebrate the Feast of the Nativity with a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service.

On the other hand, observing the Advent Season sets us in the right frame of mind to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the birth of our Savior and Lord, and to look forward to his coming again.

One Advent custom that families may wish to adopt for a family prayer time is the practice of lighting a candle on an Advent wreath or a Adventljusstake, or Advent candlestick, a Swedish candelabra used to mark the Advent Season. On each Sunday in Advent an additional candle is lit until all four candles are lit. On Christmas Eve and throughout the Christmas Season a fifth candle, the Christ Candle, is lit.

The lighting and extinguish the candles on the Advent wreath or Adventljusstake sets apart the family prayer time as a time of prayer. It is one way of engaging the children in the family prayer time.

If a child asks us why we are lighting a candle, we can explain to them that Jesus is the light of the world and we light the candle to honor him and to mark the days leading up to the celebration of his birth, looking forward not only to that day but also the day that Jesus will come again.

Young children in particular find such practices meaningful.

Observing Advent will help not only children but also adults see that Christmas really is a special time of the year.

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear Ann Krentz’s choral arrangement of the Magnificat, “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness.”

My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.

1 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.

My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.

2 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 lonely throned instead;
the hungry filled with all good things,
the rich sent off unfed.

My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.

3 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.

My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name,
and holy is your 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,
give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
In which Jesus came among us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said.

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 Thomas Keesecker’s arrangement of John Brownlie’s “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns.”

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And light triumphant breaks;
When beauty gilds the eastern hills,
And life to joy awakes.

Not as of old, a little child
To bear, and fight, and die,
But crowned with glory like the sun,
That lights that morning sky

Oh, brighter than the rising morn,
When Christ, victorious rose,
And left the lonesome place of death,
Despite the rage of foes;—

Oh, brighter than that glorious morn,
Shall dawn upon our race,
The day that Christ in splendor comes,
And we shall see his face.

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And light and beauty brings;—
Hail! Christ the Lord; you people pray
Come quickly, King of kings,
Come quickly, King of kings,
Come quickly, King of kings.

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

May the God of peace equip us with everything good for
doing his will, working in us what is pleasing to him,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.