All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (January 5, 2022)

 

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 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, Lord our God,
our eternal Father and David’s King.
You have made our gladness greater and increased our joy
by sending to dwell among us
the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace.
Born of Mary,
proclaimed to the shepherds,
and acknowledged to the ends of the earth,
your unconquered Sun of righteousness
destroys our darkness and establishes us in freedom.
All glory in the highest be to you,
through Christ, the Son of your favour,
in the anointing love of the Spirit,
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 David Erb’s setting of Psalm 113. “Praise the Lord!”

Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its going down
The Lord’s name is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations,
His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
Who dwells on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
That He may seat him with princes—
With the princes of His people.
He grants the barren woman a home,
Like a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

Silence is kept.

From the rising of the sun to its setting
we praise your name, O Lord;
may your promise to raise the poor from the dust
and turn the fortunes of the needy upside down
be fulfilled in our time also,
as it was in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

Ephesians 3:1-12 God’s Mysterious Plan Revealed

When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles… assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.

Silence is kept.

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

Homily

We Are God’s Children

In Paul’s day the Jews saw themselves solely as God’s people, the people of the Covenant, as do many Jews to this day. It was their belief that the promise of a Messiah, a deliverer, was made to them and to them alone. God’s Anointed would deliver them from foreign oppression and restore the joint kingdoms of Israel and Judaea to their former power. They were expecting an earthly ruler. They got Jesus. They got the one who was king of Israel before it become divided into two kingdoms and before it had an earthly king—God himself in the person of the Son. God was Israel’s true King.

Paul’s message that Jesus, the Messiah that God sent, was not only to the Jews but also to the non-Jews, the Gentiles, to the Romans, to the Greeks, to all peoples of the earth did not sit well with many Jews. It was bad enough that the early followers of Jesus were claiming that Jesus was God in human flesh, but he had been sent not just to them but everybody!

The Judaizers who were a group of Jewish Christians who insisted that their co-religionists should follow the Mosaic Law and that Gentile converts to Christianity must first be circumcised and become Jews essentially rejected the belief that Jesus was Messiah to the Jews and the Gentiles. They accepted Jesus as the Messiah but only to the Jews. Hence their insistence that Gentile converts undergo circumcision and embrace Judaism. They limited the Good News to Jews like themselves.

Move forward in time two millennium and we discover that things have not greatly changed. We find self-identified Christians insisting that those who wish to become Christians must embrace their particular theology, their political views, their cultural values, their traditions, and a host of other requirements and become like themselves before becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. They are doing what the Pharisees and teachers of the Law did during Jesus’ earthly ministry and the Judaizers during the early days of the Church. As Jesus pointed to the attention of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, they are keeping people out the kingdom of God and not entering God’s kingdom themselves.

Essentially what these self-identified Christians are doing is limiting the Good News to people like themselves.

What Paul is saying is that the Good News is for everybody! Not for the Jews alone. Not just for people like ourselves. But for everybody!

Jesus has set his own requirements for becoming one of his disciples. They are not very complicated: believe in him and undergo baptism, not necessarily in that order, and follow his teaching and example.

Pretty simple? But we, human beings, have to make things more complicated. We have to elevate matters of secondary importance to positions of primary importance, and in other ways make becoming a disciple of Jesus unpleasant and worrying to the point that people do not want to get involved in any way.

To cut to the chase, what Paul is saying in this reading is everyone who believes in Jesus and surrenders their life to him belongs to Jesus. We are his. We are united to Jesus. What’s more we can enter boldly and confidently into God’s presence. We are God’s children.

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,
(To Israel, your servant blest,)
your help is ever sure;
(your help is ever sure;)
the promise to our parents made
(the promise ti our parents made)
their children will secure.
(their children will secure.)
Sing glory to the Holy One,
(Sing glory to the Holy One,)
give honor to the Word,
{give honor to the Word,}
and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,
(and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,)
one God, by all adored,
(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

Everlasting God, the radiance of all faithful people, you brought
the nations to the brightness of your rising. Fill the world with
your glory, and show yourself to all the world through him who
is the true light and the bright morning star. Your Son, Jesus
Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 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 “All Things New.”
Elaine Hagenberg’s choral arrangement of Francis Havergal’s poem,
“Light after Darkness.”

"Light after darkness,
gain after loss,
Strength after weakness,
crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter,
hope after fears,
Home after wandering,
praise after tears.

Alpha and Omega,
beginning and the end,
He is making all things new.
Springs of living water
shall wash away each tear,
He is making all things new. ​

Sight after mystery, sun after rain,
Joy after sorrow, peace after pain;
Near after distant, gleam after gloom,
Love after wandering, life after tomb."

Alpha and Omega,
beginning and the end,
He is making all things new.
Springs of living water
shall wash away each tear,
He is making all things new,
all things new,
He is making all,
He is making all,
He is making all things new

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

May Christ the Son of God be manifest to us,
that our lives may be a light to the world,
and may the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit be with us and remain with us always. Amen.