All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (February 13, 2022)
One or more candles may be lit.
Light and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord
Thanks be to God
EVENING HYMN
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!
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Dear Jesus,
as a hen covers her chicks with her wings
to keep them safe, do thou this night
protect us under your golden wings. Amen.
SCRIPTURE
Luke 6: 17-26 Happiness and Sorrow
When Jesus had come down from the hill with the apostles, he stood on a level place with a large number of his disciples. A large crowd of people was there from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from the coast cities of Tyre and Sidon; they had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those who were troubled by evil spirits also came and were healed. All the people tried to touch him, for power was going out from him and healing them all.
Jesus looked at his disciples and said,
“Happy are you poor;
the Kingdom of God is yours!
“Happy are you who are hungry now;
you will be filled!
“Happy are you who weep now;
you will laugh!
“Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man! Be glad when that happens and dance for joy, because a great reward is kept for you in heaven. For their ancestors did the very same things to the prophets.
“But how terrible for you who are rich now;
you have had your easy life!
“How terrible for you who are full now;
you will go hungry!
“How terrible for you who laugh now;
you will mourn and weep!
“How terrible when all people speak well of you; their ancestors said the very same things about the false prophets.
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
God Cares About the Little Guy
We may struggle with what Jesus tells the disciples in today’s reading since it contradicts with what our society believes and what I suspect that most of us under its influence have come to believe. People who are well-off, have a fat bank account and a great stock portfolio, are successful in business, own several cars and two or more homes, winter in Florida; who can dine at the best restaurants, and about whom a lot of people on social media are saying good things are, in our minds, the happy people. They are the people that many of us admire and envy.
In the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry and in prosperity gospel circles in our day they would be considered the ones most favored by God.
But Jesus tells his disciples that they are not the happy ones. It is those who don’t have two coins to jingle in their pocket, who don’t know where their next meal will come from, whose eyes are red from weeping, who are disliked strongly and by many people because of Jesus and cruelly mistreated by these people. They are the happy ones.
If we read the Book of Psalms, Proverbs, and the Prophets, Jesus is not saying anything entirely new. Those who obey and respect God, we are told, are the ones who enjoy God’s favor. Those who enjoy worldly success are not particularly known for their obedience and respect of God. In the Prophets we learn that the genuine spokesmen of God did not receive very kind treatment.
In our day we see a tendency to treat as fulfillment of what Jesus said about the mistreatment of his disciples in reactions from others that some Christians are provoking, which have nothing to do with the Son of Man. They are not reactions to obedience and respect for Jesus, but to the conduct of Christians, which has little to do with obeying or respecting him.
Indeed, this conduct is diametrically opposed to what Jesus himself taught and practiced. Christians are showing little or no regard for the health, safety, and wellbeing of their community. They are only interested in their themselves and their own activities. They are not showing any influence of Jesus’ teaching to deny themselves and to love their neighbors as themselves
We also see Christians treating their fellow Christians badly because these Christians call their fellow Christians to show greater obedience and respect for Jesus’s teaching and example. This is far closer to how the prophets were treated. While we apt to think that Jesus was talking about the world mistreating his disciples, nothing in the passage rules out Christians treating their fellow Christians cruelly.
One thing that we can learn about God from this passage is that God cares about the little guy, the ordinary person who is not wealthy, famous, or powerful. God cares about the humble and the meek, the last and the least, the unwelcome and the unwanted, the poor and the needy, the stranger and the sojourner.
We also see Christians treating their fellow Christians badly because these Christians call their fellow Christians to show greater obedience and respect for Jesus’s teaching and example. This is far closer to how the prophets were treated. While we apt to think that Jesus was talking about the world mistreating his disciples, nothing in the passage rules out Christians treating their fellow Christians cruelly.
One thing that we can learn about God from this passage is that God cares about the little guy, the ordinary person who is not wealthy, famous, or powerful. God cares about the humble and the meek, the last and the least, the unwelcome and the unwanted, the poor and the needy, the stranger and the sojourner.
God cares about the people about whom Christians should care but do not. God cares about the old Christian whom we have something against and to whom we we refuse to speak and who we do our best to avoid. The young Christian who has a hard time loving the people to whom they have taken a disliking. God loves them too. God does not love us for who we are in this world. God loves us because God is love.
Silence is kept.
SONG OF PRAISE
Silence is kept.
SONG OF PRAISE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s paraphrase of the Magnificat, “My Heart Sings Out with Joyful Praise.”
My heart sings out with joyful praise
to God who raises me,
Who came to me when I was low
and changed my destiny.
The Holy One, the Living God,
is always full of grace
To those who seek their Maker’s will
in every time and place.
The arm of God is strong and just
to scatter all the proud.
The tyrants tumble from their thrones
and vanish like a cloud.
The hungry all are satisfied;
the rich are sent away.
The poor of earth who suffer long
will welcome God’s new day.
The promise made in ages past
at last has come to be,
for God has come in power to save,
to set all people free.
Remembering those who wait to see
salvation’s dawning day,
Our Savior comes to all who weep
to wipe their tears away.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
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
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions
make them ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
RESPONSE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Timothy Rees’ “God Is Love, Let Heav’n Adore Him.”
1 God is Love: let heav'n adore him;
God is Love: let earth rejoice;
let creation sing before him,
and exalt him with one voice.
He who laid the earth's foundation,
he who spread the heav'ns above,
he who breathes through all creation,
he is Love, eternal Love.
2 God is Love: and he enfoldeth
all the world in one embrace;
with unfailing grasp he holdeth
every child of every race.
And when human hearts are breaking
under sorrow's iron rod,
then they find that selfsame aching
deep within the heart of God.
3 God is Love: and though with blindness
sin afflicts the souls of all,
God's eternal loving-kindness
holds and guides us when we fall.
Sin and death and hell shall never
o'er us final triumph gain;
God is Love, so Love for ever
o'er the universe must reign.
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.
BLESSING
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.
My heart sings out with joyful praise
to God who raises me,
Who came to me when I was low
and changed my destiny.
The Holy One, the Living God,
is always full of grace
To those who seek their Maker’s will
in every time and place.
The arm of God is strong and just
to scatter all the proud.
The tyrants tumble from their thrones
and vanish like a cloud.
The hungry all are satisfied;
the rich are sent away.
The poor of earth who suffer long
will welcome God’s new day.
The promise made in ages past
at last has come to be,
for God has come in power to save,
to set all people free.
Remembering those who wait to see
salvation’s dawning day,
Our Savior comes to all who weep
to wipe their tears away.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
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
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions
make them ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
RESPONSE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Timothy Rees’ “God Is Love, Let Heav’n Adore Him.”
1 God is Love: let heav'n adore him;
God is Love: let earth rejoice;
let creation sing before him,
and exalt him with one voice.
He who laid the earth's foundation,
he who spread the heav'ns above,
he who breathes through all creation,
he is Love, eternal Love.
2 God is Love: and he enfoldeth
all the world in one embrace;
with unfailing grasp he holdeth
every child of every race.
And when human hearts are breaking
under sorrow's iron rod,
then they find that selfsame aching
deep within the heart of God.
3 God is Love: and though with blindness
sin afflicts the souls of all,
God's eternal loving-kindness
holds and guides us when we fall.
Sin and death and hell shall never
o'er us final triumph gain;
God is Love, so Love for ever
o'er the universe must reign.
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.
BLESSING
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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