All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (March 23, 2022)

PROCLAMATION OF THE LIGHT

One or more candles may be lit.

Bless be God who forgives all our sins
God’s mercy endures forever

EVENING HYMN

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.

PRAYER OF 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,
the shepherd of Israel,
their pillar of cloud by day,
their pillar of fire by night.
In these forty days you lead us
into the desert of repentance
that in this pilgrimage of prayer
we might learn to be your people once more.
In fasting and service
you bring us back to your heart.
You open our eyes to your presence in the world
and you free our hands to lead others
to the radiant splendour of your mercy.
Be with us in these journey days
for without you we are lost and will perish.
To you alone be dominion and glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

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.

SCRIPTURE

Romans 12: 1-21 Life in God’s Service

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.

Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

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

HOMILY

A Foretaste of the Peaceable Kingdom

In this fourth homily in a five-part homily series on Roman 12 we examine Romans 12: 14-18.

"Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone."

"Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.” Note the similarity between what Paul says in Romans 12: 14 and what Jesus says in Matthew 5: 44 and Luke 6: 27-28. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus instructs those listening to him to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them. In Luke 6: 27-28 Jesus instructs them to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate them, to bless those who curse them and pray for those who hurt them.

Paul goes on to urge the members of the church at Rome to share the happiness of those who are happy and the sadness of those who are sad. To do that, we must be sensitive to other people’s feelings and able to empathize with them, to understand how they are feeling and to imagine what it must be like to feel what they are feeling. These are skills that we can learn if we did not acquire them when we were younger.

Sharing in other people’s happiness and their sadness also requires being open to our own feelings as well as theirs. When we were children, many of us learned to repress our feelings, not to have them or to show them. Our parents discouraged us from experiencing or exhibiting these feelings. Consequently, we may not be comfortable with other people’s feelings or our own.

Paul urges the members of the church at Rome to live in harmony with each other. When we live in harmony with others, we live in a state of peaceful existence and agreement. Living in harmony requires an individual commitment to live in such a state by each member of a church. True harmony is voluntary and comes from the heart. It cannot be achieved if one or more members of a congregation are harboring ill-will toward each other, behaving toward each other in an unfriendly way such as refusing to speak to each other, ignoring each other, and avoiding each other, or otherwise making no genuine effort to live Jesus’ commandment to love one another. Living in harmony with our fellow church members does require that we live with them in a way that is friendly, peaceful, and without any arguments.

A church member who refuses to have anything to do with a fellow church member is not living harmoniously with them. A rift has occurred in their relationship, a rift that requires forgiveness and the restoration of friendly relations between them. Such a rift, if no effort is made to repair it, can lead to rifts in other relationships in the congregation and permanently damage not only that particular relationship but also other relationships.

An important part of the reconciliation process is closure, “the feeling that a difficult or an unpleasant experience has come to an end or been dealt with in an acceptable way.” Both church members must be happy with the outcome; otherwise, the wound in the Body of Christ will fester and the poison from the festering wound will spread to the other parts of the Body of Christ.

Learning to get along with other people, particular those whom God has placed in a particular church, is an important part of being a disciple of Jesus. In his teachings Jesus focuses on two relationships—our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with our fellow human beings and our fellow Christians. He ties these two relationships to each other. We show our love for him and the Father who sent him by loving others in obedience to his teachings and example. As the apostle John points out, we cannot claim to love God whom we have not seen if we do not love our brother or sister whom we do see.

Refusing to have anything to do with someone can by no stretch of the imagination be construed as loving them. While it may be acceptable behavior on social media to completely reject someone because they have said or done something that offends us, it is not within the range of behavior that is permitted for a disciple of Jesus and therefore it really should not be encouraged or tolerated. Jesus teaches us to show kindness and forgiveness to others, not to cancel them.

If an allegation of misconduct such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment is involved, then a professional should be brought in to investigate the allegation. If anything can be learned from what has happened in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention in recent years is that an in-house investigation is not the best course of action to take. The person conducting such an investigation may be influenced by sympathy for the alleged victim or the alleged perpetrator, and they may skew the findings of their investigation according to their personal opinions and feelings, not determining what happened from the real facts, but fitting the facts to their preconceived notion of what occurred. They are also likely to not be aware that is what they are doing.

I have been involved in child protection investigations and it is something that child protection workers always keep in mind. They may have to involve the court and judges base their decisions on admissible evidence, not personal opinions and feelings.

Because a fellow Christian is too inquisitive for us, is unfamiliar with the does and don’ts of texting etiquette, makes social blunders, is too chatty for our liking, oversteps the personal boundaries that we did not tell them about, talks about things that do not interest us or which we prefer not to talk about, or otherwise gets on our nerves is not reason to treat them as a pariah and to shut off all communication with them. They, after all, are our brother and sister in Christ, and we are connected to Jesus AND to them by the Holy Spirit who indwells all who believe in Jesus. God put them in our lives and God puts people just where he wants them. God may have put them in our lives so that we can learn to get along with people like them. God may have put us in their lives so they can learn to get along with people like us. In my personal experience God does that sort of thing. When Jesus talked about loving others, he was talking about loving them, character flaws and imperfections and all.

“Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” In Paul’s time Roman society was rigidly stratified, divided by class. The upper classes did not mix with the lower classes, and they did not socialize with their slaves. While social class is not as pronounced in the United States as it is in some countries, it does separate people. While both Paul and James write about discriminating against a Christian because of their social status, it does happen. I have personally witnessed it. What Paul is telling the members of the church at Rome and us is that we should not let any sense of being socially superior to our fellow church members interfere with us interacting with them. We certainly should not form into cliches based upon class or anything else as far as that goes.

As Paul wrote the members of the church at Corinth, God has put each of us just where he wants us. We are parts of one body—the Body of Christ. As one organ of the human body cannot tell another organ, “I don’t want you,” neither can we tell another part of Christ’s Body, we don’t want you. We may not like it, but we are connected to each other. As Paul pointed out earlier, we also belong to each other. When we sit scattered around the church sanctuary on Sunday morning. It may not feel like we are connected and belong to each other, but we are!

We may go as far as shutting down all communication with a church member, but we are still connected to that church member and that church member is connected to us. We belong to them, and they belong to us. We can ignore them, and we can stop thinking about them, but in God’s eyes we are tethered to each other. We may not be joined at the hip, but we have the same Lord and the same Holy Spirit indwells us. We are part of the same body, the Body of Christ. 

In a society that values individualism and in which people value their independence, this may prove hard to grasp. It is better understood in collectivistic societies like Japan and South Korea. In these societies people view themselves and others as members of a group.

When Paul talks about not think that we know it all, he is talking about recognizing the limits of our knowledge. If we are honest with ourselves, we are not as knowledgeable as we would like to think that we are or have others believe that we are. Paul does not mean that we should not collect and amass knowledge that might be helpful to others and ourselves, but we should not pretend to know more than we know. If someone asks us a question and we do not know the answer, we should tell them, “I don’t know the answer.” We may also wish to tell them, “I’ll see what I can find out.” People will respect us more when we admit the limits of our knowledge. Paul is not suggesting that we avoid learning new things intentionally and revel in ignorance. Rather we should not let our knowledge go to our head and think and act like we know much more than other people.

“Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” Paul is very clear that we should not hurt any or do something harmful to them because they have said or done something harmful us. Because they may have treated us badly does not justify us treating them badly.

Someone may do or say something that was not intended to hurt us or do harm to us. However, we experience it as hurtful, causing us emotional pain. We may not know their intentions.

On the other hand, they may deliberately try to hurt or injure us. For example, they may spread rumors intended to harm us or upset us.

In either case we are not to retaliate. We are not to try to punish them for what they did or said. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Turn the other cheek.” We may be tempted to hurt or injure them if we are angry, but we are not to act on that anger. We are not to hang onto it. Instead, we are to let it go.

Paul tells the members of the church at Rome to act in a way which shows that they are honorable and deserve praise and respect. When we are honorable, we are honest and fair. We act openly and with sincerity. We do not try to deceive anyone or engage in subterfuge. We do not attempt to persuade anyone that what is false is true, hide the truth from them for our own advantage, or tell only part of the truth. We do not show anyone favoritism or preferential treatment. We try to treat everyone in the congregation equally and not to allow personal opinions and feelings influence our judgment. We do our best to be reasonable in our treatment of others.

This may be difficult for some of us. We may have had overly-critical parents when we were a child and may have learned not to be completely honest with them. We may have had parents who expressed their disapproval of us in a way that may have been life-threatening and therefor learned to deceive them and not tell them the truth for our own survival. We may have learned to hide what they considered unacceptable feelings not only from them but also from our selves. We may have observed one parent being deceitful with the other and assumed that it was the normal way to behave.

We also live in a society in which white lies, lies told in order to be polite or to stop someone from being upset by the truth, are seen as acceptable, and in which politicians and businesspeople stretch the truth to make things to look better than they are, make false claims, and use lies to manipulate people or deliberately mislead them. It is not uncommon for people on social media to palter with the truth, to twist and distort it.

The level of honesty in our society has fallen into decline and the attitude that since everyone else lies, it is acceptable for me to lie has grown. This attitude may be categorized as a cognitive distortion, a habitually distorted way of thinking, which people use to rationalize what would have in the past been considered unacceptable behavior. It is a form of overgeneralizing, and the conclusion which it draws is not accurate because it is too general.

Disciples of Jesus are expected to be truthful and therefore worthy of the trust of others. They are expected to live their lives according to Jesus’ teachings and example. In the Sermon the Mount Jesus taught a radical principle of truthfulness: “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5: 37, NLT). We are expected to speak the truth but, as Paul himself points out in his letter to the Ephesians, in love, with caring for the person to whom we are speaking (Ephesians 4: 15). He is not just talking about speaking to them in a kind, gentle manner, which does not offend, but also in a way that helps them grow in spiritual maturity, using words that God can use for this purpose. I must admit that this takes a little practice.

Paul goes on to tell the members of the church at Rome that they should make every effort to live peacefully not just with each other but everybody. This includes not going on social media and deliberately making statements intended to cause disagreement and argument.

Contentiousness is the result of following the desires of our sinful nature (Galatians 5: 19-21). It is not the kind of fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. They include love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-22), the very things that we need to get along with other people.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are important steps in establishing and maintaining peaceful relationships with others. Avoidance will not resolve misunderstandings or make bitter feelings less severe. It will not bring about closure. Family members have harbored ill-will toward each other and not spoken to each other for decades.

From this short passage we can learn a lot about how to conduct our relationships with the members of our church family and people outside of our church family in a way that honors Jesus’ teachings, particular his teachings to love others and to love one another. Jesus did not tell us to being loving toward our fellow human beings and our fellow Christians because he thought that it was a cool thing to do. He told us because God himself is love and if we are his children, then like God, we are to love.

I don’t see how we can reconcile the unloving ways in which we at time behave and Jesus’s teachings and example and call ourselves Jesus’ disciples. Disciples emulate their teacher. They try to order their lives as closely to his teachings and example as they can. When we behave in unloving ways, we have gotten off track and clearly need to get back on track if we are sincere about following Jesus.

While Jesus’ teachings can be challenging, they are also life-giving. I personally cannot imagine a better way of life than caring about others, being kind and good to them, and living harmoniously and peacefully with them. God shows us grace and we in turn show grace to others.

One of the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah, about Jesus, is that he will bring about the “peaceable kingdom” (Isaiah 11: 1-9). In that kingdom all living things will be at peace with each other. While that prophesy will be fulfilled with Jesus’ return, it was partially fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming. Jesus put things right for us with God and he gave us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in us and through us to establish that kingdom. It is a kingdom that exists in the here and now but also lies in the future. It is the kingdom of God over which Jesus as the Prince of Peace reigns. It is not a physical kingdom like the kingdoms of the world. It is a kingdom of the heart and mind. It manifests itself when we love others as Jesus taught us to love. We are given a foretaste of the peaceable kingdom.

SONG OF PRAISE

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

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

With confidence and trust let us pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord, have mercy.”

For the one holy catholic and apostolic Church throughout the world, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For those preparing for baptism and for their teachers and sponsors, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For peace in the world, that a spirit of respect and reconciliation may grow among nations and peoples, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for refugees, prisoners, and all in danger; that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy

For all whom we have injured or offended, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

For grace to amend our lives and to further the reign of God, we pray to you, Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

Free Prayer

In silent or spontaneous prayer all bring before God the concerns of the day.

The Collect

Father of mercy, alone we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves. When we are discouraged by our weakness, strengthen us to follow Christ, our pattern and our hope; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

RESPONSE

Open this link in a new tab to hear Edward H. Bickersteth, Jr.’s hymn, “Peace, Perfect Peace, in This Dark World of Sin." 

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, ’mid suffering’s sharpest throes?
The sympathy of Jesus breathes repose.
The sympathy of Jesus breathes repose.

Peace, O perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
Jesus we know, we know, and He is on the throne.
Jesus we know, we know, and He is on the throne,
on the throne

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.

SOLEMN PRAYER OVER THE PEOPLE

Look with compassion, O Lord,
upon this your people;
that rightly observing this holy season
they may learn to know you more fully,
and to serve you with a more perfect will;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.