All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (April 13, 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
Galatians 6: 1-10 We Harvest What We Plant
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
When my mother was alive, she on a number of occasions had adults come up to her in the supermarket or some other public place and identify themselves as one of her former students. They were excited to see her and would tell her what they had been doing with their lives. She had been their teacher in the fourth grade, and she had left a lasting impression on them—a positive one so that she held a special place in their memory. At least two of them had gone on to become teachers themselves due to her influence in their lives. They had decided that they had wanted to be someone like her.
In today’s reading from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians—Galatians 6:1-10, we find a verse that has become proverbial, “You reap what you sow.” We eventually must face the consequences of our actions whatever they may be. While we may avoid for a while the results of the bad things or good things that we have done, sooner or later they will catch up with us.
In my mother’s case she learned from these people that she had had a positive impact on their lives.
As a teacher my mother cared about her students and wanted to see them do well in life. In part it may have been because she had received her teacher training in a Church of England college for the training of women teachers who “like their brothers, would go out to the schools in the service of humanity, lay priests to the poor, moved by Christian Charity.” The students at her college received training in understanding, interpreting, and explaining the Old Testament and the New Testament and providing religious instruction to children, and they attended daily chapel services.
In part it was because who she was. She took a genuine interest in her students.
What we do with our lives and how we treat others can have positive consequences for ourselves and others or it can have negative ones. One way or another we will experience the consequences of what we say or do. Indeed, our words and actions, as Paul points to the attention of the church in Galatia, can have eternal consequences for us.
Paul goes on to urge the members of the Galatian church not to grow tired of doing what is good. If they persevere, he tells them, they will in due time reap a harvest of blessings. For this reason, they should take advantage of every opportunity to do good to everyone, particularly the members of the family of faith, their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now Paul does not tell them that they should do good solely to their fellow Christians. Regrettably some Christians have in recent times taken this attitude toward their communities and their fellow human beings. One of the consequences has been that they not only harmed the way their particular church is thought of by other people, but they also affected the opinion that people have about the other churches in the community and Christians in general. They have erected a barrier between the gospel and unchurched people in their community and elsewhere. They have reinforced the perception that Christians are hypocrites. Christians are not sincere in what they say that they believe.
In his second general rule for Methodists John Wesley reiterates what Paul says. “…they should evidence their continued desire for salvation,” Wesley writes, “…by doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all men….”
Wesley realized that it was not enough to outwardly do good to others. Our doing good must mirror the disposition of our hearts. It must reflect an inward change—a desire to please God, to please the Spirit as Paul puts it in today’s reading.
Doing good to others cannot put things right between God and ourselves. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, not by our own efforts. But our faith in Jesus reveals itself in our actions. Doing good to others is an expression of our faith in Jesus, our trust and confidence in him and his words.
It is God’s grace working in us, his sanctifying and perfecting grace, which enable us to do good. Without God’s divine influence working in us, we have little inclination to do good to anyone.
Jesus in his teachings compares people to trees. We know what kind of tree that a tree is by the fruit which it produces. A good tree will produce good fruit. The good deeds that we do as well as the good qualities of character that we exhibit are the fruit that we bear.
Let it always be our prayer that we are good trees of God’s own planting, growing in maturity of character and love of God and bearing good fruit to God’s glory. And then live our prayer, making the best of every opportunity God gives us to do good to others, to show them the same loving kindness that God shows us.
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
Almighty and everliving God, in tender love for all our human race you sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take our flesh and suffer death upon a cruel cross. May we follow the example of his great humility and share in the glory of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive 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 Geral Near’s choral arrangement of Isaac Watt’s “Christ Hath a Garden Walled Around.”
1 Christ hath a garden walled around,
A Paradise of fruitful ground,
Chosen by love and fenced by grace
From out the world's wide wilderness.
2 Like trees of spice his servants stand,
There planted by his mighty hand;
By Eden's gracious streams, that flow
To feed their beauty where they grow.
3 Awake, O wind of heav'n and bear
Their sweetest perfume through the air:
Stir up, O south, the boughs that bloom,
Till the beloved Master come:
4 That he may come, and linger yet
Among the trees that he hath set;
That he may evermore be seen
To walk amid the springing green.
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.
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
Galatians 6: 1-10 We Harvest What We Plant
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
Good Trees of God's Own Planting
When my mother was alive, she on a number of occasions had adults come up to her in the supermarket or some other public place and identify themselves as one of her former students. They were excited to see her and would tell her what they had been doing with their lives. She had been their teacher in the fourth grade, and she had left a lasting impression on them—a positive one so that she held a special place in their memory. At least two of them had gone on to become teachers themselves due to her influence in their lives. They had decided that they had wanted to be someone like her.
In today’s reading from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians—Galatians 6:1-10, we find a verse that has become proverbial, “You reap what you sow.” We eventually must face the consequences of our actions whatever they may be. While we may avoid for a while the results of the bad things or good things that we have done, sooner or later they will catch up with us.
In my mother’s case she learned from these people that she had had a positive impact on their lives.
As a teacher my mother cared about her students and wanted to see them do well in life. In part it may have been because she had received her teacher training in a Church of England college for the training of women teachers who “like their brothers, would go out to the schools in the service of humanity, lay priests to the poor, moved by Christian Charity.” The students at her college received training in understanding, interpreting, and explaining the Old Testament and the New Testament and providing religious instruction to children, and they attended daily chapel services.
In part it was because who she was. She took a genuine interest in her students.
What we do with our lives and how we treat others can have positive consequences for ourselves and others or it can have negative ones. One way or another we will experience the consequences of what we say or do. Indeed, our words and actions, as Paul points to the attention of the church in Galatia, can have eternal consequences for us.
Paul goes on to urge the members of the Galatian church not to grow tired of doing what is good. If they persevere, he tells them, they will in due time reap a harvest of blessings. For this reason, they should take advantage of every opportunity to do good to everyone, particularly the members of the family of faith, their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now Paul does not tell them that they should do good solely to their fellow Christians. Regrettably some Christians have in recent times taken this attitude toward their communities and their fellow human beings. One of the consequences has been that they not only harmed the way their particular church is thought of by other people, but they also affected the opinion that people have about the other churches in the community and Christians in general. They have erected a barrier between the gospel and unchurched people in their community and elsewhere. They have reinforced the perception that Christians are hypocrites. Christians are not sincere in what they say that they believe.
In his second general rule for Methodists John Wesley reiterates what Paul says. “…they should evidence their continued desire for salvation,” Wesley writes, “…by doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all men….”
Wesley realized that it was not enough to outwardly do good to others. Our doing good must mirror the disposition of our hearts. It must reflect an inward change—a desire to please God, to please the Spirit as Paul puts it in today’s reading.
Doing good to others cannot put things right between God and ourselves. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, not by our own efforts. But our faith in Jesus reveals itself in our actions. Doing good to others is an expression of our faith in Jesus, our trust and confidence in him and his words.
It is God’s grace working in us, his sanctifying and perfecting grace, which enable us to do good. Without God’s divine influence working in us, we have little inclination to do good to anyone.
Jesus in his teachings compares people to trees. We know what kind of tree that a tree is by the fruit which it produces. A good tree will produce good fruit. The good deeds that we do as well as the good qualities of character that we exhibit are the fruit that we bear.
Let it always be our prayer that we are good trees of God’s own planting, growing in maturity of character and love of God and bearing good fruit to God’s glory. And then live our prayer, making the best of every opportunity God gives us to do good to others, to show them the same loving kindness that God shows us.
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
Almighty and everliving God, in tender love for all our human race you sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take our flesh and suffer death upon a cruel cross. May we follow the example of his great humility and share in the glory of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive 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 Geral Near’s choral arrangement of Isaac Watt’s “Christ Hath a Garden Walled Around.”
1 Christ hath a garden walled around,
A Paradise of fruitful ground,
Chosen by love and fenced by grace
From out the world's wide wilderness.
2 Like trees of spice his servants stand,
There planted by his mighty hand;
By Eden's gracious streams, that flow
To feed their beauty where they grow.
3 Awake, O wind of heav'n and bear
Their sweetest perfume through the air:
Stir up, O south, the boughs that bloom,
Till the beloved Master come:
4 That he may come, and linger yet
Among the trees that he hath set;
That he may evermore be seen
To walk amid the springing green.
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.
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