All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (May 7, 2022)

 

PROCLAMATION OF THE LIGHT

One or more candles may be lit.

Christ is risen!!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!!

EVENING HYMN

Open this link in a new tab to hear Rusty Edward’s hymn, “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness.”

Praise the One who break the darkness
with a liberating light.
Praise the One who frees the prisoners
turning blindness into sight.
Praise the One who preached the Gospel
healing every dread disease.
Calming storms and feeding thousands
with the very bread of peace.

Praise the One who blessed the children
with a strong yet gentle word.
Praise the One who drove out demons
with a piercing two-edged sword.
Praise the one who brings cool water
to the desert's burning sand.
From this well comes living water
quenching thirst in every land.

Let us praise the Word incarnate:
Christ who suffered in our place.
Jesus died and rose victorious
that we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness
seeing what our God has done.
Let us praise the true Redeemer,
praise the One who makes us one.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

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

We praise and thank you, O God our Father,
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him you have enlightened us
by revealing the light that never fades,
for dark death has been destroyed
and radiant life is everywhere restored.
What was promised is fulfilled:
we have been joined to God,
through renewed life in the Spirit of the risen Lord.
Glory and praise to you, our Father,
through Jesus your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Spirit,
in the kingdom of light eternal,
for ever and ever. Amen.

HYMN OF THE DAY

Open this link in a new tab to hear John L. Bell and Graham Maule’s “Christ Has Risen While Earth Slumbers.”

Christ has risen while earth slumbers,
Christ has risen where hope died,
as he said and as he promised,
as we doubted and denied.
Let the moon embrace the blessing;
let the sun sustain the cheer;
let the world confirm the rumour.
Christ is risen, God is here!

Christ has risen for the people
whom he loved and died to save;
Christ has risen for the women
bringing flowers to grace his grave
Christ has risen for disciples
huddled in an upstairs room.
He whose word inspired creation
is not silenced by the tomb.

Christ has risen to companion
former friends who fear the night,
sensing loss and limitation
where their faith had once burned bright.
They bemoan what is no longer,
they expect no hopeful sign
till Christ ends their conversation,
breaking bread and sharing wine.

Christ has risen and forever
lives to challenge and to change
all whose lives are messed or mangled,
all who find religion strange.
Christ is risen. Christ is present
making us what he has been –
evidence of transformation
in which God is known and seen.

SCRIPTURE

Revelation 7:9-17 A Great Multitude

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?"

I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.

They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Silence is kept.

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

HOMILY

Redeemed

Today’s reading is taken from the Revelation to John, a series of revelatory visions that its putative author, John the Elder, received on the Lord’s Day, a Sunday, while in exile on the island of Patmos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. At the time it was written apocalyptic literature was not uncommon and followed specific conventions and those who read it would have understood its symbolism and literary devices far better than we do.

Because we have difficulty interpreting Revelation, we are apt to read it into the book, various meanings which have nothing to do with what the author or authors originally meant. Some Bible scholars attribute Revelation to more than one writer.

One thing that it is important to know about Revelation is that the visions described in it are not in any particular sequential order. Today’s reading, Revelation 7: 9-17, may be one of the clearest visions in the book. It describes the huge throng of the redeemed standing before the throne of God and praising God and the Lamb.

The Lamb of Revelation is Jesus, the Lamb of John 1: 29 in which John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." It is used again as a title for Jesus in John 1:36. It alludes to the lamb that was sacrificed before the first Passover and whose blood was smeared on the lintel and posts of the doors of every house in which the people of Israel lived. The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt at the time this happened. You can read about it in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 12.

The angel of death would spare the occupants of the house whose door lintel and door posts had the blood of a sacrificed lamb smeared on it. Those whose door lintels and door posts were not so marked and who were a firstborn died.

Lambs were highly-valued in Biblical times and the Old Testament contains many references to the sacrificing of a lamb.

It is also worthy of note that all firstborns belong to God, both animals and human beings, according to the Old Testament. They must be redeemed or sacrificed. They are redeemed by the sacrificing of a prescribed animal in their place.

This helps to explain Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. To affect a reconciliation between himself and humankind, God offered himself in the person of Jesus as a sacrifice for our redemption, a sacrifice to spare us from the consequence of our sin, our impaired relationship with God. God himself paid the price of that redemption, saving us from the bad results of our rebellion against God, including death. This is how the early Christians came to understand the need for Jesus’s death.

Among the things in this passage, which are noteworthy is how vast the crowd of redeemed people is. There are so many of them that they cannot be counted. They come not just from one people group but all people groups, from all of humanity. They have endured suffering but in the process they have been made holy. They worship God in his very presence. The Lamb is their shelter and their shepherd. They no longer experience hunger, thirst, or the scorching heat of the sun. They drink from wells of living water. They no longer experience sadness or unhappiness.

This imagery would have resonated with the people living around the Mediterranean Sea and in the Mid-East in ancient times as it should resonate with people living there today. In some places vegetation and water is scarce. Pastoralists living these areas must constantly move their cattle, goats, and sheep in search of grazing and water. A pastoralist is a farmer who breeds and takes care of animals. They would be exposed to the elements as well as often hungry or thirsty.

Those whom God has redeemed and made holy we learn from this reading will no longer suffer these privations. They will be filled with unspeakable joy.

What are the things about God, Jesus, and ourselves we can learn from this passage? With Jesus’ death God has redeemed more than a handful of people, a select few. God has redeemed a great multitude!

God does not promise us an easy life as a follower of Jesus. God, however, will use the events of our life to sanctify and perfect us, to transform us into the likeness of Jesus—obedient, loving, and holy.

Our worship of God in this life is just a foretaste of the worship of God in the life to come. A foretaste is “something that gives you an idea of what something else is like by allowing you to experience a small example of it before it happens.”

Think about that for a moment.

Worshiping God involves more than praising God in song. While singing God’s praise is a part of it along with proclaiming God’s marvelous deeds, at the heart of worshiping God is living a life of faith and love, a life centered on God, a life in harmony with God’s will, a life lived according to Jesus’ teaching and example.

If we love God and others in this life, how much greater will be our love for God and others in the life to come.

Silence is kept.

SONG OF PRAISE

Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s adaptation 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.

[Instrumental interlude]

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

Periods of silence may be kept.

Heavenly Father,
you have promised to hear when we pray
in the name of your Son.
Therefore in confidence and trust
we pray for the Church:

(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)

Father, enliven the Church for its mission

that we may be salt of the earth and light to the world.

Breathe fresh life into your people.

Give us power to reveal Christ in word and action.

We pray for the world:

(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)

Creator of all,
lead us and every people into ways of justice and peace.

That we may respect one another in freedom and truth.

Awaken in us a sense of wonder for the earth and all that is in it.

Teach us to care creatively for its resources.

We pray for the community:

(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)

God of truth, inspire with your wisdom

those whose decisions affect the lives of others

that all may act with integrity and courage.

Give grace to all whose lives are linked with ours.

May we serve Christ in one another, and love as he loves us.

We pray for those in need:

(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)

God of hope, comfort and restore
all who suffer in body, mind or spirit.

May they know the power of your healing love.

Make us willing agents of your compassion.

Strengthen us as we share in making people whole.

We remember those who have died and those who mourn:

(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)

We remember with thanksgiving those who have died in the faith
of Christ, and those whose faith is known to you alone.

Father, into your hands we commend them.

Give comfort to those who mourn.

Bring them peace in their time of loss.

We praise you for (N and) all your saints
who have entered your eternal glory.

May their example inspire and encourage us.

We pray for ourselves and our ministries:

(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered and the prayers
conclude with the following.)

Lord, you have called us to serve you.
Grant that we may walk in your presence:
your love in our hearts,
your truth in our minds,
your strength in our wills;
until, at the end of our journey,
we know the joy of our homecoming
and the welcome of your embrace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Collect

God of peace,
by the blood of the eternal covenant
you brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep;
make us perfect in every good work,
and work in us that which is pleasing and good;
through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

RESPONSE

Open this link in a new tab to hear Keith Green’s “There Is a Redeemer.”

There is a Redeemer
Jesus, God's own Son
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Holy One

Jesus my Redeemer
Name above all names
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Oh, for sinners slain

Thank you, oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
'Til the work on Earth is done

When I stand in Glory
I will see His face
And there I'll serve my King forever
In that Holy Place

Thank you, oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
'Til the work on Earth is done

Thank you, oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
'Til the work on Earth is done

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 Christ who out of defeat brings new hope and new alternatives, bring us new life
and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be with us always. Amen