All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (May 25, 2022)
PROCLAMATION OF THE LIGHT
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carol McClure’s harp rendition of the Shaker tune, LOVE IS LITTLE.Silence may be kept.
One or more candles may be lit.
God is love. Since God loves us, we should love one another.
EVENING HYMN
Oooh gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
Oooh gracious Light,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Oooh gracious Light,
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
Oooh gracious Light,
O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds.
Oooh gracious Light,
Oooh gracious Light,
Oooh gracious Light,
Oooh gracious Light.
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 “Heav’n Shall Not Wait.”
1 Heav’n shall not wait
For the poor to lose their patience,
The scorned to smile, the despised to find a friend:
Jesus is Lord;
He has championed the unwanted;
In him injustice confronts its timely end.
2 Heav’n shall not wait
For the rich to share their fortunes,
The proud to fall, the elite to tend the least:
Jesus is Lord;
He has shown the masters’ privilege—
To kneel and wash servants’ feet before they feast.
3 Heav’n shall not wait
For the dawn of great ideas,
Thoughts of compassion divorced from cries of pain:
Jesus is Lord;
He has married word and action;
His cross and company make his purpose plain.
*4 Heav’n shall not wait
For legalized obedience,
Defined by statute, to strict conventions bound:
Jesus is Lord;
He has hallmarked true allegiance—
Goodness appears where his grace is sought and found.
5 Heav’n shall not wait
For triumphant hallelujahs,
When earth has passed and we reach another shore:
Jesus is Lord
In our present imperfection;
His pow’r and love are for now and then for evermore.
* Omitted on the video.
SCRIPTURE
1 John 2: 7-11 The New Command
My dear friends, this command I am writing you is not new; it is the old command, the one you have had from the very beginning. The old command is the message you have already heard. However, the command I now write you is new, because its truth is seen in Christ and also in you. For the darkness is passing away, and the real light is already shining.
If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour. If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else or us to sin. But if we hate others, we are in the darkness; we walk in it and do not know where we are going, because the darkness has made us blind.
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
When we hate somebody, we have a very strong feeling of dislike for them. Our negative feelings toward them may be so intense that we deliberately avoid them, keeping away from them as much as possible and not speaking to them at all. Or we may try to harm them. We may talk about them behind their backs and spread false rumors about them. We may take other steps to make life miserable for them. We may even resort to physical violence.
A professional woman cyclist was recently murdered by a younger woman whose boyfriend she had been seeing. The younger woman shot her in a jealous rage. Hate appears to have motivated the gunman in the recent Buffalo supermarket shooting in which 10 people were killed.
Hate may stem from anger or fear or from an imagined or real wrong done us. When we experience hate toward someone, we become distrustful and paranoid: we believe other people do not like us and are trying to harm us. We gravitate to situations that reinforce our feelings of dislike for the person whom we hate. We do things that make our negative feelings toward them stronger, things that to our mind provide more proof or support for our dislike of them and make us think that we have good reason to not like them. Rather than letting go of our hate, we feed it.
In today’s reading, 1 John 2: 7-11, the apostle’s message is very clear. Those who harbor ill-will toward their fellow believers, to their brothers and sisters in Christ, are spiritually in darkness. They have not opened their hearts and minds fully to the light, to God in Jesus Christ. They are like someone walking outdoors on a cloudy, moonless night during a power outage, the kind of night when it is not possible to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. It is the kind of night when one may walk into a prickly holly bush or trip over a neighbor’s kid’s tricycle. They do not know where they are going because they cannot see. They are likely to cause someone else to sin or to fall into sin themselves.
When we hang on to bad feelings toward someone else, when we cater to our dislike of them, it has an adverse effect on our entire spiritual life. We close our hearts and minds to God’s grace. We essentially say “no” to God.
God has, through Jesus, taught us to love others, even our enemies, and to love each other. God supplies us with an abundance of grace to do just that. When we hang onto bitterness and resentment and keep alive ill-will toward someone, we are not only rejecting what God has revealed as his will in our relationships with others, but also we are refusing to accept and be changed by God’s grace.
Dealing with our negative feelings towards others is one of the challenges that a follower of Jesus faces. If we truly desire to walk in the light and to experience the transforming power of God’s grace in our lives, we need to work through any bad feelings that we have toward others and let go of them. If we hang on to them, they slowly poison us spiritually and keep us from experiencing the true freedom of being one of Christ’s own. We not only must be willing to forgive but also must forgive. When we forgive someone, we lift a burden off that person. We also lift a greater burden off ourselves.
Silence is kept.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Oooh gracious Light,
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
Oooh gracious Light,
O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds.
Oooh gracious Light,
Oooh gracious Light,
Oooh gracious Light,
Oooh gracious Light.
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 “Heav’n Shall Not Wait.”
1 Heav’n shall not wait
For the poor to lose their patience,
The scorned to smile, the despised to find a friend:
Jesus is Lord;
He has championed the unwanted;
In him injustice confronts its timely end.
2 Heav’n shall not wait
For the rich to share their fortunes,
The proud to fall, the elite to tend the least:
Jesus is Lord;
He has shown the masters’ privilege—
To kneel and wash servants’ feet before they feast.
3 Heav’n shall not wait
For the dawn of great ideas,
Thoughts of compassion divorced from cries of pain:
Jesus is Lord;
He has married word and action;
His cross and company make his purpose plain.
*4 Heav’n shall not wait
For legalized obedience,
Defined by statute, to strict conventions bound:
Jesus is Lord;
He has hallmarked true allegiance—
Goodness appears where his grace is sought and found.
5 Heav’n shall not wait
For triumphant hallelujahs,
When earth has passed and we reach another shore:
Jesus is Lord
In our present imperfection;
His pow’r and love are for now and then for evermore.
* Omitted on the video.
SCRIPTURE
1 John 2: 7-11 The New Command
My dear friends, this command I am writing you is not new; it is the old command, the one you have had from the very beginning. The old command is the message you have already heard. However, the command I now write you is new, because its truth is seen in Christ and also in you. For the darkness is passing away, and the real light is already shining.
If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour. If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else or us to sin. But if we hate others, we are in the darkness; we walk in it and do not know where we are going, because the darkness has made us blind.
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
Spiritual Poison
When we hate somebody, we have a very strong feeling of dislike for them. Our negative feelings toward them may be so intense that we deliberately avoid them, keeping away from them as much as possible and not speaking to them at all. Or we may try to harm them. We may talk about them behind their backs and spread false rumors about them. We may take other steps to make life miserable for them. We may even resort to physical violence.
A professional woman cyclist was recently murdered by a younger woman whose boyfriend she had been seeing. The younger woman shot her in a jealous rage. Hate appears to have motivated the gunman in the recent Buffalo supermarket shooting in which 10 people were killed.
Hate may stem from anger or fear or from an imagined or real wrong done us. When we experience hate toward someone, we become distrustful and paranoid: we believe other people do not like us and are trying to harm us. We gravitate to situations that reinforce our feelings of dislike for the person whom we hate. We do things that make our negative feelings toward them stronger, things that to our mind provide more proof or support for our dislike of them and make us think that we have good reason to not like them. Rather than letting go of our hate, we feed it.
In today’s reading, 1 John 2: 7-11, the apostle’s message is very clear. Those who harbor ill-will toward their fellow believers, to their brothers and sisters in Christ, are spiritually in darkness. They have not opened their hearts and minds fully to the light, to God in Jesus Christ. They are like someone walking outdoors on a cloudy, moonless night during a power outage, the kind of night when it is not possible to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. It is the kind of night when one may walk into a prickly holly bush or trip over a neighbor’s kid’s tricycle. They do not know where they are going because they cannot see. They are likely to cause someone else to sin or to fall into sin themselves.
When we hang on to bad feelings toward someone else, when we cater to our dislike of them, it has an adverse effect on our entire spiritual life. We close our hearts and minds to God’s grace. We essentially say “no” to God.
God has, through Jesus, taught us to love others, even our enemies, and to love each other. God supplies us with an abundance of grace to do just that. When we hang onto bitterness and resentment and keep alive ill-will toward someone, we are not only rejecting what God has revealed as his will in our relationships with others, but also we are refusing to accept and be changed by God’s grace.
Dealing with our negative feelings towards others is one of the challenges that a follower of Jesus faces. If we truly desire to walk in the light and to experience the transforming power of God’s grace in our lives, we need to work through any bad feelings that we have toward others and let go of them. If we hang on to them, they slowly poison us spiritually and keep us from experiencing the true freedom of being one of Christ’s own. We not only must be willing to forgive but also must forgive. When we forgive someone, we lift a burden off that person. We also lift a greater burden off ourselves.
Silence is kept.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Open this link to hear the Liturgical Folk’s setting of our Lord’s Summary of the Law, “Jesus Creed.”
Jesus said
The first commandment is this:
Hear O Israel
The Lord our God is the only Lord.
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
Amen.
SONG OF PRAISE
Open this link in a new tab to hear the Liturgical Folk’s setting of the Magnificat, “Song of Mary.”
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
In the power of the resurrection
we offer our prayers to God.
Let us pray.
Remember, O Lord, in your love
the Church throughout the world . . .
those recently baptized and confirmed . . .
those who minister to others . . .
Silence
May your whole Church know your power
and be a sign that Christ is risen.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Remember in your love the world you have made . . .
those who seek a fair and proper use of the
world’s resources . . .
those who strive for justice and peace
among the nations . . .
Silence
May the whole earth be transformed by mercy and rejoice in hope.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Remember in your love those who suffer . . .
the victims of violence and injustice . . .
those who mourn . . .
Silence
May all in need find comfort, strength and freedom in the living Christ.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Remember in your love those who have died:
those who have confessed the faith
and those whose faith is known to you
alone.
Silence
May all your children receive grace and light according to their needs and come at last to share with all the saints in life eternal.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Gracious God, we ask these prayers through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Saviour. Amen.
The Collect
Almighty God,
you sent your Holy Spirit to the disciples,
filling them with joy and boldness
to preach the gospel;
send us out in the power of the same Spirit
to witness to your redeeming love
and draw all people to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and forever.
Amen.
RESPONSE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Kevin Siegfried’s arrangement of the Shaker song, “Love Is Little.”
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make the spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make our spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make our spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make the spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
As our Saviour taught his disciples,
we pray:
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
God the Father,
by whose glory Christ was raised from
the dead,
strengthen us
to walk with him in his risen life;
and may almighty God bless us,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Jesus said
The first commandment is this:
Hear O Israel
The Lord our God is the only Lord.
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
Amen.
SONG OF PRAISE
Open this link in a new tab to hear the Liturgical Folk’s setting of the Magnificat, “Song of Mary.”
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
In the power of the resurrection
we offer our prayers to God.
Let us pray.
Remember, O Lord, in your love
the Church throughout the world . . .
those recently baptized and confirmed . . .
those who minister to others . . .
Silence
May your whole Church know your power
and be a sign that Christ is risen.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Remember in your love the world you have made . . .
those who seek a fair and proper use of the
world’s resources . . .
those who strive for justice and peace
among the nations . . .
Silence
May the whole earth be transformed by mercy and rejoice in hope.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Remember in your love those who suffer . . .
the victims of violence and injustice . . .
those who mourn . . .
Silence
May all in need find comfort, strength and freedom in the living Christ.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Remember in your love those who have died:
those who have confessed the faith
and those whose faith is known to you
alone.
Silence
May all your children receive grace and light according to their needs and come at last to share with all the saints in life eternal.
Lord of life,
hear us in your love.
Gracious God, we ask these prayers through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Saviour. Amen.
The Collect
Almighty God,
you sent your Holy Spirit to the disciples,
filling them with joy and boldness
to preach the gospel;
send us out in the power of the same Spirit
to witness to your redeeming love
and draw all people to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and forever.
Amen.
RESPONSE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Kevin Siegfried’s arrangement of the Shaker song, “Love Is Little.”
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make the spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make our spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make our spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Love is little,
Love is low,
Love will make the spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
As our Saviour taught his disciples,
we pray:
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
God the Father,
by whose glory Christ was raised from
the dead,
strengthen us
to walk with him in his risen life;
and may almighty God bless us,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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