All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (June 18, 2022)

 

PROCLAMATION OF THE LIGHT

One or more candles may be lit.

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; and he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10:38

EVENING HYMN

Open this link in a new tab to hear the Liturgical Folk’s setting of the Phos hilaron, “O Gracious Light.”

O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
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 thy praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Thou art worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
thou art worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

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, ruler of the universe!
Your word brings on the dusk of evening,
your wisdom creates both night and day.
You determine the cycles of time,
arrange the succession of seasons,
and establish the stars in their heavenly courses.
Lord of the starry hosts is your name.
Living and eternal God, rule over us always.
Blessed be the Lord, whose word makes evening fall.
Amen.

HYMN OF THE DAY

Open this link in a new tab to hear John L. Bell and Graham Maule’s hymn, “Will You Come and Follow Me (The Summons).”

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 65: 1-9 Judgment and Final Salvation

“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that did not call on my name.

All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.
But they follow their own evil paths
and their own crooked schemes.
All day long they insult me to my face
by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens.
They burn incense on pagan altars.
At night they go out among the graves,
worshiping the dead.
They eat the flesh of pigs
and make stews with other forbidden foods.
Yet they say to each other,
‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!
I am holier than you!’
These people are a stench in my nostrils,
an acrid smell that never goes away.

“Look, my decree is written out in front of me:
I will not stand silent;
I will repay them in full!
Yes, I will repay them—
both for their own sins
and for those of their ancestors,”
says the Lord.
“For they also burned incense on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills.
I will pay them back in full!

“But I will not destroy them all,”
says the Lord.
“For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones
(and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—
some of those grapes are good!’),
so I will not destroy all Israel.
For I still have true servants there.
I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel
and of Judah to possess my land.
Those I choose will inherit it,
and my servants will live there.

Silence is kept.

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

HOMILY

Bad Grapes, Good Grapes

I lived with my grandparents from the time my mother brought me home from the hospital to my third year in university. The local school district provided a free daily commuter bus service to the state university that I attended. It recognized that all students could not afford to stay in one of the residence halls on campus, rent an apartment in the town, or drive their own car to school. A number of students working their way through college took advantage of this service. I was one of them.

My grandparents were very frugal. They had lived through two World Wars and food rationing, the General Strike of 1926, and the Great Depression. They did not waste anything. Food scraps that could not be turned into something else like stock for soup were fed to the pigs or went on the compost heap. “Waste not, wont not” was a saying that I frequently heard. If they discovered a cluster of grapes had gone bad, they would not throw away the whole bunch. They would look for the good ones in the cluster and use them. They would only throw away the bad grapes in the cluster.

Today’s reading, Isaiah 65: 1-9, tells us that God is the same way. God was not going to destroy all Israel because its people had proven faithless. God would preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and Judah, those who were still God’s true servants. They would inherit the land God had given to Israel. It would be their possession.

Among the things that we learn from this passage and from the whole Book of Isaiah is that God is faithful. Faithfulness is not only a part of God’s character, but also God values faithfulness in his people and rewards their faithfulness.

Who did God consider his true servants? A remnant of the people of Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms into which Israel had been divided, who remained loyal to God, who did not worship other gods, kept the covenant that God had made with Israel, and obeyed God’s commandments.

What then does this passage mean for us and our fellow Christians?

As God was faithful to the people of Israel and Judah, God is also faithful to us. In the person of the Son God suffered and died on a cross to put things right between himself and us. In the person of the Son God has given us principles by which we can live our lives in a manner pleasing to him. In the person of the Holy Spirit God live in us and empowers, guides, and protect us. God has also given us the means of grace through which grace flow into our lives and renews in us the image of God.

Like the people of Israel and Judah we can be faithless and damage our relationship with God. How we are faithless may differ from the way that they were faithless, but we are capable of being faithless too.

We are “vulnerable to self-deception, temptation, and distraction.” We can let other matters take center stage in our lives, replacing God and the mission that God has called us to share.

Like that remnant of the people of Israel and Judah we can be faithful to God and show ourselves to be his true servants. We can demonstrate that Jesus is indeed our Lord in our actions. We can live according to his teaching and example. We can follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. We can take advantage of the means of grace. We can stay centered on Christ and the mission he has given his disciples in the world.

We can be the good grapes found among a cluster of bad ones.

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

Let us pray.

God, most gracious and most holy,
grant us the help of your Spirit
as we pray for the Church and the world.

We pray for the Church in every land . . .
for this church and for other local churches . . .
that we may worship and serve you
with reverence and joy.

Silence

Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.

We pray for the peoples of the world . . .
and for the leaders of the nations . . .
that all may work together for justice and peace.

Silence

Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.

We pray for those who are ill or distressed . . .
for the lonely and the bereaved . . .
and for those in any other need or trouble . . .
that they may be comforted and sustained.

Silence

Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.

Father, we remember before you
all your servants who have died in the faith of Christ . . .
We pray that we too may lead faithful and godly lives in this world,
and finally share with all the saints in everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Collect

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless
till they find their rest in you;
so lead us by your Spirit
that in this life we may live to your glory
and in the life to come enjoy you for ever;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

RESPONSE

Open this link in a new tab to hear Joh L. Bell’s “Kyrie (Columbia)”

Lord, have mercy upon is.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon is.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

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

The blessing of God,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
remain with us always. Amen.