All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (June 12, 2022)

PROCLAMATION OF THE LIGHT

One or more candles may be lit.

God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! Galatians 4:6

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 Brian Wren’s “There’s a Spirit in the Air.”

There's a spirit in the air,
telling Christians everywhere:
"Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world!"

Lose your shyness, find your tongue,
tell the world what God has done:
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!

When believers break the bread,
when a hungry child is fed,
praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world.

Still the Spirit leads the fight,
seeing wrong and setting right:
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!

When a stranger's not alone,
where the homeless find a home,
praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world.

May the Spirit fill our praise,
guide our thoughts and change our ways.
God in Christ has come to stay.
Live tomorrow's life today!

There's a Spirit in the air,
telling Christians everywhere:
“Praise the love that Christ revealed,
living, working in our world.”

SCRIPTURE

John 16:12-15 The Spirit of Truth

“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

Silence is kept.

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

HOMILY

Unchanging and Changeless

Today’s reading, John 16:12-15, is sometimes used in an attempt to convince people to accept a teaching that contradicts what Jesus taught according to Scripture or otherwise does not conform to Jesus’ teaching recorded in the New Testament. The individual or group spreading this teaching will claim that the Holy Spirit revealed it to them and therefore the Holy Spirit must have received it from Jesus, citing this passage to support their claim.

In his first general epistle John gives this warning, “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world” (1 John 4: 1 NLT). The author of the Letter to the Hebrews draws to our attention, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas…” (Hebrews 13: 8-9 NLT).

Jesus affirmed God’s commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves and identified as our neighbor people who are outside our “tribe,” people who do not belong to the same group as we belong. Jesus taught his followers to love one another as he loved them. He is not going to contradict himself and pass onto us through the Holy Spirit that we don’t have to love the members of this group or that group or this member of our congregation or that member.

As Jesus himself said, the Son only taught what the Father gave him to teach. Likewise, the Holy Spirit teaches only what Jesus taught.

God is unchanging and changeless. God is not capricious, given to sudden and unexpected changes of mood or behavior like the gods and goddesses of the ancient pagan world. Jesus shares this characteristic. We can put our trust in what Jesus taught and the example he set when he walked among us.

The Holy Spirit will not teach us something that is so different from what Jesus taught that it must be wrong. If Jesus taught that the punishment of wrongdoing is in God’s hands and we are not to take vengeance on those who harm us, then a spirit which urges us to avenge ourselves on someone for the wrong that they have done us does not come from God.

Jesus taught his disciples to love their enemies and to do good to those who were unfriendly toward them and sought to do them harm. The Holy Spirit teaches the same thing. Jesus taught his disciples to treat other people as they would themselves wish to be treated, to be lenient in their judgment of other people and to make allowances for them, and to never cease forgiving other people’s failings, their faults and weaknesses. So does the Holy Spirit. If we wish to know what the Holy Spirit teaches, then we should study what Jesus taught.

We should keep one thing in mind. While the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are separate persons, they are one God: they form one being and share one substance. The Son became human, taught us, and suffered and died for us. The Holy Spirit lives in us. But they are one God and they are love.

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

Generous God,
you gave your Son for the life of the whole world.
Give us the joy of knowing the risen Christ,
and let your Holy Spirit guide us,
that we may love and serve you on earth
and live with you for ever in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

RESPONSE

Open this link in a new tab to hear Shirley Erena Murray’s “Go Gently, Go Lightly.”

Go gently, go lightly,
go safe in the Spirit,
live simply, don't carry
much more than you need:
go trusting God's goodness,
go spreading God's kindness,
stay centered on Jesus
and where he will lead.

Go singing, go bringing
the gifts of the Spirit,
go hopefully searching
for things that are true:
in living, in loving,
whatever befalls you,
God keep you, God bless you
in all that you do.

[Instrumental interlude]

Go gently, go lightly,
go safe in the Spirit,
live simply, don't carry
much more than you need:
go trusting God's goodness,
go spreading God's kindness,
stay centered on Jesus
and where he will lead.

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.