All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (July 9, 2022)
PROCLAMATION OF THE LIGHT
One or more candles may be lit. Grace, mercy and peace to us
from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
You are in the midst of us, O Lord;
and we are called by your name.
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 Richard Irwin’s adaptation of Margaret Old's “Spirit of God, Unseen as the Wind.”
Spirit of God, unseen as the wind,
Gentle as the dove;
Touch us with love and teach us to sing
Joy to you Lord above.
Your voice the sound, heard in the wind,
O’er fields and hills you sing;
Now I can hear, the joy, my Lord,
the peace your song will bring.
Spirit of God, unseen as the wind,
Gentle as the dove;
Touch us with love and teach us to sing
Joy to you Lord above.
Love in our hearts, praise in prayers,
We follow on your way;
Lord of the sky, Lord of the earth,
Answer us when we pray.
Spirit of God, unseen as the wind,
Gentle as the dove;
Touch us with love and teach us to sing
Joy to you Lord above.
SCRIPTURE
Colossians 1:1-14 Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer
This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.
May God our Father give you grace and peace.
We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
A Thanksgiving and a Prayer
What do we learn from the thanksgiving and the prayer (Colossians 1:1-14) with which the apostle Paul opens his letter to the church in the city of Colosse?
Paul ties the Colossians’ faith in Christ Jesus and their love for all of God’s people to their hope of what God has reserved for them in heaven. It is a confident hope, he tells them, a hope in which they put their trust. He points to their attention that they have had this expectation since they heard the good news. Paul emphasizes the truth of what they heard.
Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that the good news that they heard is also being proclaimed elsewhere. It is transforming lives wherever it is proclaimed just as it transformed their lives when they first heard and understood the truth about God’s grace, his goodwill and favor toward them, goodwill and favor which they did not deserve and could not earn, but which God has chosen to show them.
Paul identifies the Colossian’s love for others as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is God’s doing, God’s presence and power working in them.
Paul tells the Colossians that he has not stopped praying for them since he first heard about them. He explains to the Colossians what he has been asking God for them and how it will benefit them. He has been asking God to give them complete knowledge of his will and to give them spiritual wisdom and understanding. This Paul tells them will enable them to live in a way that will always honor and please God and to live lives which will produce every kind of good fruit. At the same time, they will grow and mature as they learn to know God better and better.
Paul further explains that he has been praying that God will strengthen them with all his power, not just a portion of it but all of it, so they will have all the endurance and patience they need. He concludes the opening of the letter with these words.
"May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins."
I can imagine the reaction of the congregation of the Colossian church when the opening of Paul’s letter was first read to them. A ripple of excitement must have passed through the congregation. Paul’s words are very affirming.
Wouldn’t we like to hear affirming words like Paul’s? Wouldn’t we like someone to write us, saying that they had heard good things about our faith in Jesus and our love for others? Wouldn’t we like to hear that the good news which we heard and which we believed is bearing fruit elsewhere? Wouldn’t we like to know that people are praying for us?
One of the challenges of the twenty-first century is providing affirmation, encouragement, and support to our fellow Christians.
Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that the good news that they heard is also being proclaimed elsewhere. It is transforming lives wherever it is proclaimed just as it transformed their lives when they first heard and understood the truth about God’s grace, his goodwill and favor toward them, goodwill and favor which they did not deserve and could not earn, but which God has chosen to show them.
Paul identifies the Colossian’s love for others as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is God’s doing, God’s presence and power working in them.
Paul tells the Colossians that he has not stopped praying for them since he first heard about them. He explains to the Colossians what he has been asking God for them and how it will benefit them. He has been asking God to give them complete knowledge of his will and to give them spiritual wisdom and understanding. This Paul tells them will enable them to live in a way that will always honor and please God and to live lives which will produce every kind of good fruit. At the same time, they will grow and mature as they learn to know God better and better.
Paul further explains that he has been praying that God will strengthen them with all his power, not just a portion of it but all of it, so they will have all the endurance and patience they need. He concludes the opening of the letter with these words.
"May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins."
I can imagine the reaction of the congregation of the Colossian church when the opening of Paul’s letter was first read to them. A ripple of excitement must have passed through the congregation. Paul’s words are very affirming.
Wouldn’t we like to hear affirming words like Paul’s? Wouldn’t we like someone to write us, saying that they had heard good things about our faith in Jesus and our love for others? Wouldn’t we like to hear that the good news which we heard and which we believed is bearing fruit elsewhere? Wouldn’t we like to know that people are praying for us?
One of the challenges of the twenty-first century is providing affirmation, encouragement, and support to our fellow Christians.
In Paul’s day an apostle had only two ways that he could offer affirmation, encouragement,, and support to a congregation of believers in a particular city or region of the ancient world. He could visit the congregation in person. Or he could write them a letter and then have a trusted fellow believer take the letter to the congregation.
We now have multiple ways of communicating with a congregation. Regrettably we do not take full advantage of them.
It is hard to explain our hesitance. We are reluctant to share with other congregations what our congregation is doing. We are also reluctant to offer words of affirmation, encouragement, and support to other congregations.
Congregations that form a deanery, a charge (or circuit), a local association, or some other subdivision of a denominational judicatory are in a good position to affirm, encourage, and support each other. They can not only keep each other informed of what they are doing but they can in various ways affirm, encourage, and support each other.
For example, they might create a group on Facebook and use it to report on what they are doing as congregations and to affirm, encourage, and support what each other is doing. They could also post specific prayers online.
It is hard to explain our hesitance. We are reluctant to share with other congregations what our congregation is doing. We are also reluctant to offer words of affirmation, encouragement, and support to other congregations.
Congregations that form a deanery, a charge (or circuit), a local association, or some other subdivision of a denominational judicatory are in a good position to affirm, encourage, and support each other. They can not only keep each other informed of what they are doing but they can in various ways affirm, encourage, and support each other.
For example, they might create a group on Facebook and use it to report on what they are doing as congregations and to affirm, encourage, and support what each other is doing. They could also post specific prayers online.
When we post a prayer online, others are able to join in that prayer and make it their own.
A congregation might send a music team to another congregation which is temporarily without music leadership for its services.
A congregation might also send a VBS team to help another congregation conduct a Vacation Bible School.
Helping each other is a powerful way of affirming, encouraging, and supporting each other.
In the opening of his letter to the Colossians Paul applies two principles that he mentions elsewhere in his letters. He uses words that build up and not tear down. What he writes is also edifying. These are practices that we will want to emulate.
Church members and attendees can also affirm, encourage, and support each other. They can help each other and pray for each other. When we affirm, encourage, and support others, help others, and pray for them, we show our love for them.
A place to start is to thank God for enabling the members and attendees of our church and the members and attendees of the other churches in our judicatorial subdivision to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to love others and to ask God to give our congregation and the other congregations forming that subdivision complete knowledge of his will and to give us and them spiritual wisdom and understanding, praying that the way we all live will always honor and please the Lord, our lives will produce every kind of good fruit, and that in time we all will grow as we learn to know God better and better.
In the opening of his letter to the Colossians Paul applies two principles that he mentions elsewhere in his letters. He uses words that build up and not tear down. What he writes is also edifying. These are practices that we will want to emulate.
Church members and attendees can also affirm, encourage, and support each other. They can help each other and pray for each other. When we affirm, encourage, and support others, help others, and pray for them, we show our love for them.
A place to start is to thank God for enabling the members and attendees of our church and the members and attendees of the other churches in our judicatorial subdivision to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to love others and to ask God to give our congregation and the other congregations forming that subdivision complete knowledge of his will and to give us and them spiritual wisdom and understanding, praying that the way we all live will always honor and please the Lord, our lives will produce every kind of good fruit, and that in time we all will grow as we learn to know God better and better.
We can also ask God to show us and the other congregations forming the judicatorial subdivision the best ways to affirm, encourage, and support each other.
We can ask the same thing for the members and attendees of our particular church.
Thanksgiving and prayer is always a good place to start.
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
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
During the silence that follows each bidding, the congregation may pray aloud or silently for each concern or need
To our Father in heaven
let us make our requests with thanksgiving,
through our only mediator,
Jesus Christ the Son.
I ask your prayers for peace in the life of the world ...
Pray for God's peace.
Silence
I ask your prayers for all who suffer injury, sickness and loss ...
Pray for all who are afflicted.
To our Father in heaven
let us make our requests with thanksgiving,
through our only mediator,
Jesus Christ the Son.
I ask your prayers for peace in the life of the world ...
Pray for God's peace.
Silence
I ask your prayers for all who suffer injury, sickness and loss ...
Pray for all who are afflicted.
Silence
I ask your prayers for all who wield authority and influence ...
Pray for all who exercise power.
Silence
I ask your prayers for all whom we have wronged ...
Pray for all who hate us.
Silence
I ask your prayers for our bishop(s) ...
and for all whom Christ has appointed to his service ...
Pray for God's people.
Silence
I ask your prayers for ...
I ask your prayers for all who wield authority and influence ...
Pray for all who exercise power.
Silence
I ask your prayers for all whom we have wronged ...
Pray for all who hate us.
Silence
I ask your prayers for our bishop(s) ...
and for all whom Christ has appointed to his service ...
Pray for God's people.
Silence
I ask your prayers for ...
During the silence members of the congregation may ask the prayers of the congregation for specific concerns and needs
Silence
Give thanks to God for all
in whom Christ has been honoured,
(especially ... )
Silence
O God, whose will it is
that all should find salvation
and come to know the truth:
receive the prayers and petitions
which we offer in faith and love;
through him who gave proof of your purpose,
and who sacrificed himself
to win freedom for all humankind,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Collect
Almighty God,
you teach us in your word
that love is the fulfilling of the law;
grant that we may love you with all our heart
and our neighbour as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen.
RESPONSE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Liturgical Folk’s setting of the Trisagion, "Holy God."
Holy God
holy and mighty
holy immortal one
have mercy
mercy
mercy upon us
Repeat 5 more times.
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.
Silence
Give thanks to God for all
in whom Christ has been honoured,
(especially ... )
Silence
O God, whose will it is
that all should find salvation
and come to know the truth:
receive the prayers and petitions
which we offer in faith and love;
through him who gave proof of your purpose,
and who sacrificed himself
to win freedom for all humankind,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Collect
Almighty God,
you teach us in your word
that love is the fulfilling of the law;
grant that we may love you with all our heart
and our neighbour as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen.
RESPONSE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Liturgical Folk’s setting of the Trisagion, "Holy God."
Holy God
holy and mighty
holy immortal one
have mercy
mercy
mercy upon us
Repeat 5 more times.
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.
Comments
Post a Comment