All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (November 2, 2022)
THE BLESSING OF THE LIGHT
A lamp or candle may be lit. The Lord is my light and my salvation:
my God shall make my darkness to be bright.
The light and peace of Jesus Christ be with you
and also with you.
Blessed are you, Lord God, creator of day and night:
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As darkness falls you renew your promise
to reveal among us the light of your presence.
By the light of Christ, your living Word,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
that we may walk as children of light
and sing your praise throughout the world.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
Blessed be God for ever.
Other candles may be lit as the following is sung.
Open this link in a new tab to hear F. Bland Tucker’s translation of the evening hymn Phos hlaron, “O Gracious Light.”
1 O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ,
In you the Father’s glory shone.
Immortal, holy, blest is he,
And blest are you, his holy Son.
2 Now sunset comes, but light shines forth,
the lamps are lit to pierce the night.
Praise Father, Son, and Spirit: God
Who dwells in the eternal light.
3 Worthy are you of endless praise,
O Son of God, Life-giving Lord;
Wherefore you are through all the earth
And in the highest heaven adored.
O Gracious Light.
As Psalm 141 — A Song of the Evening Sacrifice, is sung, incense may be burned.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Tony Alonso’s responsorial setting of the evening psalm, “Psalm 141—Like Burning Incense, O Lord.”
Like burning incense, O Lord,
let my rise to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
let my prayer rise to you.
1 I call out to you,
Come quickly to my aid.
My song cries out to you,
O listen to me now.
I raise my hands in off’ring to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
2 Let me speak your truth;
watch over all I say.
Keep my thoughts on you;
let goodness rule my heart.
Keep me far from those who do harm.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
3 Never let me dine
with those who seek to harm.
Keep your holy ones
always at my side.
Plant your wisdom deep in my soul.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
4 I look to you for help;
I seek your loving eyes.
Guard my life for you;
Spare me from all wrong.
Keep all evil far from my heart.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
5 Glory be to God
and to God’s only Son,
glory to the Spirit,
three in one,
now and for ever. Amen.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you as incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
This opening prayer is said.
That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise
now and for ever.
Amen.
THE WORD OF GOD
PSALMODY
Open this link to hear Marty Haugen’s setting of Psalm 23, “Shepherd Me, O God.”
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
1 God is my shepherd, so nothing shall I want,
I rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
2 Gently you raise me and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing the music of your name.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
3 Though I should wander the valley of death,
I fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
4 You have set me a banquet of love
in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love beyond my power to hold.
As Psalm 141 — A Song of the Evening Sacrifice, is sung, incense may be burned.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Tony Alonso’s responsorial setting of the evening psalm, “Psalm 141—Like Burning Incense, O Lord.”
Like burning incense, O Lord,
let my rise to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
let my prayer rise to you.
1 I call out to you,
Come quickly to my aid.
My song cries out to you,
O listen to me now.
I raise my hands in off’ring to you.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
2 Let me speak your truth;
watch over all I say.
Keep my thoughts on you;
let goodness rule my heart.
Keep me far from those who do harm.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
3 Never let me dine
with those who seek to harm.
Keep your holy ones
always at my side.
Plant your wisdom deep in my soul.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
4 I look to you for help;
I seek your loving eyes.
Guard my life for you;
Spare me from all wrong.
Keep all evil far from my heart.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
5 Glory be to God
and to God’s only Son,
glory to the Spirit,
three in one,
now and for ever. Amen.
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
Like burning incense, O Lord,
(Like burning incense, O Lord,)
let my prayer rise to you.
(let my prayer rise to you.)
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you as incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
This opening prayer is said.
That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise
now and for ever.
Amen.
THE WORD OF GOD
PSALMODY
Open this link to hear Marty Haugen’s setting of Psalm 23, “Shepherd Me, O God.”
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
1 God is my shepherd, so nothing shall I want,
I rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
2 Gently you raise me and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing the music of your name.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
3 Though I should wander the valley of death,
I fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
4 You have set me a banquet of love
in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love beyond my power to hold.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
5 Surely your kindness and mercy
follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
Silence is kept.
beyond my fears, from death into life.
5 Surely your kindness and mercy
follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
Silence is kept.
O God, our sovereign and shepherd,
who brought again your Son Jesus Christ
from the valley of death,
comfort us with your protecting presence
and your angels of goodness and love,
that we also may come home
and dwell with him in your house for ever.
Amen.
CANTICLE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Alice Parker’s choral arrangement of Isaac Watts’ metrical paraphrase of the Dignus est, “Come Let Us Join Our Cheerful Voices.”
Come, let us join our cheerful songs
with angels round the throne;
ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
but all their joys are one.
"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
"to be exalted thus."
"Worthy the Lamb," our lips reply,
"for he was slain for us."
Jesus is worthy to receive
honor and pow'r divine;
and blessing more than we can give
be, Lord, forever thine.
Let all that dwell above the sky
and air and earth and seas
conspire to raise thy glories high,
and speak thine endless praise.
The whole creation joins in one
to bless the sacred Name
of him that sits upon the throne,
and to adore the Lamb.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Alice Parker’s choral arrangement of Isaac Watts’ metrical paraphrase of the Dignus est, “Come Let Us Join Our Cheerful Voices.”
Come, let us join our cheerful songs
with angels round the throne;
ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
but all their joys are one.
"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
"to be exalted thus."
"Worthy the Lamb," our lips reply,
"for he was slain for us."
Jesus is worthy to receive
honor and pow'r divine;
and blessing more than we can give
be, Lord, forever thine.
Let all that dwell above the sky
and air and earth and seas
conspire to raise thy glories high,
and speak thine endless praise.
The whole creation joins in one
to bless the sacred Name
of him that sits upon the throne,
and to adore the Lamb.
Amen.
Silence may be kept.
SCRIPTURE READING
Lamentations 3:17-26; 31-33 Hope in the Lord’s Faithfulness
Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.
I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.
Silence is kept.
John 6: 37-40 Jesus, the Bread of Life
However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
Today is the third and final day of what is known as Hallowtide, a period of three days that begins on All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, and concludes with All Souls’ Day. Since the days of the early Church Christians have set apart days for commemorating the departed faithful, both in the Eastern Church and the Western Church. In the Western Church, Christians visited the final resting places of the departed faithful and they also offered prayers for them. This is attested by inscriptions found in the catacombs, the commemorations of the dead in the early liturgies, and the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian, and other early Western Church Fathers.
By the eleventh century November 2nd would become the day on which the Western Church commemorated the departed faithful. Over the centuries a number of practices have become associated with this day in addition to visiting the graves of loved ones and praying for them. They include tidying the grave site, leaving flowers and lighted candles at the site, and distributing soul cakes to children. In some countries a picnic might be shared at the grave site.
During the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century the English Reformers rejected the doctrine of purgatory, the sale of indulgences, and the celebration of Masses for the dead, a doctrine, and two practices which had become associated with All Souls Day in the Roman Catholic Church. They did not find any support in the Bible for the doctrine of purgatory or for the sale of indulgences and the celebration of Masses for the dead. They questioned the effectiveness of prayers for the dead, arguing that God had already decided the fate of the dead and consequently prayers for them would be ignored by God. They also argued that prayers for the dead threw into doubt the power of Jesus to save. The observance of All Souls Day as feast day for commemorating the departed faithful would be dropped, not to be revived until the twentieth century.
The Puritans who were not satisfied with the reforms in the Church of England would go a step further. They stopped holding funerals for the dead. The dead were buried without even prayers for those who were mourning their death. The Puritans did not recognize that funerals are not for the dead. They are for the living. They help the living deal with what for them may have been a painful loss.
While prayers for the dead were reintroduced into the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the late nineteenth century, they did not become a more common practice in these Anglican provinces until the outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914 and the loss of so many lives during the years of what became known as the Great War. Around 40 million people died in World War I, civilians as well as military personnel. It became increasingly recognized that prayers for the dead met a pastoral need and helped the loved ones of the departed to attain some measure of closure.
Among other things prayer is one of the ways that we express our love for others. We share our concern for their wellbeing with God. Prayers for the dead are not entirely purposeless. They may not benefit the dead in the sense of persuading God to change his mind about their fate, but they do enable the living to cry out to God in their feelings of grief and loss over the death of someone whom they loved.
Prayer is a conversation with God, a point which nineteenth century evangelical Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle, makes in his writings on prayer. We bring before God not just our needs and the needs of others but also our concerns, those things that are on our hearts and minds, our hopes and our fears, our joys and our sorrows.
We must also remember that God exists outside time and space. God is not a spatial and temporal being like we are. To God the past, present, and future are one and the same. Our prayers for a deceased loved one may be more effectual than we think. What we pray for today may affect what happens in the past of that individual. In praying for them we may be doing what God would have us to do. It may be God’s grace working in us, causing us to pray for them. In praying for them, we may be aligning our wills with God’s. We cannot rule out these possibilities.
In The Last Battle, the final book in his Narnia Chronicles, C. S. Lewis points out that death is not an end but a beginning.
And soon they found themselves all walking together—and a great, bright procession it was—up towards mountains higher than you could see in this world even if they were there to be seen. But there was no snow on those mountains: there were forests and green slopes and sweet orchards and flashing waterfalls, one above the other, going up for ever. And the land they were walking on grew narrower all the time, with a deep valley on each side: and across that valley the land which was the real England grew nearer and nearer.
The light ahead was growing stronger. Lucy saw that a great series of many-coloured cliffs led up in front of them like a giant's staircase. And then she forgot everything else, because Aslan himself was coming, leaping down from cliff to cliff like a living cataract of power and beauty.
And the very first person whom Aslan called to him was Puzzle the Donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than Puzzle did as he walked up to Aslan; and he looked, beside Aslan, as small as a kitten looks beside a St. Bernard. The Lion bowed down his head and whispered something to Puzzle at which his long ears went down; but then he said something else at which the ears perked up again. The humans couldn't hear what he had said either time. Then Aslan turned to them and said:
"You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."
Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often."
"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?"
Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
Praying that those whom we loved and are now departed from us may continually grow in God’s love and service, reflects a similar view of the dynamic nature of the life beyond. When we love someone, we desire for them all the good things that God can give them in this life and the life to come.
Silence is kept.
GOSPEL CANTICLE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Owen Alstott’s metrical paraphrase of the Magnificat, “My Soul Proclaims the Greatness of the Lord.”
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
My spirit sings to God, my saving God,
Who on this day above all others favored me
And raised me up, a light for all to see.
Through me great deeds will God make manifest,
And all the earth will come to call me blest.
Unbounded love and mercy sure will I proclaim
For all who know and praise God's holy name.
God's mighty arm, protector of the just,
Will guard the weak and raise them from the dust.
But mighty kings will swiftly fall from thrones corrupt.
The strong brought low, the lowly lifted up.
Soon will the poor and hungry of the earth
Be richly blest, be given greater worth.
And Israel, as once foretold to Abraham,
Will live in peace throughout the promised land.
All glory be to God, Creator blest,
To Jesus Christ, God's love made manifest,
And to the Holy Spirit, gentle Comforter,
All glory be, both now and ever more.
Silence may be kept.
PRAYERS
Particular intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered before any section.
Periods of silence may be kept.
Blessed are you eternal God,
to be praised and glorified for ever.
Heavenly Father, hear us as we pray for the unity of the Church.
May we all be one that the world may believe.
Grant that every member of the Church
may truly and humbly serve you,
that the life of Christ may be revealed in us.
We remember those who have died.
Father, into your hands we commend them.
(Remembering N)
We praise you for all your saints
who have entered your eternal glory.
May we also come to share your heavenly kingdom.
Have compassion on those who suffer from sickness,
grief or trouble.
In your presence may they find strength.
Look with your kindness on our homes and families.
Grant that your love may grow in our hearts.
Make us alive to the needs of our community.
Help us to share one another’s joys and burdens.
Inspire and lead those who hold authority
in the nations of the world.
Guide us and all people in the way of justice and peace.
Strengthen all who minister in Christ’s name.
Give us courage to proclaim your Gospel.
We pray in silence for our own needs and the needs of others...
Praise to you, abundant God,
for when we ask, you give;
when we seek, you show the way.
When we knock, you answer.
Praise to you for your unfailing grace.
Make us now your faithful people.
Amen.
THE COLLECTS
Merciful God,
your Son is the resurrection and the life
of all the faithful;
raise us from the death of sin
to the life of righteousness,
that at the last,
with all your faithful servants,
we may come to your eternal joy;
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Jesus Christ,
Lord of the living and dead;
With each generation
Your body of believers grows and grows.
Thank you for all who have gone before us,
For what they achieved and what they learned.
Give us strength to do your will,
to be your body now;
to the honour of your holy name.
Amen.
Gracious God,
you have given us much today;
grant us also a thankful spirit.
Into your hands we commend ourselves
and those we love.
Be with us still, and when we take our rest
renew us for the service of your Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
In darkness and in light,
in trouble and in joy,
help us, heavenly Father,
to trust your love,
to serve your purpose,
and to praise your name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
As Christ teaches us, 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.
CLOSING SONG
Open this link in a new tab to hear Alice Parker and Robert Shaw’s choral arrangement of “Wondrous Love.”
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this, O my soul.
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
SCRIPTURE READING
Lamentations 3:17-26; 31-33 Hope in the Lord’s Faithfulness
Peace has been stripped away,
and I have forgotten what prosperity is.
I cry out, “My splendor is gone!
Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!”
The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.
I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.
Silence is kept.
John 6: 37-40 Jesus, the Bread of Life
However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
HOMILY
To What Purpose Is Prayer for the Dead?
Today is the third and final day of what is known as Hallowtide, a period of three days that begins on All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, and concludes with All Souls’ Day. Since the days of the early Church Christians have set apart days for commemorating the departed faithful, both in the Eastern Church and the Western Church. In the Western Church, Christians visited the final resting places of the departed faithful and they also offered prayers for them. This is attested by inscriptions found in the catacombs, the commemorations of the dead in the early liturgies, and the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian, and other early Western Church Fathers.
By the eleventh century November 2nd would become the day on which the Western Church commemorated the departed faithful. Over the centuries a number of practices have become associated with this day in addition to visiting the graves of loved ones and praying for them. They include tidying the grave site, leaving flowers and lighted candles at the site, and distributing soul cakes to children. In some countries a picnic might be shared at the grave site.
During the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century the English Reformers rejected the doctrine of purgatory, the sale of indulgences, and the celebration of Masses for the dead, a doctrine, and two practices which had become associated with All Souls Day in the Roman Catholic Church. They did not find any support in the Bible for the doctrine of purgatory or for the sale of indulgences and the celebration of Masses for the dead. They questioned the effectiveness of prayers for the dead, arguing that God had already decided the fate of the dead and consequently prayers for them would be ignored by God. They also argued that prayers for the dead threw into doubt the power of Jesus to save. The observance of All Souls Day as feast day for commemorating the departed faithful would be dropped, not to be revived until the twentieth century.
The Puritans who were not satisfied with the reforms in the Church of England would go a step further. They stopped holding funerals for the dead. The dead were buried without even prayers for those who were mourning their death. The Puritans did not recognize that funerals are not for the dead. They are for the living. They help the living deal with what for them may have been a painful loss.
While prayers for the dead were reintroduced into the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the late nineteenth century, they did not become a more common practice in these Anglican provinces until the outbreak of World War I in Europe in 1914 and the loss of so many lives during the years of what became known as the Great War. Around 40 million people died in World War I, civilians as well as military personnel. It became increasingly recognized that prayers for the dead met a pastoral need and helped the loved ones of the departed to attain some measure of closure.
Among other things prayer is one of the ways that we express our love for others. We share our concern for their wellbeing with God. Prayers for the dead are not entirely purposeless. They may not benefit the dead in the sense of persuading God to change his mind about their fate, but they do enable the living to cry out to God in their feelings of grief and loss over the death of someone whom they loved.
Prayer is a conversation with God, a point which nineteenth century evangelical Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle, makes in his writings on prayer. We bring before God not just our needs and the needs of others but also our concerns, those things that are on our hearts and minds, our hopes and our fears, our joys and our sorrows.
We must also remember that God exists outside time and space. God is not a spatial and temporal being like we are. To God the past, present, and future are one and the same. Our prayers for a deceased loved one may be more effectual than we think. What we pray for today may affect what happens in the past of that individual. In praying for them we may be doing what God would have us to do. It may be God’s grace working in us, causing us to pray for them. In praying for them, we may be aligning our wills with God’s. We cannot rule out these possibilities.
In The Last Battle, the final book in his Narnia Chronicles, C. S. Lewis points out that death is not an end but a beginning.
And soon they found themselves all walking together—and a great, bright procession it was—up towards mountains higher than you could see in this world even if they were there to be seen. But there was no snow on those mountains: there were forests and green slopes and sweet orchards and flashing waterfalls, one above the other, going up for ever. And the land they were walking on grew narrower all the time, with a deep valley on each side: and across that valley the land which was the real England grew nearer and nearer.
The light ahead was growing stronger. Lucy saw that a great series of many-coloured cliffs led up in front of them like a giant's staircase. And then she forgot everything else, because Aslan himself was coming, leaping down from cliff to cliff like a living cataract of power and beauty.
And the very first person whom Aslan called to him was Puzzle the Donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than Puzzle did as he walked up to Aslan; and he looked, beside Aslan, as small as a kitten looks beside a St. Bernard. The Lion bowed down his head and whispered something to Puzzle at which his long ears went down; but then he said something else at which the ears perked up again. The humans couldn't hear what he had said either time. Then Aslan turned to them and said:
"You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."
Lucy said, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often."
"No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?"
Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
Praying that those whom we loved and are now departed from us may continually grow in God’s love and service, reflects a similar view of the dynamic nature of the life beyond. When we love someone, we desire for them all the good things that God can give them in this life and the life to come.
Silence is kept.
GOSPEL CANTICLE
Open this link in a new tab to hear Owen Alstott’s metrical paraphrase of the Magnificat, “My Soul Proclaims the Greatness of the Lord.”
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
My spirit sings to God, my saving God,
Who on this day above all others favored me
And raised me up, a light for all to see.
Through me great deeds will God make manifest,
And all the earth will come to call me blest.
Unbounded love and mercy sure will I proclaim
For all who know and praise God's holy name.
God's mighty arm, protector of the just,
Will guard the weak and raise them from the dust.
But mighty kings will swiftly fall from thrones corrupt.
The strong brought low, the lowly lifted up.
Soon will the poor and hungry of the earth
Be richly blest, be given greater worth.
And Israel, as once foretold to Abraham,
Will live in peace throughout the promised land.
All glory be to God, Creator blest,
To Jesus Christ, God's love made manifest,
And to the Holy Spirit, gentle Comforter,
All glory be, both now and ever more.
Silence may be kept.
PRAYERS
Particular intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered before any section.
Periods of silence may be kept.
Blessed are you eternal God,
to be praised and glorified for ever.
Heavenly Father, hear us as we pray for the unity of the Church.
May we all be one that the world may believe.
Grant that every member of the Church
may truly and humbly serve you,
that the life of Christ may be revealed in us.
We remember those who have died.
Father, into your hands we commend them.
(Remembering N)
We praise you for all your saints
who have entered your eternal glory.
May we also come to share your heavenly kingdom.
Have compassion on those who suffer from sickness,
grief or trouble.
In your presence may they find strength.
Look with your kindness on our homes and families.
Grant that your love may grow in our hearts.
Make us alive to the needs of our community.
Help us to share one another’s joys and burdens.
Inspire and lead those who hold authority
in the nations of the world.
Guide us and all people in the way of justice and peace.
Strengthen all who minister in Christ’s name.
Give us courage to proclaim your Gospel.
We pray in silence for our own needs and the needs of others...
Praise to you, abundant God,
for when we ask, you give;
when we seek, you show the way.
When we knock, you answer.
Praise to you for your unfailing grace.
Make us now your faithful people.
Amen.
THE COLLECTS
Merciful God,
your Son is the resurrection and the life
of all the faithful;
raise us from the death of sin
to the life of righteousness,
that at the last,
with all your faithful servants,
we may come to your eternal joy;
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Jesus Christ,
Lord of the living and dead;
With each generation
Your body of believers grows and grows.
Thank you for all who have gone before us,
For what they achieved and what they learned.
Give us strength to do your will,
to be your body now;
to the honour of your holy name.
Amen.
Gracious God,
you have given us much today;
grant us also a thankful spirit.
Into your hands we commend ourselves
and those we love.
Be with us still, and when we take our rest
renew us for the service of your Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
In darkness and in light,
in trouble and in joy,
help us, heavenly Father,
to trust your love,
to serve your purpose,
and to praise your name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
As Christ teaches us, 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.
CLOSING SONG
Open this link in a new tab to hear Alice Parker and Robert Shaw’s choral arrangement of “Wondrous Love.”
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this, O my soul.
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul.
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, O my soul.
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul.
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, O my soul.
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul.
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb, who is the great “I Am,”
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb, who is the great “I Am,”
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing.
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
THE CONCLUSION
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The almighty and merciful God bless us
and keep us now and for ever. Amen.
THE CONCLUSION
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The almighty and merciful God bless us
and keep us now and for ever. Amen.
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