Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, July 23, 2023)

 

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows. One description of All Hallows is an online gathering place for Christians and those exploring the Christian faith. The Services of the Word that are offered on this blogsite are not intended to replace the services of a local church but are offered for the benefit of those who are homebound or unable to attend a local church for some other reason, who may be traveling, or who wish to test the water before taking the plunge, or who otherwise may benefit from them.

WE GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Jim Strathdee’s “Come Let Us Sing.”

Come let us sing to the Lord our song
We have stood silently too long
Surely the Lord deserves our praise
To joyfully thank God for our days

O’ thirsty soul come and drink at the well
God’s living water will never fail
Surely the Lord will help you to stand
Strengthened and comforted by God’s hand

You dwell among us and cause us to pray
And walk with each other following Your way
Our precious brothers and sisters will grow
In the fulfilling love they know

Deserts shall bloom and mountains shall sing
To the desire of all living things
Come all you creatures high and low
Let your praises endlessly flow

La la la la la la la la la la….

Deserts shall bloom and mountains shall sing
To the desire of all living things
Come all you creatures high and low
Let your praises endlessly flow

Open this link in a new tab to hear Folliott Sandford Pierpoint’s “For th Beauty of the Earth.”

1 For the beauty of the earth,
for the beauty of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies,
Christ our God, to thee we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

2 For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild:
Christ our God, to thee we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

3 For each perfect gift of thine,
to our race so freely given,
graces human and divine,
flowers of earth and buds of heaven:
Christ our God, to thee we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

4 For thy church which evermore
lifteth holy hands above,
offering up on every shore
her pure sacrifice of love,
Christ our God, to thee we raise
this our sacrifice of praise.

Almighty God,
nothing is hidden from you,
not even the secrets of our hearts.
By your Holy Spirit,
purify our deepest thoughts
so that we may truly love you
and bring honor to your name
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab Fernado Ortaga’s setting of the Trisagion, “Holy God.”

Holy God,
holy and mighty,
holy immortal one
have mercy
have mercy on us.

Holy God,
holy and mighty,
holy immortal one
have mercy
have mercy on us.

Holy God,
holy and mighty,
holy immortal one
have mercy
have mercy
have mercy
have mercy
have mercy on us.

The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.

Let us pray.

Silence.

God of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things,
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us all goodness,
and of your great mercy
keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

WE HEAR GOD’S WORD

A reading from the Apocrypha (Wisdom 12:13, 16–19)

All things are under your care, and there is no other god to whom you must justify your decisions.

Your strength is the source of justice. You can show mercy to everyone, because you are the Lord of all. You show your strength when people doubt that your power is perfect, and you punish anyone who knows your power but dares to ignore it. Even though you have absolute power, you are a merciful judge. You could take action against us whenever you like, but instead, you rule us with great patience.

By the things you have done you have taught your people that a person who is righteous must also be kind. You have given your people abundant hope by allowing them to repent of their sins.

Silence.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.
Thanks be to God.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Kiran Young Wimberly’s paraphrase of Psalm 86, “For Love Is Lord of All.”

For Love Is Lord of All
Incline your ear, O Lord, to me
For I am weak and weary
O save my life, O save my soul
I trust in you alone
For you are kind and gracious to me
To you, I lift up my soul
For you, O God, are good and giving
For Love is Lord of all

Give ear to me and hear my prayer
My cry of deepest longing
I cry to you when I’m in trouble
I call for you to answer
For there is none like you, O Lord
Not one has works like yours
All nations bow before your throne
For Love is Lord of all
For Love is Lord of all

Teach me O Lord what I should do
and I will serve you wholly
I’ll praise you from my heart of hearts
Proclaiming the greatness of my God
How great is your deep love for me
You have saved me from the grave
For you O God are good and giving
For Love is Lord of all

A reading from the Epistles (Romans 8:12–19)

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared with the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

Silence.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.
Thanks be to God.

Open this link in a new tab to hear the gospel acclamation from Marty Haugen’s Mass of Creation.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43)
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

“‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.

“Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

Silence.

The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

What Does Jesus’ Parable of the Wheat and Weeds Mean for You and I?

In his teaching Jesus often draws on imagery from the daily lives of the Jews and Gentiles living in Galilee and Judaea where Jesus carried out a large part of his earthly ministry. Barley and wheat were staple crops grown in this part of the ancient Mid-East.

A weed that grew where these two crops grew was darnel, also known as poison darnel, darnel rye grass, or cockle. It was a serious problem until sorting machinery that enable farmers to separate the darnel seeds effectively from the wheat seeds was invented in modern times.

Wheat and darnel closely resemble each other, and they are difficult to tell apart until the ear appear. The resemblance is so close that darnel is in some regions called “false wheat.”

While darnel seed itself is not poisonous, it is often infected by a fungus which is very toxic and can be deadly. In all likelihood the weed in Jesus’ story was darnel, which one writer, Sarah Laskow, describes as “wheat’s evil twin.”

According to Laskow—

“Darnel is a ‘mimic weed,’ neither entirely tame or quite wild, that looks and behaves so much like wheat that it can’t live without human assistance. Darnel seeds are stowaways: the plant’s survival strategy requires its seeds to be harvested along with those of domesticated grasses, stored and replanted next season.”

Darnel is definitely the logical candidate for the weed of the story.

Its close resemblance to wheat in its early stages would prevent a farmer from ordering his field hands from pulling up the young darnel. They might not only uproot the young wheat, but they might mistake the wheat for the darnel and pull it up too! The sensible thing to do was to wait until the wheat and darnel had matured when they can easily be told apart. There are noticeable differences between the spikelets of the two plants. When wheat ripens, it turns brown, Darnel, on the other hand, turns black.

While this story can be viewed as a story of judgment, it can also be seen as a story of mercy. God extends his grace to everybody. God is patient and willing to wait and see what each one of us becomes.

This story has at least three implications for us. One of these implications is that it is not our place to decide who is the good seed and who is the bad seed and welcome only those whom we consider good seed into the fellowship of our church. While God can see into an individual’s heart, into their innermost thoughts and desire, we cannot. God can also see what an individual has the potential to become.

Rather we should charitably assume that everyone is a good seed. If they are good seed, God will use our church’s fellowship as a means of grace to them and will enable them to grow and yield thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold, as in the Parable of the Sower.

A second implication is that if we indeed are good seed, it behooves us to put our faith in Christ, to be imitators of Christ, to love God with the entirety of our being, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to treat others as we would have them treat us, to pursue holiness, and to live our lives as true disciples of Jesus. God will provide us with abundant grace to do these things.

One thing for which we need to be on the alert. The evil one will try to persuade and convince us that we are not good seeds. To that end he may use people in our lives to mislead us. He will appeal to our sinful nature. He will seek to discourage us from walking the path of a true disciple.

A third implication is that we as Jesus’ disciples, his field hands, should tend that part of his field entrusted to us with the kind of care that Jesus would expect from us, treating everyone as one of the seeds that he has planted. We should do all that we can to help them grow as a true disciple of Jesus.

Silence.

WE RESPOND

Open this link in a new tab to hear Ephrem Feeley’s choral arrangement of “To Christ, the Seed (Ag Criost an Siol).”

To Christ, the seed;
To Christ, the harvest;
may we be gathered
into the barns of God.

To, Chris, the sea,
and all within it.
May we be captured
within God’s nets.

From growth to age,
from age to death,
your arms, O Christ,
surround us.

From our death to the end,
not end, but rebirth:
in Blessed Paradise
may we be!

To Christ, our lives;
to Christ, our being.
In Christ, we live,
and have our being.

WE PRAY FOR GOD’S WORLD

In peace let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For peace from on high and for our salvation,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For the peace of the whole world,
for the welfare of the holy Church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy

For our pastors,
and for all the clergy and people,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For the spread of the gospel
and the salvation of all humankind,
Let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For your servant, Charles, our King, 

(the President of the United States, etc.)
for the leaders of the nations,
and for all in authority,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For this city (town, village, etc.),
for every city and community,
and for the faithful who live in them,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For good weather,
and for abundant harvests for all to share,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For those who travel by land, water, or air,
for the sick and the suffering (especially . . . )
for prisoners and captives,
and for their safety, health, and salvation,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For our deliverance from all affliction,
strife, and need,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For the forgiveness
of our sins and offences,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy

For all who are grieving the loss
of a family member, friend, or loved one
(especially . . . )
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

(Additional petitions may be offered.) 

For....

let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

Remembering ( . . . and) all the saints,
we commit ourselves, one another,
and our whole life to Christ our God.
To you, O Lord.

Lord,
you have given us grace to agree in these our prayers,
and you have promised that when two or three ask
together in your name you will grant their requests.
Fulfil now, Lord, our desires and prayers as may be best for us.
Grant us, in this life, knowledge of your truth
and in the age to come, life eternal. Amen.

And now, as our Savior taught us, we are bold to say—

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.

WE GO FORTH TO SERVE

May the Lord bless us and keep us,
May the Lord make his face to shine on us and be gracious to us,
May the Lord look on us with kindness and give us peace. Amen.

Open this in a new tab to hear Cesáreo Gabarain’s “Sois la Semilla (You Are the Seed).”

You are the seed that will grow a new sprout;
you're a star that will shine in the night;
you are the yeast and a small grain of salt,
a beacon to glow in the dark.
You are the dawn that will bring a new day;
you're the wheat that will bear golden grain;
you are a sting and a soft, gentle touch,
to witness wherever you go.

Go, my friends, go to the world,
proclaiming love to all,
messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love.
Be, my friends, a loyal witness,
from the dead I arose;
"Lo, I'll be with you forever,
till the end of the world."

You are the flame that will lighten the dark,
so resplendent with faith, hope, and love;
you are the shepherds to lead the whole word
through valleys and pastures of peace.
You are the friend that I chose for myself,
the word that I want to proclaim.
You are the new reign of God built on a rock
where justice and truth are at home.

Go, my friends, go to the world,
proclaiming love to all,
messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love.
Be, my friends, a loyal witness,
from the dead I arose;
"Lo, I'll be with you forever,
till the end of the world."

You are the life that will nurture the plant;
you're the waves in a turbulent sea;
yesterday's yeast is beginning to rise,
a new loaf of bread ti will yield.
There is no place for a city to hide,
nor a mountain can cover its might;'
let your light shine so your loving works
give honor and glory to God.

Go, my friends, go to the world,
proclaiming love to all,
messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love.
Be, my friends, a loyal witness,
from the dead I arose;
"Lo, I'll be with you forever,
till the end of the world."

Those present may exchange a sign of peace.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.