Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, August 27, 2023)
Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.
Every believer is called to a ministry of some kind regardless of their circumstances. A homebound believer may minister to other believers and those who do not yet know Jesus by praying for them. They may call others in similar circumstances to theirs to check on how they are doing.
All believers are called to be witnesses to Jesus in both word and deed. This may prove more difficult for some than others due to their particular circumstances, but God has a way of ministering to others through us despite our limitations. God also provides us with an abundant supply of his grace to help us.
WE GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
let the whole earth stand in awe. Psalm 96:9
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carlos Rosas’ “Oh, Sing to God Above.”
1 Oh, sing to God above
a hymn of joyful greeting,
a song of grateful love
in the new day's light repeating:
you made the sea and sky
the sun and stars in splendor;
delight shone in your eye--
all your works were filled with wonder.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh, sing to God above: Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh sing to God above: Alleluia!
[Instrumental interlude]
2 Oh, sing to God above
a hymn of praise and blessing,
a song of grateful love,
hope and faith our hearts expressing:
creation lifts its voice
to tell your might and glory,
and we, too, will rejoice
to proclaim the saving story.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh, sing to God above: Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh sing to God above: Alleluia!
Oh sing to God above: Alleluia!
Loving God,
make your presence known to us
in this time of worship.
Open our ears to hear your voice;
open our eyes to behold your glory;
open our hearts to receive your grace;
open our lips to show forth your praise;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear the traditional Peruvian “Glory to God (Gloria a Dios).”
1 Glory to God, glory to God,
glory in the highest!
Glory to God, glory to God,
glory in the highest!
To God be glory forever!
To God be glory forever!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
2 Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to Christ Jesus!
Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to Christ Jesus!
To God be glory forever!
To God be glory forever!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
3 Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to the Spirit!
Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to the Spirit!
To God be glory forever!
To God be glory forever!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us pray.
Silence
Almighty and everlasting God,
by your Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified;
hear the prayer we offer
for all your faithful people,
that in the ministry to which you have called us
we may serve you in holiness and truth;
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
WE HEAR GOD’S WORD
A reading from the New Testament (Romans 12:1–8).
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Silence
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
When I was a young boy, I lived in a small rural village in Suffolk, England. My mother had a younger sister who was married to an American and who lived in the United States. Every year my aunt would send my older brother and I a gift at Christmas. They were not the kinds of gifts that my mother or my grandparents with whom we lived gave us at Christmas. They were a welcome surprise. My aunt had different ideas of what kids would like from those of my mother and grandparents. Their gifts were practical—books, pencil boxes, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils, flashlight, pen knives, bicycles, that sort of thing. My aunt sent us toy cap guns and holster sets and toy Sabrejets that were launched with a rubber band and which flew through the air!
As wonderful as the gifts I received from my aunt were to me as a young boy, I must acknowledge that God’s gifts to us are far, far more wonderful.
While we may not have taken very good care of it, God entrusted to us the planet on whose surface we live and all the myriads of living things that populate its surface, its seas, and even the dark places beneath its surface.
God gave us the gift of his only Son, Jesus, that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God also gives us the Holy Spirit, God’s own presence indwelling us. The Holy Spirit quickens our minds, causing thoughts and desires in our innermost selves, which are agreeable to what God wills and commands. The Holy Spirit enables us to not only have good thoughts and desires but also to perform good deeds and actions. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to act on these thoughts and desires.
The power of the Holy Spirit transforms us so that we are nothing like the kind of person that we were before. Our character, our attitudes, our ways of thinking, and our behavior undergoes a major change and become more like Jesus in our character, attitudes, ways of thinking, and behavior. We produce what the apostle Paul called the “fruit of the Spirit.” We become more caring, more faithful, more forgiving, more generous, more honest, humbler, more joyous, kinder, more loving, more patient, more peaceable, and more self-controlled.
In today’s reading from his Letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul is talking about a different manifestation of the Holy Spirit in believers, those who evidence an active faith in Jesus and endeavor with God’s help to live the life of a disciple of Jesus. These manifestations are also a gift from God. They are, however, not a gift to the individual believer in whom the Holy Spirit is manifested in a particular way but to the local body of believers in which that believer is a member-participant and in some cases to a larger fellowship of believers. They are given to benefit the entire body of believers and not just one believer.
What are called the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” are not intended to set one believer apart from the other believers as if that believer is different from the other believers. This is one of the reasons that Paul tells those to whom he wrote the Letter to the Romans not to think they are better than they really are. Just as the human body has many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with the local body of believers. They are many parts of one body, and they belong to each other.
In this sense and in a number of other ways the member-participants of a local body of believers can be said to be gifted to each other. They also can be said to be gifted to the larger fellowship of believers.
Each believer has a gift. At different times a believer may exercise a different gift. As Paul draws to the attention of those to whom he wrote the letter, God gives a particular gift to a believer to enable that believer to do something well—prophesy, serve, teach, encourage, give, lead, and show kindness. Each gift, Paul writes elsewhere, is to build up the local body of believers.
Whatever a believer’ gift may be, it is important to the local body of believers in which that believer is a member-participant. No one gift is more important than the others. They all are given for the same purpose—to strengthen the local body of believers. Since they are given so that a believer may do something well, it is fair to say that whatever the gift we have been given, God expects us to do just that—make good use of that gift and not neglect it. God will supply us with the grace that we need for that purpose, if we ask him.
Silence
WE RESPOND
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “We Are Many Parts.”
We are many parts
We are all one body
And the gifts we have
We are given to share
May the spirit of love, make us one indeed
One, the love that we share
One, our hope in despair
One, the cross that we bear
God of all, we look to You
We would be Your servants true
Let us be Your love for all the world
We are many parts
We are all one body
And the gifts we have
We are given to share
May the spirit of love, make us one indeed
One, the love that we share
One, our hope in despair
One, the cross that we bear
All you seekers great and small
Seek the greatest gift of all
If you love, then you will know the Lord
We are many parts
We are all one body
And the gifts we have
We are given to share
May the spirit of love, make us one indeed
One, the love that we share
One, our hope in despair
One, the cross that we bear
WE PRAY FOR GOD’S WORLD
In peace we pray to you, Lord God.
Silence
For all people in their daily life and work;
For our families, friends, and neighbors,
and for all those who are alone.
For this community, our country, and the world;
For all who work for justice, freedom, and peace.
For the just and proper use of your creation;
For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression.
For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble;
For those who minister to the sick, the friendless, and needy.
For the peace and unity of the Church of God;
For all who proclaim the gospel, and all who seek the truth.
For N. our pastor, and for all ordained elders and licensed local pastors and other ministers;
For all who serve God in the Church.
For our own needs and those of others.
Silence.
The people may add their own petitions.
Hear us, Lord.
For your mercy is great.
We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.
Silence.
The people may add their own thanksgivings.
We will exalt you, O God our king;
And praise your name for ever and ever.
We pray for those who have died in the peace of Christ,
and for those whose faith is known to you alone,
that they may have a place in your eternal kingdom.
Silence.
The people may add their own petitions.
Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them;
Who put their trust in you.
O God, mercifully receive these our prayers which we have offered to you through our Lord Jesus Christ; and with our prayers accept also our lives, which we present to you anew for your service and for the glory of your holy name. Amen.
And now, as our Savior Christ has 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, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
WE GO FORTH TO SERVE
You have shown us, O Lord, what is good: Enable us, we beseech you, to perform what you require, always to do what is right and just, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May the Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless and keep us now and forever. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carey Landry’s “We Are Companions on the Journey.”
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
1 No longer strangers to each other,
no longer strangers in God’s house;
we are fed and we are nourished
by the strength of those who care,
by the strength of those who care.
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
2 We have been gifted with each other,
and we are called by the Word of the Lord:
to act with justice, to love tenderly,
and to walk humbly with our God,
to walk humbly with our God.
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
3 We will seek and we shall find;
we will knock and the door will be opened;
we will ask and it shall be given,
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
Those present may exchange a sign of peace.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
WE GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
let the whole earth stand in awe. Psalm 96:9
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carlos Rosas’ “Oh, Sing to God Above.”
1 Oh, sing to God above
a hymn of joyful greeting,
a song of grateful love
in the new day's light repeating:
you made the sea and sky
the sun and stars in splendor;
delight shone in your eye--
all your works were filled with wonder.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh, sing to God above: Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh sing to God above: Alleluia!
[Instrumental interlude]
2 Oh, sing to God above
a hymn of praise and blessing,
a song of grateful love,
hope and faith our hearts expressing:
creation lifts its voice
to tell your might and glory,
and we, too, will rejoice
to proclaim the saving story.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh, sing to God above: Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Oh sing to God above: Alleluia!
Oh sing to God above: Alleluia!
Loving God,
make your presence known to us
in this time of worship.
Open our ears to hear your voice;
open our eyes to behold your glory;
open our hearts to receive your grace;
open our lips to show forth your praise;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear the traditional Peruvian “Glory to God (Gloria a Dios).”
1 Glory to God, glory to God,
glory in the highest!
Glory to God, glory to God,
glory in the highest!
To God be glory forever!
To God be glory forever!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
2 Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to Christ Jesus!
Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to Christ Jesus!
To God be glory forever!
To God be glory forever!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
3 Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to the Spirit!
Glory to God, glory to God,
glory to the Spirit!
To God be glory forever!
To God be glory forever!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Amen!
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us pray.
Silence
Almighty and everlasting God,
by your Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified;
hear the prayer we offer
for all your faithful people,
that in the ministry to which you have called us
we may serve you in holiness and truth;
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
WE HEAR GOD’S WORD
A reading from the New Testament (Romans 12:1–8).
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Silence
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
Gifts of Grace
When I was a young boy, I lived in a small rural village in Suffolk, England. My mother had a younger sister who was married to an American and who lived in the United States. Every year my aunt would send my older brother and I a gift at Christmas. They were not the kinds of gifts that my mother or my grandparents with whom we lived gave us at Christmas. They were a welcome surprise. My aunt had different ideas of what kids would like from those of my mother and grandparents. Their gifts were practical—books, pencil boxes, pencil sharpeners, colored pencils, flashlight, pen knives, bicycles, that sort of thing. My aunt sent us toy cap guns and holster sets and toy Sabrejets that were launched with a rubber band and which flew through the air!
As wonderful as the gifts I received from my aunt were to me as a young boy, I must acknowledge that God’s gifts to us are far, far more wonderful.
While we may not have taken very good care of it, God entrusted to us the planet on whose surface we live and all the myriads of living things that populate its surface, its seas, and even the dark places beneath its surface.
God gave us the gift of his only Son, Jesus, that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God also gives us the Holy Spirit, God’s own presence indwelling us. The Holy Spirit quickens our minds, causing thoughts and desires in our innermost selves, which are agreeable to what God wills and commands. The Holy Spirit enables us to not only have good thoughts and desires but also to perform good deeds and actions. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to act on these thoughts and desires.
The power of the Holy Spirit transforms us so that we are nothing like the kind of person that we were before. Our character, our attitudes, our ways of thinking, and our behavior undergoes a major change and become more like Jesus in our character, attitudes, ways of thinking, and behavior. We produce what the apostle Paul called the “fruit of the Spirit.” We become more caring, more faithful, more forgiving, more generous, more honest, humbler, more joyous, kinder, more loving, more patient, more peaceable, and more self-controlled.
In today’s reading from his Letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul is talking about a different manifestation of the Holy Spirit in believers, those who evidence an active faith in Jesus and endeavor with God’s help to live the life of a disciple of Jesus. These manifestations are also a gift from God. They are, however, not a gift to the individual believer in whom the Holy Spirit is manifested in a particular way but to the local body of believers in which that believer is a member-participant and in some cases to a larger fellowship of believers. They are given to benefit the entire body of believers and not just one believer.
What are called the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” are not intended to set one believer apart from the other believers as if that believer is different from the other believers. This is one of the reasons that Paul tells those to whom he wrote the Letter to the Romans not to think they are better than they really are. Just as the human body has many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with the local body of believers. They are many parts of one body, and they belong to each other.
In this sense and in a number of other ways the member-participants of a local body of believers can be said to be gifted to each other. They also can be said to be gifted to the larger fellowship of believers.
Each believer has a gift. At different times a believer may exercise a different gift. As Paul draws to the attention of those to whom he wrote the letter, God gives a particular gift to a believer to enable that believer to do something well—prophesy, serve, teach, encourage, give, lead, and show kindness. Each gift, Paul writes elsewhere, is to build up the local body of believers.
Whatever a believer’ gift may be, it is important to the local body of believers in which that believer is a member-participant. No one gift is more important than the others. They all are given for the same purpose—to strengthen the local body of believers. Since they are given so that a believer may do something well, it is fair to say that whatever the gift we have been given, God expects us to do just that—make good use of that gift and not neglect it. God will supply us with the grace that we need for that purpose, if we ask him.
Silence
WE RESPOND
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “We Are Many Parts.”
We are many parts
We are all one body
And the gifts we have
We are given to share
May the spirit of love, make us one indeed
One, the love that we share
One, our hope in despair
One, the cross that we bear
God of all, we look to You
We would be Your servants true
Let us be Your love for all the world
We are many parts
We are all one body
And the gifts we have
We are given to share
May the spirit of love, make us one indeed
One, the love that we share
One, our hope in despair
One, the cross that we bear
All you seekers great and small
Seek the greatest gift of all
If you love, then you will know the Lord
We are many parts
We are all one body
And the gifts we have
We are given to share
May the spirit of love, make us one indeed
One, the love that we share
One, our hope in despair
One, the cross that we bear
WE PRAY FOR GOD’S WORLD
In peace we pray to you, Lord God.
Silence
For all people in their daily life and work;
For our families, friends, and neighbors,
and for all those who are alone.
For this community, our country, and the world;
For all who work for justice, freedom, and peace.
For the just and proper use of your creation;
For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression.
For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble;
For those who minister to the sick, the friendless, and needy.
For the peace and unity of the Church of God;
For all who proclaim the gospel, and all who seek the truth.
For N. our pastor, and for all ordained elders and licensed local pastors and other ministers;
For all who serve God in the Church.
For our own needs and those of others.
Silence.
The people may add their own petitions.
Hear us, Lord.
For your mercy is great.
We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.
Silence.
The people may add their own thanksgivings.
We will exalt you, O God our king;
And praise your name for ever and ever.
We pray for those who have died in the peace of Christ,
and for those whose faith is known to you alone,
that they may have a place in your eternal kingdom.
Silence.
The people may add their own petitions.
Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them;
Who put their trust in you.
O God, mercifully receive these our prayers which we have offered to you through our Lord Jesus Christ; and with our prayers accept also our lives, which we present to you anew for your service and for the glory of your holy name. Amen.
And now, as our Savior Christ has 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, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
WE GO FORTH TO SERVE
You have shown us, O Lord, what is good: Enable us, we beseech you, to perform what you require, always to do what is right and just, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May the Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless and keep us now and forever. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carey Landry’s “We Are Companions on the Journey.”
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
1 No longer strangers to each other,
no longer strangers in God’s house;
we are fed and we are nourished
by the strength of those who care,
by the strength of those who care.
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
2 We have been gifted with each other,
and we are called by the Word of the Lord:
to act with justice, to love tenderly,
and to walk humbly with our God,
to walk humbly with our God.
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
3 We will seek and we shall find;
we will knock and the door will be opened;
we will ask and it shall be given,
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
We are companions on the journey,
breaking bread and sharing life;
and in the love we bear is the hope we share
for we believe in the love of our God,
we believe in the love of our God.
Those present may exchange a sign of peace.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
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