Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, August 6, 2023)

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows. Sundays at All Hallows was originally lunched during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a Zoom service. It was subsequently decided to adopt a simpler platform. The basic patter of worship is adapted from The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992). Other patterns of worship have also been used.

Sundays at All Hallows is designed to serve the needs of Christians who are home-bound, who have no local church they can attend, or who are for one reason or another unable to attend a local church, those who are traveling, those who wish to explore the Christian faith and way of life but are not yet ready to visit a local church, and those who might otherwise benefit from the services.

Sundays at All Hallows is also designed to serve the needs of small groups gathering in a private home or some other venue for Sunday worship.

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 a link in a new tab to hear Geoffrey Anketel Studdert Kennedy’s “Awake, Awake to Love and Work!”

1 Awake, awake to love and work!
The lark is in the sky;
The fields are wet with diamond dew;
The worlds awake to cry
Their blessings on the Lord of life,
As He goes meekly by.

2 Come, let thy voice be one with theirs,
Shout with their shout of praise;
See how the giant sun soars up,
Great lord of years and days!
So let the love of Jesus come
And set thy soul ablaze.

3 To give and give, and give again,
What God hath given thee;
To spend thyself nor count the cost;
To serve right gloriously
The God who gave all worlds that are,
And all that are to be.

The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you. Ruth 2:4

Let us pray.

Silence

God of the hungry,
make us hunger and thirst for the right,
till our thirst for justice has been satisfied
and hunger has gone from the earth.
Hear this prayer for your love’s sake.
Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Eleanor Farjeon’s “Morning Has Broken.”

1 M​orning has broken
like the first morning,
blackbird has spoken
like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing
fresh from the Word!

2 Sweet the rain’s new fall
sunlit from Heaven,
like the first dewfall
on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness
of the wet garden,
sprung in completeness
where his feet pass.

3 Mine is the sunlight,
mine is the morning,
born of the one light
Eden saw play.
Praise with elation,
praise every morning,
God’s re-creation
of the new day!

WE HEAR GOD’S WORD

Gracious God,
May your holy word be a lamp to our feet
and a light to our path
guiding our footsteps
as we humbly walk as disciples of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
We ask this in his name.
Amen.

A reading from the Old Testament (Isaiah 55:1–5)

“Is anyone thirsty?
Come and drink—
even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
it’s all free!
Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
“Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
See how I used him to display my power among the peoples.
I made him a leader among the nations.
You also will command nations you do not know,
and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey,
because I, the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”

Silence

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

Open this link in a new tab to hear Bob Kauflin, Jordan Kauflin, and Nathan Stiff’s “How Great (Psalm 145).”

1 I’ll bless Your name, O God, each day that I awake
From dawn to setting sun, Your greatness I’ll proclaim
Your glory far exceeds all human thought
So with each breath I’ll bless Your name, O God

2 Your name will be revered by children yet to come
As generations sing of wonders You have done
Your strong and mighty deeds are always near
O God Most High, Your name will be revered

How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
How great is the Lord our God
How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

3 Your gracious hand provides for all who live and breathe
Your mercy runs to find the helpless and the weak
When we call out to You, You hear our cries
And all our needs Your gracious hand provides

How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
How great is the Lord our God
How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

4 Forever without end, creation will rejoice
When works of wicked men, You finally destroy
Your power we’ll proclaim till Christ descends
And You will reign forever without end

How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
How great is the Lord our God
How great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
And greatly to be praised!

A reading from the New Testament (Matthew 14:13–21)

As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was heading and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

That evening the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”

But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.”

“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they answered.

“Bring them here,” he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up towards heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterwards, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!

Silence

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

The Feeding of the 5000, a Lesson in Compassion

We might conclude that from all the miracles Jesus performed, they were his way of demonstrating that he was who he claimed to be. But if we have been paying attention to what he said, we would be wrong in our conclusion. He refused to give the Pharisees a sign when they demanded one from him. He told them that they already had the only sign that they needed—the sign of Jonah, people turning away from their sinful ways to God.

What then can we conclude from all the miracles he performed?

Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, abled the lame to walk, raised the dead, delivered those who were demon-possessed, stilled the wind and the waves, turned water into wine, and in today’s reading from the New Testament fed 5000 men, not counting women and children. Why?

The key to his actions is found in this passage from that reading. “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Jesus had compassion on the great crowd that had followed him on foot. He could have turned his back on them and continued in the boat to the remote spot to be alone. But it would have been out of character for him. It was Jesus’ nature to have compassion on those who are suffering and those who are in trouble or in need. During the time that Jesus walked the earth, he was not only fully human but also fully divine. It is also God’s nature to be compassionate toward humankind. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught his disciples to be compassionate as God is compassionate and thereby show themselves to be the children of God. Children imitate their parents.

In showing compassion to the suffering and to those in trouble or in need, Jesus sets an example for us as well as demonstrates the character of God.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines compassion as “a strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish (or desire) to help them." Compassion goes hand in hand with mercy, a quality which Jesus emphasizes in his teaching and which the Old Testament tells us is an attribute of God. Mercy is kindness that engenders forgiveness regardless of whether forgiveness is merited.

Compassion involves not just a wish or desire to help someone but also the willingness to help them. Showing compassion to other people is very much a part of loving our neighbor as ourselves, which Jesus identifies next to loving God with the entirety of our being as the second greatest commandment and equal to the first.

If God is compassionate, why then you may wonder does he not always intervene directly in the lives of those who are suffering or who are in trouble or in need. One answer is that God often chooses to work through us rather than to intervene directly. He employs us as an instrument of his compassion, as a way of showing compassion to the suffering and those in trouble or in need.

God’s grace works in us, enabling us to show compassion to our fellow human beings, compassion which we might not otherwise show. We do not come by a compassionate nature naturally. God works in us to have the will and power to do what is pleasing to him. God also places in our lives people who show us compassion and model compassion for us. If we have not experienced compassion ourselves and have had no one to model compassion for us, we are not likely to show compassion toward others. We can, however, learn to be more compassionate with the help of God’s grace and our fellow believers.

The most important model of compassion for us is Jesus himself. Jesus is our exemplar as well as our teacher.

We may not think of it that way but God coming into the world in the person of the Son, in the person of Jesus, not only to be our teacher and exemplar but also to suffer and die for us on the cross was an act of compassion on God’s part toward us. God saw humanity’s suffering and took steps to help us, to set things right between himself and us. Let us take to heart what Jesus taught about being compassionate as God is compassionate and show ourselves to indeed be God’s children by treating our fellow human beings with compassion.

Silence

WE RESPOND

Open this link in a new tab to hear Shirley Erena Murray’s “A Place at the Table.”

1 For everyone born, a place at the table
For everyone born, clean water and bread
A shelter, a space, a safe place for growing
For everyone born, a star overhead!

And God will delight
When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes, God will delight
When we are creators of justice...
Justice and joy!

2 For woman and man, a place at the table
Revising the roles, deciding the share
With wisdom and grace, dividing the power
For woman and man, a system that's fair

And God will delight
When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes, God will delight
When we are creators of justice...
Justice and joy!

3 For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong.

And God will delight
When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes, God will delight
When we are creators of justice...
Justice and joy!

4 For just and unjust, a place at the table.
abuser, abused, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mind-set of mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to live.

And God will delight
When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes, God will delight
When we are creators of justice...
Justice and joy!

For everyone born, a place at the table
To live without fear, and simply to be
To work, to speak out, to witness and worship
For everyone born, the right to be free!

And God will delight
When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes, God will delight When we are creators of justice...
Justice and joy!

Oh, God will delight
When we are creators of justice and joy
Yes, God will delight
When we are creators of justice...
Justice and joy!

WE PRAY FOR GOD’S WORLD

Let us pray for all people and for the Church throughout the world.

Father, we pray for the holy universal Church;
that we all may be one in Christ.

Grant that every member of the Church may truly and
humbly serve you;
that your Name may be glorified by everyone.

We pray for all Christian pastors;
that they may be faithful ministers of your word and
sacraments.

We pray for the spread of the gospel;
that people everywhere may come to know and love you.

We pray for all who govern and exercise authority in the
nations of the world;
that there may be peace and justice among all.

Give us strength to do your will in all that we undertake;
that we may be blessed in all our works.

Have compassion on those who suffer or are in grief or
trouble;
that they may he delivered from their distress.

We praise you for all your saints who have entered into
joy;
may we also share in your heavenly kingdom.

Let us pray for our own needs and those of others.

Silence

Those present may add their own petitions.

Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who taught us to 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, and 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 link in a new tab to hear Ed Buldoc’s arrangement of Fredrick William Faber’s “There Is a Wideness in God’s Mercy.”

1 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in God's justice
Which is more than liberty.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

2 There is welcome for the sinner,
and a promised grace made good;
there is mercy with the Savior;
there is healing in his blood.
There is grace enough for thousands
of new worlds as great as this;
there is room for fresh creations
in that upper home of bliss.

So be merciful, just as our God is merciful—
Be merciful, just as our God is merciful to us.
Let there be wideness in our mercy.
Let there be kindness in our hearts.
Oh, may our lives be merciful.—

3 For the love of God is broader
Than the measures of the mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple,
We would know the living Word;
And our lives would be thanksgiving
In the kindness of the Lord.

So be merciful, just as our God is merciful—
Be merciful, just as our God is merciful to us.
Let there be wideness in our mercy.
Let there be kindness in our hearts.
Oh, may our lives be merciful.—

[Instrumental interlude]

4 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in God's justice
Which is more than liberty.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

So be merciful, just as our God is merciful—
Be merciful, just as our God is merciful to us.
Let there be wideness in our mercy.
Let there be kindness in our hearts.
Oh, may our lives be merciful.—

Those present may exchange a sign of peace.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.