Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, October 5, 2023)

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

It has been raining since early this morning, a clear sign that Fall has arrived in westernmost Kentucky, in the Jackson Purchase, and a reminder that God “gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Matthew 5:45 NLT). God extends his grace to all.

In this Thursday evening’s service we continue to learn about the right way to live, how to love others, and the Kingdom of God from the teaching and life of Jesus. 

WE GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

A lamp or a candle may be lit.

God is our light and our salvation,
Our refuge and our stronghold.
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
we praise your name, O God.
For with you is the fountain of life,
and in your light we see light.

As this evening hymn is sung, more lamps and candles may be lit.

Open this link in a new tab to hear F. Bland Tucker’s paraphrase of the Phos hilaron, “O Gracious Light.”

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.

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.

Light of the world, shine on our darkness.
Holy and blessed are you.

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.

Light of the world, shine on our darkness.
Holy and blessed are you.
Light of the world, shine on our darkness.
Holy and blessed are you.
Light of the world, shine on our darkness.
Holy and blessed are you.

The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

We praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe!
Your word brings on the dusk of evening,
your wisdom creates both night and day.
You determine the cycles of time,
arrange the succession of the seasons,
and establish the stars in their heavenly courses.
Lord of the starry hosts is your name.
Living and eternal God,
rule over us always.
Blessed be the Lord,
whose word makes evening fall.
Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Psalm 141 from Kent Gustavson's Mountain Vespers.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

O God, I call you; come to me quickly;
Hear my voice when I cry to you.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Set a watch before my mouth,
and guard the doors of my lips.
Let not my heart incline to any evil thing;
Never occupied in wickedness.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

My eyes are turned to you, O God,
in you I take refuge.
My eyes are turned to you, O God,
Strip me not of my life.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Silence

Lord God, our protector and guide,
who made us knowing both good and evil,
help us to desire all that is good,
that the offering of our lives may be acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Lori True’s adaptation of Psalm 121, “You, the Source and Maker.”

You, the Source and Maker
of heaven and earth.
You alone are my help.

You, the Source and Maker
of heaven and earth.
You alone are my help.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains;
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

You, the Source and Maker
of heaven and earth.
You alone are my help.

*2 May God never allow you to stumble!
Let your guard not sleep.
Behold neither sleeping nor slumb’ring
Israel’s guard.

You, the Source and Maker
of heaven and earth.
You alone are my help.

3 The Lord is your guard and your shade;
And stands at your right.
By day the sun shall not smite you,
nor the moon in the night.

You, the Source and Maker
of heaven and earth.
You alone are my help.

4 The Lord will guard you from evil,
and will guard your soul.
The Lord will guard your going and coming,
both now and forever.

You, the Source and Maker
of heaven and earth.
You alone are my help.

*Omitted on the video.

Silence

Lord, ever watchful and faithful,
we look to you to be our defense
and we lift our hearts to know your help;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Susan Briehl’s “Let Evening Fall.”

1 Let evening fall on field and forest,
on desert mesa, canyon deep;
let coyote prowl and night hawk circle
while solemn owl her wise watch keeps.

*2 Let mountain now resound with chanting,
and meadow echo antiphon;
let dusky breezes rustle aspen
while lake and land join even-song.

3 Let those who labor in the daylight
now bring their working to an end;
let others rise to keep the vigil,
the weak to guard, the sick to tend.

4 Let every heart that harbors hatred
(Let every heart that harbors hatred)
release its hold, receive your grace;
(release its hold, receive your grace;)
let every mouth that spoke in anger
(let every mouth that spoke in anger)
seek pardon’s peace, then sing your praise.
(seek pardon’s peace, then sing your praise.)

5 Let daylight fade and shadows lengthen
when those we love draw near to death;
Attend our prayers, our weak faith strengthen
as you receive their final breath.

6 O Maker of creation’s choir,
O Song of love sung out for all,
O Spirit, breath of all our singing,
Let praise arise, let evening fall.

*Omitted on the video.

WE HEAR GOD’S WORD

A reading from the New Testament (Matthew 22: 34-40)

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Silence

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

The Most Important Commandment

Log into a social media website like Facebook and you will be bombarded by memes, some very sophisticated and others fairly crude. All of them have the same purpose—to influence whoever views them.

What are sometimes posted on social media as truisms, or self-evident truths, are often untrue or partly true and then with qualifications. For example, it is claimed in one meme circulating on the internet that we know ourselves best. Psychologists and others who study the human mind and human emotions and behavior and how different situations affect people, however, tell us that we do not know ourselves as well as might think that we do. We have all kinds of cognitive distortions, biases, and blind spots which keep us from seeing ourselves as we really are and which prevent us from fully understanding what motivates us, why we think, feel, and act the way we do.

We are also strongly influenced by our environment often in very subtle ways that may escape our attention. We may be more the creatures of a particular culture than we are willing or able to recognize. While we might like to see ourselves as masters of our own fate, there are cultural forces in our lives which influence how we perceive reality, our attitudes, our ways of thinking and feeling, and our behavior. They are forces over which we have little or no control since they are, often as not, outside our conscious awareness.

Contrary to what this particular meme claims, few human beings have the degree of insight and self-awareness that it presumes everyone as possessing. We may not like hearing this. We may not want to hear it because it runs counter to what we want to believe. The fact of the matter, however, is that we do not know ourselves as well as we would like to think that we do. Indeed, the human brain is quite good at deceiving and misleading itself.

What may appear to be another self-evident truth which we may encounter on the internet is “you cannot love someone else unless you love yourself.” While there is a kernel of truth to this notion, it is largely a myth, a commonly believed but false idea. It is an idea that some use to avoid giving love while others use it to receive love but not to return love. They may let their fears and prejudices get the better of them while telling themselves that they first need to learn to love themselves before they can love others. It can become a rationale for a pattern of avoidance in which they maintain a distance between themselves and others.

If they are prone to perfectionism as is often the case when people have demanding parents in their childhood, parents whose expectations they were never able to meet, they may set unrealistically high standards for themselves. They may put off giving and receiving love as they struggle to reach these unachievable standards.

They may exploit the belief of others in this myth to receive love from others, claiming that they are working on learning to love themselves and will eventually return the love which others are giving them. But they are really taking advantage of others and they are not likely to reciprocate the love they are receiving from others.

Learning to love ourselves and others, however, is circular. It does not start with learning to love ourselves first. We learn to love ourselves in the quickest and most efficient manner when we are both actively giving and receiving love. As Thomas Merton wrote, “we cannot love ourselves unless we love others, and we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. But a selfish love of ourselves makes us incapable of loving others.”

If you are not familiar with Merton, he was “an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion.” He was a member of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemane, near Bardstown, Kentucky. He lived at the abbey from his admission to the Cistercian order in 1941 until his death at a monastic conference in Thailand in 1968.

Just as we may use this belief to dodge the give and take of a relationship with someone else, we are also apt to use it as a convenient excuse for sidestepping what Jesus identified as the greatest commandment.

‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

In what is sometimes referred to as “the Summary of the Law,” Jesus takes two commandments, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, and ties them to each other. The first governs our relationship with God and the second our relationship with our fellow human beings.

Our relationship with God and our relationship with our fellow human beings is intertwined. They are inseparable. As the author of the First Letter of John put it,

"If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers." (1 John 4: 20-21 NLT)

It is noteworthy that when we look at the context of Leviticus 19: 18, it is a series of commandments largely related to attitudes that the people of Israel should have toward their fellow Israelites and the foreigners in their midst and how they should behave toward these two people groups. There is nothing to suggest that an absence or lack of self-love exempts the Israelites from the requirements of these commandments. There is, however, a clear expectation that they treat others, foreigners as well as their fellow Israelites, with consideration, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, impartiality, justice, patience, and respect.

We cannot weasel out of following Jesus’s teaching as it relates to other people without ignoring what he taught as it relates to God. And visa versa.

Regrettably there is an observable tendency in our time to do just that. Whether we recognize it, when we eschew Jesus’ teaching, intentionally avoid it or give it up, because it does not conform to our own views, political or otherwise, we are also rejecting the divinity of Jesus and his lordship over our lives.

We cannot claim to be disciples of Jesus and dismiss for one reason or another what he taught and how he lived as we hear and read a number of self-identified Christians are doing. As Jesus told his followers, “Why do you call me Lord when you do not do what I tell you.” (Luke 6: 46 NLT)

While fully keeping the two greatest commandments, the commandment to love God with our whole heart and the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves—may beyond our power, this does not excuse from endeavoring to do so. As Jesus pointed to the attention of his disciples, “what is humanly impossible is not impossible for God.” (Luke 18: 27 NLT)

We seek to follow Jesus’ teaching and example out of faith in him and trust and confidence in his words, believing that God will credit to us Jesus’ perfect obedience and unhesitating love while enabling us by the power of the Holy Spirit to follow in his footsteps, as imperfectly and haltingly as it may be.

It is not our own actions that put us right with God but faith in Jesus. What our actions do is testify to our faith. They also show that God is working in us to will and do what is pleasing to God. God does not leave us to our own devices but comes alongside us in the person of the Holy Spirit and guides and helps us.

Jesus’ words in Luke 18 are not a cause for despair. Rather they are a reminder of the benevolence of God, of God’s faithfulness and steadfast love.

Silence

WE RESPOND

Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s paraphrase of the Magnificat, “My Heart Sings Out with Joyful Praise.”

My heart sings out with joyful praise
to God who raises me,
Who came to me when I was low
and changed my destiny.
The Holy One, the Living God,
is always full of grace
To those who seek their Maker's will
in every time and place.

The arm of God is strong and just
to scatter all the proud.
The tyrants tumble from their thrones
and vanish like a cloud.
The hungry all are satisfied;
the rich are sent away.
The poor of earth who suffer long
will welcome God's new day.

The promise made in ages past
at last has come to be,
for God has come in power to save,
to set all people free.
Remembering those who wait to see
salvation's dawning day,
Our Savior comes to all who weep
to wipe their tears away.

WE PRAY FOR GOD’S WORLD

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

For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy,

For this dwelling (house, apartment, condo, common room, etc.), and for all who offer here their worship and praise.
Lord, have mercy.

For the health of the creation, for abundant harvests that all may share,
and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For public servants, for government, and those who protect us;
for those who work to bring peace, justice, healing and protection
in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For those who travel, for those who are sick and suffering,
and for those who are in captivity, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For deliverance in times of affliction, wrath, danger, and need,
let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.

For …… and all servants of the church, for this gathering,
and for all people who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Other petitions may be added.

Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

Silence

Giving thanks for all who have gone before us and are at rest, rejoicing in the communion of …… and all the saints, we commend ourselves, one another, and our whole life to you. Through Christ our Lord.
To you, O Lord.

O God,
you declare your almighty power
chiefly in showing mercy and pity;
mercifully grant us such a measure of your grace
that, running in the way of your commandments,
we may obtain your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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.

Let us join together in the prayer Jesus gave us.

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

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Hoy Spirit, bless and preserve us. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Martin E. Leckebusch’s "Called by Christ to Be Disciples.”

1 Called by Christ to be disciples
every day in every place,
we are not to hide as hermits
but to spread the way of grace;
citizens of heaven’s kingdom,
though this world is where we live,
as we serve a faithful Master,
faithful service may we give.

2 Richly varied are our pathways,
many callings we pursue:
may we use our gifts and talents
always, Lord, to honor you;
so in government or commerce,
college, hospice, farm, or home,
whether volunteers or earning,
may we see your kingdom come.

3 Hard decisions may confront us,
urging us to compromise;
still obedience is our watchword—
make us strong and make us wise!
Secular is turned to sacred,
made a precious offering,
as our daily lives are fashioned
in submission to our King.

Those present may exchange a sign of peace.

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