Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, October 19, 2023)

 

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

In an experiment reported In the University of Chicago News researchers found that people learn just as much from other people’s failures as they do from other people’s successes. In a second experiment researchers found that we ourselves do not lean from our own mistakes. Subsequent experiments tied this failure of the experiment’s participants to learn from their mistakes to a loss of self-esteem. Feeling bad about failing kept the participants from benefiting from knowing what they did wrong. This may explain at least in part why accounts of both the failures and successes of various figures, particularly in their relationship with God, were included in the Bible. It may also help to explain why people who do not feel good about their relationship with God persist in doing the wrong thing while those feel good about that relationship are less likely to repeat the same mistake.

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 translation 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.

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!

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 to hear Kiran Young Wimberly’s paraphrase of Psalm 139, “You Have Searched Me.”

You have searched me and known me, Holy Lord
Know when I sit and rise
You’re acquainted with my ways
Where I go and where I lie

You know each word completely
before I speak it, Lord
You lay your hand upon me
hem me in behind, before

Where can I flee from your spirit
Or from your presence go?
If I rise up to the heavens
Or descend to the depths below

If I take the wings of the dawn to
the far side of the sea
Even there, your hand will hold me fast
your right hand will guide me

For you formed my inmost being
within my mother’s womb
When I dwelt within that secret place
I was not hid from you

You ordained that the days before me
be filled with love and grace
Made me beautiful and wonderful
for this I give you praise

How precious is your every thought
how vast the sum of them
Though I try to count them
they are more than every grain of sand

O that you would pull down the ones who
do harm and seek to gain
My heart is heavy and I long
for goodness and love to reign

Search me, O God, and know my heart
know every anxious thought
And lead me on the path of
your everlasting way

Silence

Creator God,
may every breath we take be for your glory,
may every footstep show you as our way,
that, trusting in your presence in this world,
we may, beyond this life, still be with you
where you are alive and reign
for ever and ever. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s adaptation of the Prayer of St. Francis, “Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace.”

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me bring love;
where there is injury, let me bring pardon;
where there is doubting, let me bring faith.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is despairing, let me bring hope;
where there is darkness, let me bring light;
where there is sadness, let me bring joy.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

O Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

For it is giving that we receive;
and it is pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is dying that we are born.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

WE HEAR GOD’S WORD

A reading from the New Testament (Matthew 23:13-36)

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

“Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’

“But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?

“Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation.

Silence

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

What We Can Learn from the Failings of Others

In this evening’s reading and the preceding passages, Matthew 23: 1-12, Jesus does not mince his words. He is blunt and direct in drawing to the attention of the crowds and his disciples (and any Pharisees and teachers of the religious law who are present, the failings of the religious leaders of Judaea. It is Jesus’ strongest criticism of the Pharisees and teachers of the law and no doubt upset those who were present and those who heard his words second-hand.

When reading these passages, we need to keep two things in mind. Jesus is not setting an example of lashing out at the slightest pretext at those with whom we disagree, making remarks about them which show that we do not respect or value them and which may damage their reputation, misconstruing and misrepresenting what they say, setting up straw men in order to win or create an argument, employing harsh, unkind language, attacking their character and their intelligence, calling them names, and demonizing them. It is not establishing a precedent to adopt a belligerent, in-your-face attitude toward others. All too often individuals who identify themselves as Christians, even as pastors, exhibit this kind of behavior on social media and use these passages from Matthew’s Gospel and Jesus’ driving the money changers from the Temple to justify their conduct, maintaining that they are only doing what Jesus did.

Jesus is referring to the religious leaders of Judaea in these passages. He is not referring to all Jews. What Jesus says in Matthew 23:1-23 is not an antisemitic diatribe. He is speaking about the practices of the Pharisees ad teachers of the religious law. They give the appearance of being godly, but their piety is not genuine. It is a masquerade that they put on to impress their fellow Jews and keep the true state of their spiritual condition from being known.

Jesus is scathing in his criticism of the Judaean religious leaders because they, more than anyone else, are in a position to know better. They, unlike most of the Judaean population, can read and write. They devote a good part of their time to the study of the Hebrew Bible.

As well as their hypocrisy, Jesus draws attention to their hair splitting, how they argue about the small details of something while ignoring what is really important. While they are scrupulous in tithing mint, dill, and cumin from their herb gardens, they also neglect what mattered most—" justice, mercy, and faith.”

We can learn a number of things from Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees and the teachers of the religious law in this evening’s reading, things that we do not want to practice but to avoid. One of things that we want to avoid is raising the bar too high for would-be disciples of Jesus. We are apt to create standards of our own which a would-be disciple needs to meet in order to qualify in our minds as a disciple. They must dress like us, associate with people like us, share our opinions on key issues affecting our society, embrace our political views, think of as perfect or better than they are the political figures that we idealize, vote as we do, and otherwise become a member of our tribe. Jesus made no such demands on those whom he called to be his disciples.

What Jesus expects from his disciples can be found in the Gospels. They are expected to repent—to feel remorse for the bad things they had done and the good things they had failed to do and to stop doing the bad things and neglecting the good things. This involves denying themselves and resisting the temptations of their own desires. It also entails changes in their attitudes and their ways of thinking as well as their behavior. Concomitant with repenting is believing in Jesus, having faith in him, and trusting the claims he made, the teachings he gave, and the examples he set. They are expected to adopt a new way of life, a way of life that embodies his teaching and follows his example and is testimony to their faith in him and their devotion to him.

We also want to avoid the apparent fondness of the Pharisees and teachers of the religious law for small and overfine distinctions by which they justified or rationalized their actions. There is also the danger of getting caught up in arguments and disagreements over matters which really are not very important in the order of things and even may be trifling and of little or no account. Such arguments and disagreements can divert our attention from far more important matters and may serve as an intentional diversion from attending to these matters. It is all too common for church congregations to become involve in seemingly endless wrangling over personal preferences and tastes in worship while making negligible effort to reach and engage the community.

Jesus drew the attention of the crowds and his disciples to the failings of the Judaean religious leaders not to indulge in the pastime of Aint It Awful. He was not seeking corroboration from the crowds or his disciples but warning his listeners against the practices of the Pharisees and the teachers of the religious law.

We may have attended a Sunday school class or small group in which the participants were drawn into this pastime and indulged themselves in expressing their negative observations about this person or that group, observations that may have been strongly influenced by their biases and preconceptions about the individual or group in question. Among the gains that the participants get from indulging in this pastime is that they avoid their own failings by focusing on someone else’s perceived or real faults and mistakes. A participant may initiate the pastime to avoid anxiety or discomfort that was triggered by the introduction of a particular topic and to divert the attention of the class or group to a different topic that does not trigger anxiety or discomfort.

This pastime is not particular to Sunday school classes and small groups. It is a frequent pastime of coffee klatches and other get-togethers and is encountered quite frequently on social media. It is a very common pastime.

One thing that we learn from reading the Gospels is that whatever Jesus say and does it is intended for our instruction. It is to teach us about God. It is to teach us about human nature. It is to teach us about what God expects of us. It is to teach us about how we are to change the way that we relate to other people. It is to teach us about what we need to pray.

In warning the crowd and his disciples against the practices of the religious leaders of Judaea, he is also inviting us to examine our own practices. Where are we doing what they did? What are we going to do about it? We may not be perfect, but our imperfection does not excuse us from taking stock of our own practices and in light of Jesus’ teaching, making needed changes.

Silence

WE RESPOND

Open this link in anew tab to hear Ruth Duck’s paraphrase of Psalm 98, “To God Compose a Song of Joy.”

To God compose a song of joy;
To God make melody,
Whose arm of strength does wondrous things,
Whose hand brings victory!

Before the nations God reveals
A just and righteous will,
Remembering in faithful love
The house of Israel.

In every corner of the earth,
God comes to save and free;
Break forth with shouts of holy joy;
All lands, make melody.

With trumpet, with the sound of horns,
With strings, yes, with the lyre,
With voices praise the sov'reign God,
A lusty, joyous choir.

Let seas in all their fullness roar,
And people of all lands,
Let mountains join and shout for joy,
Let rivers clap their hands.

The God of justice comes to save;
Let earth make melody!
For God will judge with righteousness
And rule with equity.

To God compose a song of joy;
To God make melody,
Whose arm of strength does wondrous things,
Whose hand brings victory!

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.

Almighty God,
in your wisdom you have so ordered our earthly life
that we must walk by faith and not by sight:
give us such trust in your fatherly care
that in the face of all perplexities
we may give proof of our faith by the courage of our lives;
through Jesus Chris 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.

Open this link to hear Kent Gustavson’s “Benediction.”

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord’s face shine on you.
May the Lord be gracious to you.
May the Lord look on you and give you peace.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord’s face shine on you.
May the Lord be gracious to you.
May the Lord look on you and give you peace.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Those present may exchange a sign of peace.

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