Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, February 11, 2024)

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday is the last Sunday of Epiphanytide. In some Christian traditions it is the last Sunday on which the Gloria in Excelsis and hymns and songs with alleluia in their lyrics are sung until the Feast of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Next Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent. In these same traditions church services take on a more penitential tone during the Season of Lent and the Kyries or the Trisagion is sung in place of the Gloria in Excelsis.

GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.

Open this link to James Quinn SJ’s paraphrase of the Jubilate Deo, “Sing All Creation.”

1 Sing, all creation, sing to God in gladness!
Joyously serve him, singing hymns of homage!
Chanting his praises, come before his presence!
Praise the Almighty!

2 Know that our God is Lord of all the ages!
He is our maker; we are all his creatures,
people he fashioned, sheep he leads to pasture!
Praise the Almighty!

3 Enter his temple, ringing out his praises!
Sing in thanksgiving as you come before him!
Blessing his bounty, glorify his greatness!
Praise the Almighty!

[Instrumental interlude]

4 Great in his goodness is the Lord we worship;
steadfast his kindness, love that knows no ending!
Faithful his word is, changeless, everlasting!
Praise the Almighty!

God has promised forgiveness
to all who truly repent,
turn to Christ in faith
and are themselves forgiving.

Let us confess our sins to God our Father.

Silence

Heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour
in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault;
by what we have done
and by what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ who died for us,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name. Amen.

Merciful Lord,
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace, t
hat we may be cleansed from all our sins,
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear “Glory to God” from Marty Haugen’s Mass of Creation.

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father,
Amen. Amen.

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.

Let us pray.

Silence

Mighty God,
strong, loving and wise,
help us depend upon your goodness
and to place our trust in your Son.
Hear this prayer for your love’s sake.
Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Old Testament (2 Kings 5:1–14).

The king of Aram had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him the Lord had given Aram great victories. But though Naaman was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.

At this time Aramean raiders had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid. One day the girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy.”

So Naaman told the king what the young girl from Israel had said. “Go and visit the prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to take to the king of Israel.” So Naaman started out, carrying as gifts 340 kilograms of silver, 68 kilograms of gold, and ten sets of clothing. The letter to the king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “Am I God, that I can give life and take it away? Why is this man asking me to heal someone with leprosy? I can see that he’s just trying to pick a fight with me.”

But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet here in Israel.”

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the River Jordan. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”

But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.

But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the River Jordan and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!

Silence

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Paul Inwood’s setting of Psalm 30, “I Will Praise You, Lord.”

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, for your mercy.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord.

1 I will praise you, Lord,
you have rescued me
and have not let
my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul
from the dead,
restored me to life,
from those who sink to the grave

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, for your mercy.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord.

2 Sing psalm to the Lord,
you who love him,
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts but a moment;
his favor through life.
At night there are tears,
but joy comes with dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, for your mercy.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord.

3 The Lord listened and had pity.
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed
my mourning into dancing;
O Lord, my God,
I will thank you for ever.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, for your mercy.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord.

A reading from the New Testament (Mark 1:40–45)

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on his way with a stern warning: “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

But the man went and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result, large crowds soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn’t publicly enter a town anywhere. He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere kept coming to him.

Silence

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

It’s God’s Call

What was your reaction to the healing of Naaman in today’s Old Testament reading and the healing of the man with leprosy in today’s New Testament reading when you first heard or read these passages of Scripture? Astonishment? Disbelief?

In biblical times, leprosy was regarded as a curse from God, and it was frequently associated with sin. I do not believe that I would be far wronging in saying that those who first heard the account of Naaman’s healing would have been shocked. God heals the leprosy of a man who from the perspective of an Israelite was not only a foreigner, a worshiper of idols, and an enemy but also was cursed by God.

The Arameans were a people who occupied a number of small states in present-day Syria and northern Israel. They made raids into the territory occupied by the Israelites, pillaging towns, villages, and farmsteads, driving off the livestock, harvesting crops they had not planted, and carrying off women and children as slaves. As the commander of the Aramean king’s army, Naaman had most likely taken part in such incursions.

What is fascinating in this story is that it is a young girl who was taken in one of these raids and who had subsequently become a slave of Naaman’ wife was the one who told her about the prophet Elisha. What was her motivation? Did she feel pity for her mistress married to a man with leprosy? Did God prompt her to tell Naaman’s wife, intending to heal Naaman? The bible narrative does not tell us.

While Naaman initially balks at Elisha’s instructions since they fall short of his expectations, his officers persuade him to do what Elisha instructed. Naaman is miraculously healed.

2 Kings 5: 15-19 describes Naaman’s response:

Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused.

Then Naaman said, “All right, but please allow me to load two of my mules with earth from this place, and I will take it back home with me. From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord. However, may the Lord pardon me in this one thing: When my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow, too.”

“Go in peace,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again.

Naaman acknowledges that the God of Israel is the one true God and declares that he from that time on will worship God.

I suspect that Jesus’ healing of the man with leprosy also shocked those who witnessed the healing and those who first heard the account of that healing. In the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry those who contracted leprosy were forced to leave their homes and families and to live with others afflicted with the disease on the outskirts of the town or village in which they had lived. They were required to wear torn clothes, maintain an unkept appearance, cover the lower part of their faces, and shout “unclean” when anyone approached them. They were forbidden to have any contact with people who did not have leprosy and were forced to scavenge for their food. What would have shocked those who witnessed the healing and those who first heard about it was that Jesus allowed the man with leprosy to approach him and that he touched the man. He risked not only becoming infected with the disease but also becoming ritually impure according to the religious teaching of the time.

After Jesus healed the man, he gave the man strict instructions to tell no one but to do what the law of Moses required (see Leviticus 4: 1-32). However, the man told everyone what happened. As a consequence, Jesus was not able to openly enter a town or village without drawing a crowd. He was forced to stay in secluded places. Even then people found him.

We are left to wonder why Jesus instructed the man not to tell anyone. Based upon what he taught the disciples about not doing things to make ourselves the center of attention, I believe that it is safe to conclude that he did not want to draw attention to himself. He was not out to keep himself in the public eye and to make sure that his name appeared in every news cycle. His healing of the man with leprosy was motivated by genuine compassion, and not by a desire to stay in the limelight.

What does Naaman in today’s Old Testament reading and the man with leprosy in today’s New Testament reading have in common other than they both suffered from leprosy and were miraculously healed? Those who first heard their stories and in the case of the man Jesus healed those who witnessed the healing, believed that the two men were unlikely candidates for God’s healing as the disease with which they were afflicted was God’s curse for their sins. Yet God healed them!

It is very tempting for human beings to put themselves in God’s place and to pass judgment on others, concluding that this group of people or that group of people for on reason or another do not deserve God’s mercy, do not merit God’s forgiveness and kindness. However, our ways are not God’s ways, and our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. When we judge a group of people as not being worthy of God’s mercy, what we are really doing is judging them as not deserving of our own forgiveness and kindness. In short, we are setting aside God’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, a commandment which Jesus pointed out included loving our enemies and doing good to them, treating them as we would wish ourselves to be treated, that is, with forgiveness and kindness.

Jesus instructed his disciples to tell all peoples about him, to call them to repent from sin and believe in him, to invite them to become his disciples, and to form into disciples those who respond, baptizing them, and instructing them in what he commanded. Jesus did not tell them that they could pick and choose which groups of people to tell about him, to call to repent and to believe, and to invite to follow him. Jesus understood people all too well.

We may not like hearing that God does not favor the group of people to which we belong and with whom we share the same language, culture, and history. The people of Nazareth become extremely angry when Jesus told them that God was going to show his kindness to the Gentiles, people like the widow of Zarephath and Naaman who were not Israelites and who did not know the Lord. They tried to lynch him, to throw him from the top of the hill on which Nazareth was built.

But it is not our place to set limits on God’s mercy. On whom God has mercy is God’s call, not ours. For our part we are expected to be faithful in obeying what Jesus commanded, neither adding to his message and teaching or taking away from it. As Jesus said to his first disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). He meant those words not just for them but for all who would follow him.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to ear Marty Haugen’s “Healer of Our Every Ill.”

Healer of our ev’ry ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

1 You who know our fears and sadness,
grace us with your peace and gladness;
Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts.

Healer of our ev’ry ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

2 In the pain and joy beholding
how your grace is still unfolding,
give us all your vision, God of love.

Healer of our ev’ry ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

3 Give us strength to love each other,
ev’ry sister, ev’ry brother;
Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.

Healer of our ev’ry ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

4 You who know each thought and feeling,
teach us all your way of healing;
Spirit of compassion, fill each heart.

Healer of our ev’ry ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

Let us affirm with Christians across the ages what we believe about God
and his love for us.

We believe in one God,
who made us and loves all that is.
We believe in Jesus Christ,
God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was born, lived, died and rose again,
and is coming to call all to account.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who calls, equips and sends out God’s people,
and brings all things to their true end.

This is our faith, the faith of the Church:

We believe in one God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER

Let us pray for the Church and the world.

Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church
that we all may be one.

Grant that every member of your Church may truly and humbly serve you:
that your name may be glorified by all people.

We pray for all ministers of the Church
that they may be faithful ministers of your word and sacraments.

We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world
that there may be justice and peace on the earth.

Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake
that your glory may be proclaimed through our lives.

Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble
that they may be delivered from their distress.

We praise you for your saints who have entered their eternal joy
may we also come to share in the fulness of your kingdom.

We pray for our own needs and for those of others:

Silence. 

The people may add their own petitions.

Gracious God, grant that the desires of your people’s hearts
may find favour in your sight,
through the intercession of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught 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,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen

THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE

Holy and everliving God,
by your power we are created
and by your love we are redeemed;
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves to your service,
and live each day in love to one another and to you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

May the almighty and merciful God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
bless us and keep us
now and forever. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear John Bell and Graham Maule’s “Take This Moment, Sign and Space.”

1.Take this moment, sign and space;
Take my friends around;
Here among us make the place
Where your love is found.

2. Take the time to call my name,
Take the time to mend
Who I am and what I've been,
All I've failed to tend.

3. Take the tiredness of my days,
Take my past regret,
Letting your forgiveness touch
All I can't forget

4. Take the little child in me
Scared of growing old;
Help me here to find my worth
Made in Christ's own mould.

5. Take my talents, take my skills,
Take what's yet to be;
Let my life be yours, and yet
Let it still be me,
still be me.

Those present may exchange a sign of peace.

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