Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, February 1, 2024)

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

The first day of Lent, also known as Ash Wednesday, falls on a Wednesday a fortnight from today, February 14. In a number of church traditions Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter in which Christians devote themselves to fasting and abstinence, prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for the Feast of the Resurrection.

GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Let Us Build a House (All Are Welcome).”

1 Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live.
A place where saints and children
tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace.
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

2 Let us build a house where prophets speak,
and words are strong and true.
Where all God’s children dare to seek
to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God’s grace.
Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

3 Let us build a house where love is found,
in water, wine and wheat.
A banquet hall on holy ground,
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space,
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us;

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

4 Let us build a house where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone.
To heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear
the image of God’s face.
Let us bring an end to fear and danger;

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.

5 Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard.
And loved and treasured, taught and
claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace.
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter;

All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place

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 Anders Frostenson’s “Many Are the Light Beams,”

1 Many are the light beams from the one light.
Our one light is Jesus.
Many are the light beams from the one light;
We are one in Christ.

2 Many are the branches of the one tree.
Our one tree is Jesus.
Many are the branches of the one tree;
We are one in Christ.

3 Many are the gifts given, love is all one.
Love’s the gift of Jesus.
Many are the gifts given, love is all one;
We are one in Christ.

4 Many ways to serve God, the Spirit is one,
Servant spirit of Jesus.
Many ways to serve God, the Spirit is one;
We are one in Christ.

5 Many are the members, the body is one,
Members all of Jesus.
Many are the members, the body is one;
We are one in Christ.

Let us pray.

Silence

Creator God,
who in the beginning
commanded the light to shine out of darkness:
We pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief,
shine into the hearts of all your people,
and reveal the knowledge of your glory
in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the New Testament (1 Corinthians 11: 17-34)

In the things I tell you now I don’t praise you. Your meetings hurt you more than they help you. First, I hear that when you meet together as a church you are divided. And this is not hard to believe because of your idea that you must have separate groups to show who the real believers are!

When you all come together, it is not really the Lord’s Supper you are eating. I say this because when you eat, each one eats without waiting for the others. Some people don’t get enough to eat or drink, while others have too much. You can eat and drink in your own homes. It seems that you think God’s church is not important. You embarrass those who are poor. What can I say? Should I praise you? No, I cannot praise you for this.

The teaching I gave you is the same that I received from the Lord: On the night when the Lord Jesus was handed over to be killed, he took bread and gave thanks for it. Then he divided the bread and said, “This is my body; it is for you. Eat this to remember me.” In the same way, after they ate, Jesus took the cup of wine. He said, “This cup represents the new agreement from God, which begins with my blood sacrifice. When you drink this, do it to remember me.” This means that every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are telling others about the Lord’s death until he comes again.

So if you eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that does not fit its meaning, you are sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. Before you eat the bread and drink the cup, you should examine your own attitude. If you eat and drink without paying attention to those who are the Lord’s body, your eating and drinking will cause you to be judged guilty. That is why many in your group are sick and weak, and many have died. But if we judged ourselves in the right way, then God would not judge us. But when the Lord judges us, he punishes us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be condemned with the world.

So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If some are too hungry to wait, they should eat at home. Do this so that your meeting together will not bring God’s judgment on you. I will tell you what to do about the other things when I come.

Silence

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God.

Before You Eat the Lord's Supper, a Word....

Like the churches of our time, the church at Corinth suffered from divisions. The apostle Paul writes about these divisions in his first letter to the Corinthians, from which this evening’s reading is taken. One division was particularly evident when the church gathered to eat the Lord’s Supper. In the New Testament church, the Lord’s Supper was eaten as a part of a much larger meal, a love feast or agape. Some members of the church were beginning to eat and drink before the other members arrived and were treating the meal as if it was a banquet or dinner party at someone’s home. They saw the meal as an opportunity to overindulge in food and wine as they might at a private banquet or dinner party. They not only showed a disregard for the solemnity of the occasion but also for their fellow members of the church.

In Paul’s time in ancient Corinth society was highly stratified as it was in other parts of the Roman Empire. At the top were the nobility and the large landowners and at the bottom were the plebs, the common people, the poor and the empire’s large slave population. The members of the church at Corinth came from all classes and the wealthier members of the church were not treating the poorer members of church, a number of whom were most likely slaves, in the way that Paul thought that they should be treating the poorer members as members of the Body of Christ like themselves. They were not showing toward them the love that our Lord commanded his disciples to show toward each other, the love which Paul in his letters urges those to whom he is writing to show each other. Indeed, they appeared not to recognize the poorer members of the church as members of Christ’s Body at all. Paul points to the attention of the members of the church at Corinth that their failure to regard a part of their church as members of Christ’s Body explains why a number of them are sick or have died. They have brought God’s judgment on themselves.

Some churches call the Lord’s Supper, also known as Holy Communion, the Holy Eucharist, or the Mass an “ordinance” because Jesus instituted it and commanded its observance. They consider it a way of bringing to mind Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross as God’s way of reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. Churches which take this view of the Lord’s Supper generally observe it infrequently. Among these churches are Baptist and non-denominational churches.

Other churches call the Lord’s Supper a sacrament, specifically a Sacrament of the Gospel, or Gospel Sacrament and consider it a very important means of grace, a way by which the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross to the believer and invigorates, strengthens, and confirms the faith of the believer in God. Churches which take this view of the Lord’s Supper celebrate it monthly or more often. They may have weekday celebrations of the Lord’s Supper as well as Sunday celebrations. Among these churches are Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Reformed, and Roman Catholic churches.

Irrespective of the view of the Lord’s Supper that a church may take, what Paul wrote the church at Corinthian is applicable to the churches of today. Paul did not believe that the Corinthians were taking the Lord’s Supper with the seriousness that the occasion warranted. Their treatment of the poorer members of the church was unacceptable. They did not appear to view them as fellow believers and consequently as members of the Body of Christ on the basis of their economic and social position within Corinthian society.

We also need to be mindful of our attitude toward those who attend our church’s meetings with us and those who would attend the meetings if their circumstances did not prevent them. This includes newcomers and visitors to these meetings. Indeed, it includes all whom our Lord would have us regard as our neighbors.

If something has come between us and someone else, it is incumbent upon us as followers of Jesus do all that we reasonably can to be reconciled with that person as our Lord taught his disciples. On our part we must seek to be “in love and charity” with our neighbor regardless of whether that person is open to restoring friendly relations with us. We certainly cannot adopt the increasingly prevalent attitude of denigrating people because they are different from ourselves and despising them for this reason.

The followers of Jesus are called to be in the world but not of the world. This means that we must live our lives according to the teaching and example of our Lord and not in accordance with the norms of the particular segment of society in which we find ourselves. The hatred and ill-will we see in the world has no place in the church, in the Body of Christ.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Shirley Erena Murray’s “Who Is My Mother, Who Is My Brother?”

1 Who is my mother,
who is my brother?
all those who gather round Jesus Christ:
Spirit-blown people
born from the Gospel
sit at the table, round Jesus Christ.

2 Differently abled,
differently labeled,
widen the circle round Jesus Christ,
crutches and stigmas,
culture's enigmas,
all come together round Jesus Christ.

3 Love will relate us --
color or status
can't segregate us, round Jesus Christ:
family failings,
human derailings --
all are accepted, round Jesus Christ.

4 Bound by one vision,
met for one mission
we claim each other, round Jesus Christ:
here is my mother,
here is my brother,
kindred in Spirit, through Jesus Christ.

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 to the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for all Christian people, that they may live in love and truth.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for all ministers of the Church, and for our brothers and
sisters in Christ.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for peace throughout the world, and for all governments.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for our neighbours and for all our friends.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for those who hate us as we pray for those who love us.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for refugees and prisoners, and for all who are exposed to the
dangers of travel.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for all sick people, for the sorrowful and the dying.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray for the abundance of the fruits of the earth, and that the
poor and hungry may receive a just share.
Lord, have mercy.

Let us remember our brothers and sisters who have entered into eternal
rest.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

Let us continue praying in a time of open prayer.

A period of open prayer follows.

The leader brings the period of open prayer to an end saying

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father,
you have promised to hear
what we ask in the name of your Son:
we pray you to accept and answer our prayers,
not as we ask in our ignorance,
nor as we deserve in our sinfulness,
but as you know and love us in your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As our Savior taught his disciples, we 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,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE

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 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 Fred Kaan” “Let Us Our Talents and Tongues Employ.”

1 Let us talents and tongues employ,
reaching out with a shout of joy:
bread is broken, the wine is poured,
Christ is spoken and seen and heard.

Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound!
Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound!

2 Christ is able to make us one,
at the table he set the tone,
teaching people to live to bless,
love in word and in deed express.

Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound!
Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound!

3 Jesus calls us in, sends us out
bearing fruit in a world of doubt,
gives us love to tell, bread to share:
God (Immanuel) everywhere!

Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound!
Jesus lives again,
earth can breathe again,
pass the Word around:
loaves abound!

Those present may exchange a sign of peace.

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