Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, June 16, 2024)
Jesus often taught in parables, short, simple stories which illustrated what he was saying. He drew upon things with which his listeners were familiar—young wheat growing in a field or the bushy plants of black mustard growing on the banks of the River Jordan. He used these stories to make his point.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus uses two parables to draw his listener attention to two characteristics of the Kingdom of God, which he proclaimed. In today’s message we will take a look at what he was proclaiming.
GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME
The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Shirley Erena Murray’s “Fresh as the Morning.”
1 God of the Bible, God in the Gospel,
hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come,
you are our centre, daylight or darkness,
freedom or prison, you are our home.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
2 God in our struggles, God in our hunger,
suffering with us, taking our part,
still you empow’r us, mothering Spirit,
feeding, sustaining, from your own heart.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
3 Those without status, those who are nothing,
you have made royal, gifted with rights,
chosen as partners, midwives of justice,
birthing new systems, lighting new lights.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
4. Not by your finger, not by your anger
will our world order change in a day,
but by your people, fearless and faithful,
small paper lanterns, lighting the way.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
5 Hope we must carry, shining and certain
through all our turmoil, terror and loss,
bonding us gladly one to the other,
till our world changes facing the Cross.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
Let us confess our sins to God our Father
Silence
Almighty and merciful God
we have sinned against you,
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with all our heart.
We have not loved others as our Saviour Christ loves us.
We are truly sorry.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be;
that we may delight in your will
and walk in your ways;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that 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 the “Kyrie” from Liam Lawson’s Mass of the Celtic Saints.
Kyrie eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison.
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison.
Open this link in a new tab to hear the “Glory to God” from Liam Lawson’s Mass of the Celtic Saints.
Glory to God, glory to God,
Glory to God in the highest heaven
Glory to God, glory to God
Peace to God’s people, God’s 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, glory to God,
Glory to God in the highest heaven
Glory to God, glory to God
Peace to God’s people, God’s 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, glory to God,
Glory to God in the highest heaven
Glory to God, glory to God
Peace to God’s people, God’s 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, the glory
The glory of God the Father
Glory to God, glory to God,
Glory to God in the highest heaven
Glory to God, glory to God
Peace to God’s people, God’s people on Earth
Glory to God, glory to God,
Glory to God in the highest heaven
Glory to God, glory to God
Peace to God’s people, God’s people on Earth
Let us pray
Silence
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
Give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 17, Verses 22-24.
Thus says the Lord God:
I myself will take a sprig
from the lofty top of the cedar;
I will set it out.
I will break off a tender shoot
from the topmost of its young twigs;
I myself will transplant it
on a high and lofty mountain.
On the mountain height of Israel
I will transplant it,
and it will produce boughs and bear fruit
and become a noble cedar.
Under it every kind of bird will live;
in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind.
All the trees of the field shall know
that I am the Lord.
I bring low the high tree;
I make high the low tree;
I dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree flourish.
I the Lord have spoken;
I will accomplish it.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear “It Is Good to Sing Thy Praises,” Psalm 92 from The New Metrical Version of the Psalms, 1909.
1 It is good to sing Thy praises
And to thank Thee, O Most High,
Showing forth Thy loving-kindness
When the morning lights the sky.
It is good when night is falling
Of Thy faithfulness to tell,
While with sweet, melodious praises
Songs of adoration swell.
2 Thou hast filled my heart with gladness
Through the works Thy hands have wrought;
Thou hast made my life victorious,
Great Thy works and deep Thy thought.
Thou, O Lord, on high exalted,
Reignest evermore in might;
All Thine enemies shall perish,
Sin be banished from Thy sight.
3 But the good shall live before Thee,
Planted in Thy dwelling place,
Fruitful trees and ever verdant,
Nourished by Thy boundless grace.
In His goodness to the righteous
God His righteousness displays;
God, my rock, my strength and refuge,
Just and true are all His ways.
A reading from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 6-10, 14-17.
So we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil.
For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for the one who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s arrangement of “Halle, Halle, Hallelujah.”
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Oh God, to who shall we go?
You alone have the words of life.
Let your words be our prayer and the song we sing:
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Halle halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 4, Verses 26-34.
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
Silence
The Kingdom of God
When one of his disciples asked Jesus to teach his disciples to pray as John the Baptist had taught his disciples, Jesus gave them a pattern of prayer which eventually would be dubbed “the Lord’s Prayer.” It is regularly prayed in Anglican, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic churches at services of public worship on Sundays and other occasions. Among its petitions are these:
Father, may your name be revered as holy.
May your kingdom come.
Your will be done, on earth as in heaven…
What is God’s kingdom for the coming of which Jesus taught his disciples to pray and which was the subject of the two parables in today’s New Testament reading—the Parable of the Growing Seed and the Parable of the Mustard Seed?
Jesus was not talking about the future when he would come again in glory and reign on earth. He was not talking about the visible church—a particular denomination and the clergy and congregations forming it. He was not talking about a particular geographic territory where a version of the Old Testament Code of Moses has been made the law of the land like Sharia law in Muslim countries and in which a self-appointed religious elite, claiming divine authority, imposes its will upon the population. What Jesus was talking about was God’s righteous rule in the hearts and minds of men and women in our time, in our church, in our community, in our land, and in churches, communities, and countries throughout the world.
By “heart” I am referring to the place within a person from which the feelings or emotions are believed to come. By “mind” I am referring to that part of a person which makes it possible for them to think, feel emotions, and to understand things.
How do we know that God has a strong influence in the heart and mind of an individual? How do we know that God reigns over the life of that person?
First, Jesus is clearly enthroned as king in their hearts, and minds. He is at the center of their lives. Self is not set on a pedestal and worshiped.
Second, they earnestly seek to align their will with God’s will.
Third, they live and breathe Jesus’ teaching. They endeavor to be salt and light wherever God has placed them. They show compassion, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, and patience to all. They live lives of holiness and simplicity and do good to others whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Fourth, their hearts and minds are open to God’s grace, to the power of the Holy Spirit working in their lives.
Fifth, they share their faith and their lives with others and encourage them, as did Jesus, to seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.
In the Parable of the Yeast Jesus compared God’s kingdom with the tiny organisms that cause bread dough to rise. As these organisms reproduce and multiply, they produce carbon dioxide which causes the dough to expand. God’s kingdom grows in much the same way bread rises. As Jesus’ disciples make more disciples, disciples in whose hearts, minds, and lives Jesus is King, God’s kingdom, his righteous rule in people’s hearts, minds, and lives, expands.
God’s kingdom cannot be extended by the establishment of a theocracy and the passage of laws, based upon the civil precepts of the Old Testament Mosaic Code, and the reimposition of its harsh penalties such as public stoning and an “eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” a direction some extremists would take this country. God’s Kingdom is extended by the Holy Spirit working through faithful disciples of Jesus sharing their faith and their lives with those do not yet know Jesus that they might come to believe in him as their Savior and to love and serve him as their Lord. Where the gospel spreads and bears fruit in the form of repentance, faith, and changed lives, there the kingdom also spreads. Only God’s grace can transform hearts, minds, and lives.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Bring Forth the Kingdom (You Are Salt for the Earth).”
1 You are salt for the earth, O people,
salt for the kingdom of God!
Share the flavor of life, O people:
life in the kingdom of God!
Bring forth the kingdom of mercy,
bring forth the kingdom of peace.
Bring forth the kingdom of justice,
bring forth the city of God!
2 You are a light on the hill, O people,
light for the city of God!
Shine so holy and bright, O people:
shine for the kingdom of God!
Bring forth the kingdom of mercy,
bring forth the kingdom of peace.
Bring forth the kingdom of justice,
bring forth the city of God!
3 You are a seed of the word, O people,
bring forth the kingdom of God!
Seeds of mercy and seeds of justice,
grow in the kingdom of God!
Bring forth the kingdom of mercy,
bring forth the kingdom of peace.
Bring forth the kingdom of justice,
bring forth the city of God!
4 We are a bless'd and a pilgrim people,
bound for the kingdom of God!
Love our journey and love our homeland:
love is the kingdom of God!
Bring forth the kingdom of mercy,
bring forth the kingdom of peace.
Bring forth the kingdom of justice,
bring forth the city of God!
Bring forth the kingdom of mercy,
bring forth the kingdom of peace.
Bring forth the kingdom of justice,
bring forth the city of God!
Let us confess our faith as we say.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
Let us pray for all people and for the Church throughout 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 bishops, elders, deacons, and licensed local pastors
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.
Those present may add their own petitions.
Faithful God,
you have promised to hear the prayers
of all who ask in Jesus’ name.
In your mercy, accept our prayers.
Give us what we have asked in faith,
according to your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us sum up our prayers and praises in the words our Saviour Christ has taught us and say:
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.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Karen Lafferty’s “Seek Ye First.”
1 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto
you
Allelu Alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
2 Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and it shall be opened unto you
Allelu Alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
3 We shall not live by bread alone
but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Allelu Alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia
THE SENDING OUT 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 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.
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Those present may exchange a gesture of peace with these or similar words:
Peace be with you.
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