Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, August 8, 2024)

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows

In many places the summer vacation has ended, and children are returning to school. In a number of churches, it is an annual tradition to bless the children and to ask members and attendees of the church to commit themselves to praying for one or more children throughout the school year. Praying for a child, whether the child is our own, our grandchild, a child of a relative or friend, a child who attends our church or lives in our neighborhood or with whom we have a connection in some other way is one way that we can express our love for a fellow human being.

In this evening’s message we take a look at what advice the apostle Paul has to offer us in how Christians are to treat each other, particularly in our age in which Christians are more known for their divisions than they are for their love for each other.

GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME

The Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
Let us be glad and rejoice,
and let us give honor to God.

Glory to God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Dylan and Larisa Peacock’s setting of Psalm 100, “Make a Joyful Noise.”

Verse 1
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth
Gladly lift your voice to the Lord all the earth
Come into His presence with singing

Chorus 1
For the Lord is good, His love endures forever
For the Lord is good, He is always faithful

Verse 2
Enter in His gates with thankful hearts all the earth
And in His courts with praise on your lips all the earth
Give your thanks to Him and bless His name

Chorus 
For the Lord is good, His love endures forever
For the Lord is good, He is always faithful
For the Lord is good, His love endures forever
For the Lord is good, He is always faithful

Verse 3
Know that the Lord, He is God
And it is He who has made us
We are His, His people
The precious sheep of His pasture
Know that the Lord, He is God
And it is He who has made us
We are His, His people
The precious sheep of His pasture

Chorus
For the Lord is good, His love endures forever
For the Lord is good, He is always faithful
For the Lord is good, His love endures forever
For the Lord is good, He is always faithful

The day is now past and the night is at hand.
Let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence

Father of lights, receive the prayer and praise we offer you
as our evening sacrifice; make us light for all the world,
delivered by your goodness from all the works of darkness;
through Jesus Christ your So our Lord. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Emma Turl and Kathryn Miller’s “How Delightful Is Your Dwelling” (Psalm 84).

Verse 1
How delightful is your dwelling,
O Almighty Sovereign Lord -
place of peace, where all my longings
are fulfilled, my soul restored.
Every fibre of my being
living God, calls out to you:
come revive me with your presence
and with hope my life renew!

Verse 2
This is where the tiny sparrow
near your altar finds her rest;
in a corner here the swallow
for her young prepares a nest.
So with all who find contentment
in your house, my God, my King,
may I also know your favour
and your praise for ever sing.

Verse 3
Blessed are all the pilgrim-hearted,
strengthened, so that as they go
arid land becomes a garden
where refreshing rivers flow.
On from strength to strength they journey
and at last arrive in heaven:
as we follow in their footsteps,
may your grace to us be given.

Verse 4
One day in your house is better
than a thousand spent elsewhere -
earth can offer no attraction
like the joy of serving there.
Sun to guide and shield to guard us
where your blessing is assured:
by your mercy keep us faithful
as we trust in you, O Lord!

Open this link in a new tab to hear Chris de Silva’s “Love, Burn Bright.”

Refrain
Christ our Light, illuminate every path that leads to you.
Give us grace, Lord, guide our way: Love, burn bright.
In your light, Lord, every day, every way, we follow you.
Grant us peace to journey through: Love, burn bright.

Verse 1
From the shadows of the night, to your holiness and light:
May your love burn bright within our heart.
From the hatred born of fear, to your love that holds us near:
May your love burn bright within our heart.

Refrain
Christ our Light, illuminate every path that leads to you.
Give us grace, Lord, guide our way: Love, burn bright.
In your light, Lord, every day, every way, we follow you.
Grant us peace to journey through: Love, burn bright.

Verse 2
In our words that tear apart, place a reconciling heart:
May your love burn bright within our heart.
In our wounds of war and strife, place your promise of new life:
May your love burn bright within our heart.

Refrain
Christ our Light, illuminate every path that leads to you.
Give us grace, Lord, guide our way: Love, burn bright.
In your light, Lord, every day, every way, we follow you.
Grant us peace to journey through: Love, burn bright.

Verse 3
Where there’s doubt, uncertainty, let us witness faithfully:
May your love burn bright within our heart.
Where there’s sadness, poverty, let us reach out willingly:
May your love burn bright within our heart.

Refrain
Christ our Light, illuminate every path that leads to you.
Give us grace, Lord, guide our way: Love, burn bright.
In your light, Lord, every day, every way, we follow you.
Grant us peace to journey through: Love, burn bright.

Outro
Love, burn bright. Love, burn bright.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

Heavenly Father,
give us faith to receive your word,
understanding to know what it means,
and the will to put it into practice,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

A reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 15, Verses 1-6.

We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Silence

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

Living as a Christian in the Age of Outrage

According to those who study developments in our culture, the ways that our culture is changing, we are living in what has been dubbed the “age of outrage.” There is a pronounced tendency for individuals to react negatively to what someone says or writes without further investigating the context or meaning of what was said or written or the intentions of the person who said or wrote it.

There is increasingly no tolerance for opinions that differ from one’s own and a growing tendency to dehumanize and demonize those whose opinions with which one disagrees, and of which one does not approve, to represent them as less than human and as evil.

There is a proliferation in distorted ways of thinking such as zero sum thinking, black and white thinking, overgeneralization, and catastrophizing.

Zero sum thinking is a way of thinking in which an individual takes an antagonistic view of interpersonal relationships between individuals or groups and sees every situation as a situation in which a win by one person or group always means a loss by another person or group involved.

Black and white thinking is a way of thinking that sees things in absolutes with no middle ground between these absolutes. From a psychological viewpoint this way of thinking is considered to be distorted as it keeps an individual from seeing life as it really is: “complex, uncertain, and constantly changing.”

We overgeneralize when we say or write something is true all of the time when it is only true some of the time.

We catastrophize when we “make mountains out of molehills,” as the saying goes. We think about the worst things that could possibly happen in a situation, or to consider a situation as much worse or much more serious than it really is.

The proliferation of these ways of thinking has been accompanied by the growing polarization of society and its breaking down into tribe-like groups. There has been a corresponding decline in civility, reasonableness, and the willingness to work cooperatively to reach mutually agreeable solutions to identified problems.

The age of outrage has been compared to a virus. Like a virus, it infects our entire society, including our churches. Its spread into our churches makes Paul’s advice to the church at Rome in this evening’s reading and the part of his letter that immediately precedes it as particularly relevant to the church in our time. What Paul is saying is that there is room in a church for disagreement on some issues and where these issues are concerned, everyone does not have to be of the same mind. Christians who hold one view of these issues need to respect the view of Christians who hold a different view from theirs. He goes on to stress the importance of building each other up and by implication, not tearing each other down, a too common a reaction to differences of opinion in the age of outrage.

In the part of the letter that proceeds this evening’s reading Paul explains how we can cause spiritual harm to a fellow Christian when we ignore their feelings about doing something which they think is wrong or which they are uncertain about doing. We may believe that they are mistaken, and we may have good reason for our belief. However, as Paul points to our attention, what may not be a sin for us, however, is a sin for them. By our disregard for their feelings on the matter, we can cause them to do something against their conscience and cause them to do something that they think is wrong or they are hesitant to do.

In this evening’s reading Paul tells us that we need to be considerate of the feelings of others and not just do things to please ourselves. This includes making allowances for them, thinking about their characteristics and not judging them too severely.

Paul concludes this evening’s reading with these words: “May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Note the stress upon followers of Jesus living in complete harmony with each other. This does not require total agreement upon everything. But it does require followers of Jesus to make more than a token effort to live together in a friendly and peaceful way, to seek to understand each other, to attempt to see a situation from a point of view outside their own, and to try to imagine how the other person or persons feel in that situation. It does require doing more listening than talking. It also requires that we see every person, not just fellow Jesus followers but all people, as someone for whom God has such great love that the Son would humble himself and become a human being and suffer and die on the cross for them. It does require the full recognition that the attitudes, the ways of thinking, and the behavior associated with the age of outrage have no place in the household of God, in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Claire Williams and Alanna Glover’s “We Are One.”

Verse 1
Sister, let me wipe your tears
Brother, let me bear your fears
Come on, every daughter, every son
Let us walk in love for we are one

Verse 2
Though we walk a long and broken road
We are here to bear each other’s load
And forgive as you’ve forgiven us
Let us walk in love for we are one

Chorus
We are one in the Father’s love
We of every tribe and every tongue
We are found in the risen Son
We are bound together by his blood
Let us walk in love for we are one

Verse 3
There’s a love that conquers all divides
There’s a love that paid the greatest price
For the battle over death is won
Now alive in Christ we live as one

Chorus
We are one in the Father’s love
We of every tribe and every tongue
We are found in the risen Son
We are bound together by his blood
Let us walk in love for we are one

Verse 4
On the day you come to call us home
With the multitude before the throne
Now with all the saints who’ve overcome
For eternity we’ll sing as one

Chorus
We are one in the Father’s love
We of every tribe and every tongue
We are found in the risen Son
We are bound together by his blood
Let us walk in love for we are one

Chorus
We are one in the Father’s love
We of every tribe and every tongue
We are found in the risen Son
We are bound together by his blood
Let us walk in love for we are one

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

During the course of the silence after each petition, those present may offer their own prayers silently or aloud.

Let us join in prayer with God’s faithful people throughout the
world, saying “God of Love: hear our prayer.”

We pray for the unity of your church, that our life may reflect the
love you have shown us.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We ask your grace for N our pastor and for all who
minister in word and in action, that we may bear faithful witness
to your good news.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We seek your peace and justice in our world, our country, and our
community, that the needy may never be forgotten.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We ask your blessing on our homes, our friends and family, and
on those who live alone, that we may know your presence ever
near us.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We name before you all whom you have given us to pray for
[especially….], knowing that you are doing for them better things
than we can ask or imagine.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We commend to you all who have died [especially….], that our
trust in you may deepen as you keep them safe in your care.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We offer our thanks and praise for all you have done for us,
rejoicing in the knowledge that you are with us always.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

We look for your purposes to be accomplished and ask you to fill
us with the strength and vision to further your reign.

Silence

God of love: Hear our prayer.

Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to 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.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Richard Gillard’s “The Servant Song.”

Verse 1
Brother, sister, let me serve you
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace
to let you be my servant too.

Verse 2
We are pilgrims on a journey,
we’re companions on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.

[Instrumental interlude]

Verse 3
I will hold the Christ-light for you
in the night-time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.

Verse 4
I will weep when you are weeping,
when you laugh I'll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow
till we've seen this journey through.

Verse 5
When we sing to God in heaven,
we shall find such harmony,
born of all we've known together
of Christ's love and agony.

Verse 6
Brother, sister, let me serve you
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace
to let you be my servant too.

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.

The love of the Father enfold us,
the wisdom of the Son enlighten us,
the fire of the Spirit enflame us;
and the blessing of God, the Three in One,
be upon us and abide with us now and for ever. 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.