Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, January 5 2024)

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows

Monday, January 6, is the Feast of the Epiphany. However, the feast may be celebrated on a Sunday that falls between January 2 and January 8. This Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christmas Season, falls on January 5 so we are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany on this Sunday, using the propers, prayers and readings, for the Feast of Epiphany instead of those for the Second Sunday after Christmas. We are also using the order of service for a Service of the Word found in the Additional Direction on pages 406-408 of The Book of Common Prayer (1979). The service begins with the Penitential Rite and concludes with the Grace or the Peace, depending upon how many people are present.

This Sunday’s message takes a look at a choice facing Christians in the New Year, in the reminder of the decade, and beyond.

GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Timothy Seaman’s arrangement of STAR IN THE EAST for hammered dulcimer.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Jane Marion Joseph’s translation of the medieval Latin Christmas carol, “On This Day Earth Shall Ring.”

1 On this day, earth shall ring,
With the song children sing,
To the Lord, Christ our King,
Born on earth to save us;
Him the Father gave us.

Chorus:
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo!
(Therefore, glory to God in the highest!)

2 His the doom, ours the mirth;
When He came down to earth,
Bethlehem saw His birth;
Ox and ass beside Him,
From the cold would hide Him.

Chorus:
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo!
(Therefore, glory to God in the highest!)

3 God's bright star, o'er His head,
Wise men three to Him led;
Kneel they low by His bed,
Lay their gifts before him
Praise Him and adore Him.

Chorus:
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo!
(Therefore, glory to God in the highest!)

4 On this day, angels sing;
With their song, earth shall ring,
Praising Christ, heaven's King,
Born on earth to save us,
Peace and love He gave us.

Chorus:
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo!
(Therefore, glory to God in the highest!)

Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is
faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8,9

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us
in eternal life. Amen.

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

Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest,
and peace to God’s people, peace to God’s people,
peace to 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,
and peace to God’s people, peace to God’s people,
peace to 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,
and peace to God’s people, peace to God’s people,
peace to 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 of God the Father,
Amen.

Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God in the highest,
and peace to God’s people, peace to God’s people,
peace to God’s people on earth.

Let us pray.

Silence

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son
to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by
faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to
face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 60: 1-6

Arise, Jerusalem, and shine like the sun;
The glory of the Lord is shining on you!
Other nations will be covered by darkness,
But on you the light of the Lord will shine;
The brightness of his presence will be with you.
Nations will be drawn to your light,
And kings to the dawning of your new day.

Look around you and see what is happening:
Your people are gathering to come home!
Your sons will come from far away;
Your daughters will be carried like children.
You will see this and be filled with joy;
You will tremble with excitement.
The wealth of the nations will be brought to you;
From across the sea their riches will come.

Great caravans of camels will come, from Midian and Ephah.
They will come from Sheba, bringing gold and incense.
People will tell the good news of what the Lord has done!

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Michael Joncas’ responsorial setting of Psalm 72, “Ev’ry Nation on Earth.”

Ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord;
ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord.

1 O God, with your judgment endow the king;
with your justice endow the king’s son.
With justice he will govern your people,
Your afflicted ones with right judgment.

Ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord;
ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord.

2 Justice shall flow’r in his days,
Lasting peace til the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.

Ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord;
ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord.

*3 The kings of Tarshish and the Isles offer gifts,
those from Seba and Arabia bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him their homage,
all nations shall serve him.

Ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord;
ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord.

4 He rescues the poor when they cry out,
the afflicted with no one to help.
The lowly and the poor he shall pity,
the lives of the poor he will save.

Ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord;
ev’ry nation on earth will adore you, Lord.

*Not on the video.

A reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 3:1-12

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God. Surely you have heard that God in his grace has given me this work to do for your good. God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this, and if you will read what I have written, you can learn about my understanding of the secret of Christ.) In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. The secret is that by means of the gospel the Gentiles have a part with the Jews in God's blessings; they are members of the same body and share in the promise that God made through Christ Jesus.

I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power. I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ, and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages, in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms. God did this according to his eternal purpose, which he achieved through Christ Jesus our Lord. In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God's presence with all confidence.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Roger Jones’ arrangement of Timothy Dudley Smith’s “Take, O Child, the Gift That I Bring.”

Take, O child, the gift that I bring,
rich and rare, as befits a King:
gold that glints as the star looks down,
gold to gleam in a great King's crown.
When the kingdom comes, when the flags unfold,
remember me and my gift of gold.

Take, O child, the gift that I bring,
rich and rare, as befits a King:
I kneel as a king to a King divine,
receive my praise and this gift of mine.
which is frankincense for the altar fire
to burn in worship to the World's Desire.

Take, O child, the gift that I bring,
rich and rare, as befits a King:
costliest myrrh from the east afar
for the tomb foretold by the travelling star.
When they bear you slow to your kingly grave
you shall lie at last with the gift I gave.

Strange are the gifts that the wise men bring
to so small a child, to so strange a King:
sovereign gold, but his brow was torn,
when they hailed him king, with a crown of thorn;
frankincense, that they might provide
perpetual praise to a God who died;
but none so strange as the myrrh they gave
to anoint the clothes of a three-day grave.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Matthew 2: 1-15; 19-23
Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, some men who studied the stars came from the East to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

“In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they answered. “For this is what the prophet wrote:

‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
you are by no means the least of the leading cities of Judah;
for from you will come a leader
who will guide my people Israel.’”

So Herod called the visitors from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with these instructions: “Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him.”

And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.

Then they returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.

After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.”

Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.

But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in a dream, so he went to the province of Galilee and made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Silence

The Choice Christians Face

Jesus was a toddler when he received visitors from the East who had seen portents of his birth in the stars and who had come to pay him homage. We know very little about them. What we do know is that they practiced astrology. They studied the movements and positions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars in the belief that they revealed what was going to happen in the future. They also brought with them costly gifts to give to the child whom they believed would be the king of the Jews.

Herod who had become king of Judaea with the help of the Romans would have naturally been disturbed by the news of the birth of the Messiah. Herod was an Idumean, an Edomite. At the time it was the belief that the Messiah would be a king like David who would restore Judaea and the northern kingdom to their former glory, uniting them once more into one kingdom. Herod would have seen the Messiah as a threat to his throne. From what we know about Herod, he was not one to take such a threat lightly. While there is no historical record of the slaughter of the innocents beyond the account in Matthew 2: 16-18, it is the kind of thing that Herod would have ordered. Herod killed all the male heirs of the previous dynasty, the Hasmonean Dynasty that had ruled Judea. Herod employed secret police and spies to ferret out his enemies and anyone who fell under suspicion was imprisoned or murdered.

Matthew tells us that warned by an angel in a dream, Joseph fled with Mary and Jesus into Egypt. They became political refugees.

We do not know how long they were refugees in Egypt. Upon Herod’s death an angel would appear in a dream to Joseph and instruct him to return to the land of Israel with Mary and Jesus.

According to Matthew, Joseph was afraid to return to Bethlehem because Archelaus had succeeded Herod as ruler of Judea. Archelaus had gained a reputation for cruelty for the way he had settled a dispute with the Jews over who should serve as high priest of the Temple. His representatives were stoned by those demanding a new high priest. In reprisal Archelaus sent troops into the Temple where they were offering sacrifices. The soldiers massacred 3000 Jews.

Given more instructions in a dream, Joseph went to the province of Galilee and made his home in the town of Nazareth.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus faced the kind of situation very similar to that which many twenty-first century migrants to the United States, legal and illegal, face in the countries from which they came. In this century we are seeing what may be unprecedented movement of people from one country to another, driven by a variety of circumstances—poverty, drought, famine, unemployment, political instability, civil war, terrorism, gang intimidation and violence, political, religious, and ethnic persecution, repressive authoritarian regimes, and genocide, to name a few.

Jesus himself was not only a refugee, a displaced person, as a child, but he also taught that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. He took this commandment from the Book of Leviticus which a few verses further on (Leviticus 19: 33-34) tell us not to mistreat foreigners but to treat them as we would treat one of our own people and to love them as we love ourselves. From the Sermon on the Mount and from the Parable of the God Samaritan, it is clear that Jesus in summarizing the Law and Prophets as he did with the two greatest commandments was mindful of this commandment. Jesus taught that it is not enough to love those who love us. We must also love our enemies. He acknowledged that the one who was truly a good neighbor to the man beaten by robbers and left to die on the road to Jericho was a despised Samaritan. Jesus also taught that the second greatest commandment is equal to the first greatest commandment—to love God with the totality of ourselves.

In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats the Son of Man come as King puts with the righteous people at his right those who had welcomed the stranger (Matthew 25:35). In welcoming the stranger, they had welcomed him.

Those who profess to be Christians are faced with a choice in what may prove to be very troubled times. They can listen to the hate mongers, those who seek to stoke their fears and prejudices or they can listen to their Lord, to Jesus, and show themselves to be his true disciples.

As Paul wrote the church at Ephesus in this Sunday’s epistle, God’s blessings are not just for one people group. They are for all people groups. It does not matter what country from which they come, what color their skin is, what language they speak. Those things do not matter to God. God shows no partiality to any particular group because of their national origin, their race or ethnicity, or their language.

We can see the newcomers to the land as the hate mongers wish us to see them or we can see them as God sees them, remembering these words, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son….” (John 3:16). They are a part of the world into which God sent his Son to be its Savior. They are a part of the human race for whom Jesus suffered and died on the cross. We can turn our back on them and their plight and turn our back on Jesus. Or we can give heed to our Lord’s words, treating them as we would wish to be treated, welcoming them to the land and making a place for them in our midst. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enables us to make the right choice.

Silence

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER

Let us pray for the Church and for the world.

Grant, Almighty God, that all who confess your Name may
be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal
your glory in the world.

Silence

Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Guide the people of this land, and of all the nations, in the
ways of justice and peace; that we may honor one another
and serve the common good.

Silence

Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation,
that we may use its resources rightly in the service of others
and to your honor and glory.

Silence

Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours, and grant
that we may serve Christ in them, and love one another as he
loves us.

Silence

Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind, or
spirit; give them courage and hope in their troubles, and
bring them the joy of your salvation.

Silence

Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

We commend to your mercy all who have died, that your will
for them may be fulfilled; and we pray that we may share
with all your saints in your eternal kingdom.

Silence

Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, you have promised to hear what we ask in
the Name of your Son: Accept and fulfill our petitions, we
pray, 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.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Carl P. Daw Jr.’s “God Our Author and Creator.”

1 God our Author and Creator, in whose life we find our own,
make our daily witness greater, by our lives make your love known.
Help us show how love embraces those whom fear and greed downtrod;
in all yearning hearts and faces let us see a child of God.

2 Like those first apostles, Savior, give us strength to love and serve:
when our fainting spirits waver, fire our hearts and steel our nerve.
Teach us wisdom and compassion: bid our restless thoughts be still;
by your guidance help us fashion lives conformed unto your will.

3 Keep us faithful, Holy Spirit, help us bear the message true,
that at last all lands may hear it: "God is love; Christ died for you."
Join our lives in mighty chorus till we come from every place,
with all those who went before us, to the fullness of God's grace.

THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE

[Let us pray in the words our Savior Christ 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 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us. Amen.

or

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

All greet one another in the name of the Lord.