Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, February 2, 2025)
The Feast of the Presentation falls on February 2 of each year. If it falls on a Sunday, its observance takes precedence over that Sunday’s. This year it fell on a Sunday.
The Feast of the Presentation is also known as Candlemas. On Candlemas, many Christians take candles to their local church, where they are blessed and then used for the remainder of the year. For these Christians, the blessed candles serve as a reminder of what the Bible says about Jesus’ being the Light of the World. In some Episcopal churches the service may be preceded by a procession in which the congregation takes part, everyone holding a lit candle.
The topic of this Sunday’s message is agape love.
GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME
Open this link in a new tab to hear Mark Hayes’ arrangement of KELVINGROVE for solo piano.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Hauge’s “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.
Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever.
Amen.
Jesus said, "The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel:
The Lord your God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love
your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment
greater than these." Mark 12:29-31
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 to hear Fernando Ortega’s “Trisagion.”
Holy God
holy and mighty
holy immortal one
have mercy
have mercy on us
Holy God
holy and mighty
holy immortal one
have mercy
have mercy on us
[Instrumental interlude]
Holy God
holy and mighty
holy immortal one
have mercy
have mercy on us
Coda:
Have mercy
have mercy on us
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
Silence
Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your
only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so
we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by
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 Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 1:4-10 - The Call of Jeremiah
The Lord said to me, “I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations.”
I answered, “Sovereign Lord, I don't know how to speak; I am too young.”
But the Lord said to me, “Do not say that you are too young, but go to the people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Then the Lord reached out, touched my lips, and said to me, “Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak. Today I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Karl Kohlhase’s setting of Psalm 48, “Great Is the Lord.”
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God;
his holy mountain, beautiful in height,
is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion in the far north,
the city of the great king.
Within her fortresses
God has shown himself a sure defense.
See how the kings assembled and passed by;
when they saw it they were stunned.
They fled in terror; panic seized them there,
like a woman in travail.
As we had heard, so we have seen,
in the city of the Lord of Hosts.
In the city of our God,
God will make her stand firm forever.
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Our thoughts, O God, are set upon your love
in your Temple within.
As is your name, O God, so is your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of justice;
Let Mount Zion now be glad.
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your right judgements.
Walk about Zion, and go all around,
as you number all her towers.
Put in your heart her walls and fortresses,
then describe her to your sons.
This is our God,
forever and ever;
he will guide us,
even unto the end.
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
Great is the Lord!
A reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 13 – Love
I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned—but if I have no love, this does me no good.
Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.
Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial; but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear.
When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways. What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God's knowledge of me.
Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear John Bell, Graham Maule, and Marty Haugen’s “Halle, Halle, Halle.”
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.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Luke 2:22-40 - Jesus Is Presented in the Temple
Glory to you, Lord Christ.
The time came for Joseph and Mary to perform the ceremony of purification, as the Law of Moses commanded. So they took the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: “Every first-born male is to be dedicated to the Lord.” They also went to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the law of the Lord.
At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him and had assured him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's promised Messiah. Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required, Simeon took the child in his arms and gave thanks to God:
“Now, Lord, you have kept your promise,
and you may let your servant go in peace.
With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:
A light to reveal your will to the Gentiles
and bring glory to your people Israel.”
The child's father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon said about him. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, “This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”
There was a very old prophet, a widow named Anna, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She had been married for only seven years and was now eighty-four years old. She never left the Temple; day and night she worshiped God, fasting and praying. That very same hour she arrived and gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were waiting for God to set Jerusalem free.
When Joseph and Mary had finished doing all that was required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. The child grew and became strong; he was full of wisdom, and God's blessings were upon him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Christ.
Silence
A Different Kind of Love
Agape love, the kind of love that Christians are expected to show other people and one another, the kind of love about which Paul wrote the church at Corinth in this Sunday’s epistle differs from the other kinds of love. It is a very important difference.
“What difference is that?” You may ask. When we love someone with agape love, our love for them is not predicated on our relationship with them. It does not depend upon how close they are to us. Jesus makes that point in the Sermon on the Mount.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that! And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even the pagans do that! You must be perfect—just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Mattew 5: 43-48
Rather it depends on God’s love for that person. We love them because God values them greatly as he values us. We love them because God dearly loves them and treasures them as he dearly loves and treasures us. They are special to God as we are special to God. Therefore, they are special to us because they are special to God. Our love for them is not tied to whether they look like us, whether they speak the same language as we do, and that sort of thing.
When we love someone with agape love, we love them in the way that God loves us. We are compassionate, forgiving, generous, honorable, kind, patient, and trustworthy. We do not hold things against them. We do not harbor grudges toward them or nurse ill-will toward them. We do not ignore them or avoid them. If we experience a rift with them, we do not deny them any way of repairing or salvaging the situation. We leave open a way for them to reconcile any differences or clear up any misunderstandings. We copy God who opened a way of reconciliation for us with himself through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus demonstrated agape love for us. He was compassionate, kind, and forgiving toward not just family and friends but also to strangers. He healed the servant of a Roman officer, expelled a demon from the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman, and cleansed a Samaritan leper.
We can love someone with agape love because we have God’s grace enabling us, giving us the will and power to love them. If loving others was dependent solely upon us, I suspect that we would love very few people. Human beings have a bias hardwired into their brains, which causes them to look at people negatively, to believe that bad things that hear about them more than the good things, to focus on their negative qualities rather than their positive ones, and to imagine the worst about them.
It is God’s grace that helps us to overcome this bias and to see people as he sees them. To make use of this grace, which God abundantly supplies, we must open our hearts and minds to it. We do that when step forward in faith and begin to love them as God loves them. The greater the effort that we make to love them; the more God’s grace will enable us to do so.
On the other hand, if we treat others as valueless, not worthy of our attention, or are unkind or even cruel to them, then we are not loving them as God loves us. As apostle John points to our attention, how can we say we love God whom we have not seen, if we do not love others whom we have seen (1 John 4: 19-21). John’s words may make us uncomfortable, but John has a point. Jesus in his teaching ties our love of God to our love of others.
John’s intention is not to make people feel bad about themselves but to take loving others, whether their fellow human beings or their brothers and sisters in Christ, with more seriousness. It is all well and good for us to talk about loving God and loving others. However, as the apostle James points out, we need to show our love for them in our actions and not just our words. A living faith is known by the loving actions which spring from it.
All the people on the earth are people whom God values greatly, whom God dearly loves and treasures, just like God does us. They are the people whom God has put on this earth for us to love in the same way as he loves us.
Heavenly Father, help us to be ungrudging in our love for others, loving them lavishly as your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, taught us, and he himself loves us.
This we ask in his Name. Amen.
Silence
Silence
[Let us affirm our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed]
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.
THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Open this link in a new tab to hear David Haas’ “We Are Called.”
1 Come, live in the light
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord
We are called to be light for the kingdom
To live in the freedom of the city of God
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
2 Come, open your heart
Show your mercy to all those in fear
We are called to be hope for the hopeless
So all hatred and blindness will be no more
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
3 Sing, sing a new song
Sing of that great day when all will be one
God will reign and we'll walk with each other
As sisters and brothers united in love
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
[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.
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.
THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Open this link in a new tab to hear David Haas’ “We Are Called.”
1 Come, live in the light
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord
We are called to be light for the kingdom
To live in the freedom of the city of God
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
2 Come, open your heart
Show your mercy to all those in fear
We are called to be hope for the hopeless
So all hatred and blindness will be no more
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
3 Sing, sing a new song
Sing of that great day when all will be one
God will reign and we'll walk with each other
As sisters and brothers united in love
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
[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.
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