Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, April 3, 2025)
Since the invention of the telegraph in the nineteenth century, there has been a revolution in electronic communication, particularly in the last 50 odd years. This technological revolution has had a significant effect upon the church as well as larger society.
In this evening’s message we examine the Letter to the Hebrew’ teaching about meetings and its implications for today.
GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s arrangement of the American folk hymn tune BEACH SPRING for piano and violin.
Silence
Seek the Lord while he wills to be found, call upon him when he draws near; let the wicked forsake their ways, and the evil ones their thoughts; and let them return to the Lord, and he will have compassion, and to our God, for he will richly pardon. Isaiah 55.6, 7
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbour.
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 neighbours 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 upon us,
pardon and deliver us from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen us in all goodness,
and keep us in eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
O Lord, I call to you; come to me quickly;
Hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear William George Storey’s translation of the Phos hilaron, “O Radiant Light, O Sun Divine.”
1 O radiant light, O sun divine,
Of God the Father's deathless face,
O image of the light sublime
That fills the heav'nly dwelling place.
2 O Son of God, the source of life,
Praise is your due by night and day.
Our happy lips must raise the strain
of your esteem'd and splendid name.
3 Lord Jesus Christ, as daylight fades,
As shine the lights of eventide,
We praise the Father with the Son,
The Spirit blest and with them one.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s adaptation of Psalm 121, “Pilgrim’s Song.”
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
1 God will not let your foot be moved.
God, who keeps you will not slumber.
The One who keeps Israel
never slumbers, never sleeps.
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
2 God will be the one who keeps you,
as a shade at your right hand,
so the sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon in the night.
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3. God will keep you from all evil.
God will always guard your life,
guard your comings, and your goings,
from now and evermore.
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Silence
Lord, ever watchful and faithful,
we look to you to be our defense
and we lift our hearts to know your help;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 10: 19-25
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear John Theodore Mueller’s translation of Hermann Bonnus’ metrical paraphrase of the Magnificat, “My Soul Give Glory to the Lord.”
1 My soul gives glory to the Lord,
In God my Savior I rejoice.
My lowliness he did regard.
`Exalting me by his own choice.
2 Now everyone shall call me blest,
For he has done great things for me,
Of all great names his is the best,
For it is holy; strong is he.
3 His mercy goes to all who fear,
From age to age and to all parts.
His arm of strength to all is near;
He scatters those who have proud hearts.
[Instrumental interlude]
4 He casts the mighty from their throne
And raises those of low degree;
He feeds the hungry as his own,
The rich depart in poverty.
5 He raised his servant Israel,
Rememb'ring his eternal grace,
As from of old he did foretell
To Abraham and all his race.
6 O Father, Son and Spirit blest,
In threefold Name are you adored,
To you be ev'ry prayer addressed,
From age to age the only Lord.
From age to age the only Lord.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when many churches were temporarily suspending their services of public worship and other gatherings some church leaders who did not agree with this measure cited the last two verses of this evening’s reading in support of holding gatherings despite the pandemic. On several occasions these gatherings would become superspeading events and resulted in the further spread of the virus in the communities in which they were located and even in distant communities as well as nearby ones.
Later on, when more and more churches began to hold services of public worship again, the same two verses were often cited to encourage churchgoers who had not returned to church to do so.
In these two situations were those who were citing these two verses properly interpreting and applying them? The answer to this question is not a simple one.
At the time the Letter to the Hebrew was written, the ways that people were able to communicate with each other and therefore to provoke each other to love and good deeds and to encourage each other were limited. They could do so in person, face to face. They could do so through a proxy, They could ask someone else to do it for them. Or they could dictate or write a letter and then entrust the letter to a reliable person to bring it to whomever the letter was written. In the first century there was no organized postal system. Most people were illiterate. If they received a letter—something of a rarity, unless they were one of the few people who could read, they would have to get someone who was able to read to read it to them.
The apostle Paul used all three methods of communication in his ministry. The letters that he dictated or wrote were not only read to the church to which they were written but also were circulated among the churches in a particular region.
In the first century the best way to communicate with someone else and to offer that person encouragement was in person, face to face. In most circumstances it is still the best way to do that today. Humans are social beings and the presence of someone else can be a form of encouragement itself. Humans also communicate non-verbally as well as verbally, through facial expressions, gestures, posture, body movements, and proximity. Indeed, we say more non-verbally than we do verbally.
What these two verses recognize is the value of Christians’ regularly meeting together and identifies as problematic the habitual neglect of this practice. The latter appears to refer to the behavior of individuals who do not recognize the benefits of regular meetings with their fellow believers, not to the actions of those who are prevented from meeting with their fellow Christians due to their particular circumstances. It goes beyond the meaning of these two verses to treat them as a prescription for always and invariably meeting in person regardless of the situation. The emphasis is upon regularly meeting together and its benefits and not how.
While the author of Hebrews living in the first century may not have been able to imagine any other way of meeting except in person, we do not have the same limits on how we can meet in the twenty-first century that a first century Christian had. In their book, Discipleship Bands: A Practical Filed Guide, Mark Benjamin and J. D. Walt enumerate the different ways that Christians are able to meet today.
“Meeting together can take on a variety of formats. Face-to-face is obviously the best option. A video conferencing service like Skype, Google Hangouts, or Zoom will work well for a band meeting. A voiceonly conference call also works fine. The point is to do whatever works and be open to varying the format as the need of the week demands. If only two people from the band can meet in the same place, allow the other members to Skype or call in. In our experience, a number of bands find themselves all living in different places, making a face-to-face meeting impossible. They successfully meet by conference call or video-chat and work toward an annual in-person retreat together. The point is to do what works and whatever it takes. The band meeting is the make or break point of the whole thing.”
The important thing is to have regular meetings. It is not how these meetings are held. In the twenty-first century we do not have to be in the same place to meet with our fellow Christians.
Silence
[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.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again
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.
Open this link in a new tab to hear James Quinn’s “Word of God, Come Down on Earth.
1 Word of God, come down on earth,
rain from heaven descending.
Touch our hearts and bring to birth
faith and hope and love unending.
2 Word almighty we revere you;
Word made flesh, we long to hear you
Word eternal, throned on high,
word that brought to life creation.
3 Word that came from heaven to die;
crucified for our salvation,
saving Word, the world restoring,
speak to us, your love outpouring
4 Word that caused blind eyes to see,
speak and heal our mortal blindness;
deaf we are; our healer be;
loose our tongues to tell your kindness.
5 Be our Word in pity spoken,
heal the world, by our sin broken.
Word that speaks your Father's love,
one with him beyond all telling.
6 Word that sends us from above,
God the spirit with us dwelling.
Word of truth, to all truth lead us,
Word of life with one Bread feed us.
[If a collection is taken, it is presented with these words and placed in a suitable place.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness,
the power, the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.]
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
(With confidence and trust let us pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord, have mercy.”)
For the one holy catholic and apostolic Church throughout the world, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For those preparing for baptism and for their teachers and sponsors, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For peace in the world, that a spirit of respect and reconciliation may grow among nations and peoples, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for refugees, prisoners, and all in danger; that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For all whom we have injured or offended, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For grace to amend our lives and to further the reign of God, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
Additional intercessions, petitions, and thanksgivings may be offered silently or aloud.
Gracious Father,
whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came from heaven
to be the true bread which gives life to the world,
evermore give us this bread,
that he may live in us, and we in him,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us,
we are bold to 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,
we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
1 O radiant light, O sun divine,
Of God the Father's deathless face,
O image of the light sublime
That fills the heav'nly dwelling place.
2 O Son of God, the source of life,
Praise is your due by night and day.
Our happy lips must raise the strain
of your esteem'd and splendid name.
3 Lord Jesus Christ, as daylight fades,
As shine the lights of eventide,
We praise the Father with the Son,
The Spirit blest and with them one.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s adaptation of Psalm 121, “Pilgrim’s Song.”
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
1 God will not let your foot be moved.
God, who keeps you will not slumber.
The One who keeps Israel
never slumbers, never sleeps.
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
2 God will be the one who keeps you,
as a shade at your right hand,
so the sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon in the night.
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3. God will keep you from all evil.
God will always guard your life,
guard your comings, and your goings,
from now and evermore.
I lift my eyes to the mountains,
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the One
who made the heavens and the earth,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Silence
Lord, ever watchful and faithful,
we look to you to be our defense
and we lift our hearts to know your help;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 10: 19-25
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear John Theodore Mueller’s translation of Hermann Bonnus’ metrical paraphrase of the Magnificat, “My Soul Give Glory to the Lord.”
1 My soul gives glory to the Lord,
In God my Savior I rejoice.
My lowliness he did regard.
`Exalting me by his own choice.
2 Now everyone shall call me blest,
For he has done great things for me,
Of all great names his is the best,
For it is holy; strong is he.
3 His mercy goes to all who fear,
From age to age and to all parts.
His arm of strength to all is near;
He scatters those who have proud hearts.
[Instrumental interlude]
4 He casts the mighty from their throne
And raises those of low degree;
He feeds the hungry as his own,
The rich depart in poverty.
5 He raised his servant Israel,
Rememb'ring his eternal grace,
As from of old he did foretell
To Abraham and all his race.
6 O Father, Son and Spirit blest,
In threefold Name are you adored,
To you be ev'ry prayer addressed,
From age to age the only Lord.
From age to age the only Lord.
What Does The Letter to the Hebrews Teach about Meetings?
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when many churches were temporarily suspending their services of public worship and other gatherings some church leaders who did not agree with this measure cited the last two verses of this evening’s reading in support of holding gatherings despite the pandemic. On several occasions these gatherings would become superspeading events and resulted in the further spread of the virus in the communities in which they were located and even in distant communities as well as nearby ones.
Later on, when more and more churches began to hold services of public worship again, the same two verses were often cited to encourage churchgoers who had not returned to church to do so.
In these two situations were those who were citing these two verses properly interpreting and applying them? The answer to this question is not a simple one.
At the time the Letter to the Hebrew was written, the ways that people were able to communicate with each other and therefore to provoke each other to love and good deeds and to encourage each other were limited. They could do so in person, face to face. They could do so through a proxy, They could ask someone else to do it for them. Or they could dictate or write a letter and then entrust the letter to a reliable person to bring it to whomever the letter was written. In the first century there was no organized postal system. Most people were illiterate. If they received a letter—something of a rarity, unless they were one of the few people who could read, they would have to get someone who was able to read to read it to them.
The apostle Paul used all three methods of communication in his ministry. The letters that he dictated or wrote were not only read to the church to which they were written but also were circulated among the churches in a particular region.
In the first century the best way to communicate with someone else and to offer that person encouragement was in person, face to face. In most circumstances it is still the best way to do that today. Humans are social beings and the presence of someone else can be a form of encouragement itself. Humans also communicate non-verbally as well as verbally, through facial expressions, gestures, posture, body movements, and proximity. Indeed, we say more non-verbally than we do verbally.
What these two verses recognize is the value of Christians’ regularly meeting together and identifies as problematic the habitual neglect of this practice. The latter appears to refer to the behavior of individuals who do not recognize the benefits of regular meetings with their fellow believers, not to the actions of those who are prevented from meeting with their fellow Christians due to their particular circumstances. It goes beyond the meaning of these two verses to treat them as a prescription for always and invariably meeting in person regardless of the situation. The emphasis is upon regularly meeting together and its benefits and not how.
While the author of Hebrews living in the first century may not have been able to imagine any other way of meeting except in person, we do not have the same limits on how we can meet in the twenty-first century that a first century Christian had. In their book, Discipleship Bands: A Practical Filed Guide, Mark Benjamin and J. D. Walt enumerate the different ways that Christians are able to meet today.
“Meeting together can take on a variety of formats. Face-to-face is obviously the best option. A video conferencing service like Skype, Google Hangouts, or Zoom will work well for a band meeting. A voiceonly conference call also works fine. The point is to do whatever works and be open to varying the format as the need of the week demands. If only two people from the band can meet in the same place, allow the other members to Skype or call in. In our experience, a number of bands find themselves all living in different places, making a face-to-face meeting impossible. They successfully meet by conference call or video-chat and work toward an annual in-person retreat together. The point is to do what works and whatever it takes. The band meeting is the make or break point of the whole thing.”
The important thing is to have regular meetings. It is not how these meetings are held. In the twenty-first century we do not have to be in the same place to meet with our fellow Christians.
Silence
[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.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again
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.
Open this link in a new tab to hear James Quinn’s “Word of God, Come Down on Earth.
1 Word of God, come down on earth,
rain from heaven descending.
Touch our hearts and bring to birth
faith and hope and love unending.
2 Word almighty we revere you;
Word made flesh, we long to hear you
Word eternal, throned on high,
word that brought to life creation.
3 Word that came from heaven to die;
crucified for our salvation,
saving Word, the world restoring,
speak to us, your love outpouring
4 Word that caused blind eyes to see,
speak and heal our mortal blindness;
deaf we are; our healer be;
loose our tongues to tell your kindness.
5 Be our Word in pity spoken,
heal the world, by our sin broken.
Word that speaks your Father's love,
one with him beyond all telling.
6 Word that sends us from above,
God the spirit with us dwelling.
Word of truth, to all truth lead us,
Word of life with one Bread feed us.
[If a collection is taken, it is presented with these words and placed in a suitable place.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness,
the power, the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.]
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
(With confidence and trust let us pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord, have mercy.”)
For the one holy catholic and apostolic Church throughout the world, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For those preparing for baptism and for their teachers and sponsors, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For peace in the world, that a spirit of respect and reconciliation may grow among nations and peoples, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for refugees, prisoners, and all in danger; that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For all whom we have injured or offended, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For grace to amend our lives and to further the reign of God, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
Additional intercessions, petitions, and thanksgivings may be offered silently or aloud.
Gracious Father,
whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came from heaven
to be the true bread which gives life to the world,
evermore give us this bread,
that he may live in us, and we in him,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us,
we are bold to 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,
we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine
on us and be gracious to us. The Lord look upon us with favour
and grant us peace. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine
on us and be gracious to us. The Lord look upon us with favour
and grant us peace. Amen.
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