Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, April 10, 2025)
Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.
This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of Holy Week in which Christians recall the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, his arrest, his trial, his scourging, and his crucifixion.
This evening’s message further unpacks the Letter to the Hebrews.
GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
Open this link in a new tab to hear Mark Hayes’ arrangement of Marty Haugen’s HEALER OF EVERY ILL for piano.
Silence
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51.18
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 F. Bland Tucker’s translation of the Phos hilaron, “O Gracious Light.”
O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ,
In you the Father’s glory shone.
Immortal, holy, blest is he,
And blest are you, his holy Son.
Now sunset comes, but light shines forth,
the lamps are lit to pierce the night.
Praise Father, Son, and Spirit: God
Who dwells in the eternal light.
Worthy are you of endless praise,
O Son of God, Life-giving Lord;
Wherefore you are through all the earth
And in the highest heaven adored.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Shepherd Me, O God” (Psalm 23).
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
1 God is my shepherd, so nothing I shall want,
I rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
2 Gently you raise me and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing the music of your Name.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
3 Though I should wander the valley of death,
I fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
4 You have set me a banquet of love in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love beyond my pow’r to hold.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
5 Surely your kindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
Silence
O God, our sovereign and shepherd,
who brought again your Son Jesus Christ
from the valley of death,
comfort us with your protecting presence
and your angels of goodness and love,
that we also may come home
and dwell with him in your house for ever. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:14-29
Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son. Afterward, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it.
You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word, because they could not bear the order which said, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling and afraid!”
Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels. You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.
Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well.” The words “once more” plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carl P. Daw Jr.’s metrical paraphrase of the Magnificat.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
1 For God has looked with favor,
on one the world thought frail;
and blessings through the ages will echo
the angel's first "All hail."
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
2 God's mercy shields the faithful
and gives them safe retreat
to arms that turns to scatter
the proud in their conceit.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
3 The mighty have been vanquished;
the lowly lifted up.
The hungry find abundance;
the rich, an empty cup.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
4 To Abraham's descendants
the Lord will steadfast prove,
for God has made with Israel
a covenant of love.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
In the heart of Northumberland on the north-east coast of England, on the grounds of Alnwick Castle, is Alnwick Garden, created by the Duchess of Northumberland in 2001. It features the largest collection of European plants in the United Kingdom and the largest Japanese Cherry Orchard in the world.
Silence
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51.18
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 F. Bland Tucker’s translation of the Phos hilaron, “O Gracious Light.”
O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ,
In you the Father’s glory shone.
Immortal, holy, blest is he,
And blest are you, his holy Son.
Now sunset comes, but light shines forth,
the lamps are lit to pierce the night.
Praise Father, Son, and Spirit: God
Who dwells in the eternal light.
Worthy are you of endless praise,
O Son of God, Life-giving Lord;
Wherefore you are through all the earth
And in the highest heaven adored.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Shepherd Me, O God” (Psalm 23).
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
1 God is my shepherd, so nothing I shall want,
I rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
2 Gently you raise me and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing the music of your Name.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
3 Though I should wander the valley of death,
I fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
4 You have set me a banquet of love in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love beyond my pow’r to hold.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
5 Surely your kindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
Silence
O God, our sovereign and shepherd,
who brought again your Son Jesus Christ
from the valley of death,
comfort us with your protecting presence
and your angels of goodness and love,
that we also may come home
and dwell with him in your house for ever. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 12:14-29
Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son. Afterward, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it.
You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word, because they could not bear the order which said, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling and afraid!”
Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels. You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel.
Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well.” The words “once more” plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Carl P. Daw Jr.’s metrical paraphrase of the Magnificat.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
1 For God has looked with favor,
on one the world thought frail;
and blessings through the ages will echo
the angel's first "All hail."
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
2 God's mercy shields the faithful
and gives them safe retreat
to arms that turns to scatter
the proud in their conceit.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
3 The mighty have been vanquished;
the lowly lifted up.
The hungry find abundance;
the rich, an empty cup.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
4 To Abraham's descendants
the Lord will steadfast prove,
for God has made with Israel
a covenant of love.
My soul proclaims with wonder
the greatness of the Lord;
rejoicing in God's goodness,
my spirit is restored.
Toxic Plant or True Disciple?
In the heart of Northumberland on the north-east coast of England, on the grounds of Alnwick Castle, is Alnwick Garden, created by the Duchess of Northumberland in 2001. It features the largest collection of European plants in the United Kingdom and the largest Japanese Cherry Orchard in the world.
Alnwick Garden also harbors behind locked black iron gates the world’ most renowned Poison Garden. This small but deadly garden contains more than 100 varieties of plants that can kill.
A number of the plants growing in the Poison Garden are also growing in the gardens, medians, and parks of communities across the United States and in nearby fields and woodlands. Azaleas, daffodils, giant hogweed, hydrangeas, and oleander, while they are beautiful, are poisonous.
Like these plants, some Christians can be toxic, causing harm to others. Their toxicity may not always be immediately evident. But as one gets to know them, one discovers that they have acquired toxic attitudes and beliefs.
It is against such individuals that the author of Hebrews warns in this evening’s reading those to whom he is writing. He warns them against abandoning belief in God’s grace and returning to their old way of thinking, presumably that they can get right with God by their own efforts rather than through faith in Jesus and his suffering and death on the cross.
A number of the plants growing in the Poison Garden are also growing in the gardens, medians, and parks of communities across the United States and in nearby fields and woodlands. Azaleas, daffodils, giant hogweed, hydrangeas, and oleander, while they are beautiful, are poisonous.
Like these plants, some Christians can be toxic, causing harm to others. Their toxicity may not always be immediately evident. But as one gets to know them, one discovers that they have acquired toxic attitudes and beliefs.
It is against such individuals that the author of Hebrews warns in this evening’s reading those to whom he is writing. He warns them against abandoning belief in God’s grace and returning to their old way of thinking, presumably that they can get right with God by their own efforts rather than through faith in Jesus and his suffering and death on the cross.
He also warns them against making the same mistake as Esau did, who, hungry from an unsuccessful hunt for game, sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew. It was Esau’s right as the older of the two brothers to receive their father Isaac’s blessing. At the time he gave no thought to the value of the blessing, wanting to fill his belly with food, a decision he would later regret after Jacob, through a subterfuge, received the blessing.
You can read the whole story of Esau and Jacob in the Book of Genesis.
For us, the example of Esau is not one that we would wish to follow, the example of someone who exchanges something of great value, even inestimable value, for something of little worth. ,
Regrettably one reads and hears about Christians doing just that, Christians discarding Jesus’ teaching for worldly attitudes and beliefs, attitude and beliefs that reflect the prejudices of a particular subculture within our society.
Like Esau, we are capable of thoughtlessly giving away something that is truly precious for what in the greater scheme of things is worthless.
As Jesus told the apostles, those who love him obey his commandments. They abide in his words, that is, they accept his teaching without objection, and they do not depart from what he taught but fashion and frame their lives according to it. Their faith extends to what Jesus said as well as to what he did.
In these closing days of the Lenten Season, let us reflect on what this personally means for us. How much in our own live are we abiding in Jesus’ words? What could we do more?
Silence
[Let us confess our faith, as we say, ]
You can read the whole story of Esau and Jacob in the Book of Genesis.
For us, the example of Esau is not one that we would wish to follow, the example of someone who exchanges something of great value, even inestimable value, for something of little worth. ,
Regrettably one reads and hears about Christians doing just that, Christians discarding Jesus’ teaching for worldly attitudes and beliefs, attitude and beliefs that reflect the prejudices of a particular subculture within our society.
Like Esau, we are capable of thoughtlessly giving away something that is truly precious for what in the greater scheme of things is worthless.
As Jesus told the apostles, those who love him obey his commandments. They abide in his words, that is, they accept his teaching without objection, and they do not depart from what he taught but fashion and frame their lives according to it. Their faith extends to what Jesus said as well as to what he did.
In these closing days of the Lenten Season, let us reflect on what this personally means for us. How much in our own live are we abiding in Jesus’ words? What could we do more?
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 Percy Dearmer’s “God Is Love: His the Care.”
1 God is love: his the care,
tending each, everywhere.
God is love, all is there!
Jesus came to show him,
that we all might know him.
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
God is good!
God is truth! God is beauty!
Praise him!
2 None can see God above;
humankind we can love;
thus may we Godward move,
finding God in others,
sisters all, and brothers.
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
God is good!
God is truth! God is beauty!
Praise him!
3 Jesus shared all our pain:
strove and died, rose again,
rules our hearts now as then;
for he came to save us
by the truth he gave us.
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
God is good!
God is truth! God is beauty!
Praise him!
4 To our Lord praise we sing,
light and life, friend and king,
coming down love to bring,
pattern for our duty,
showing God in beauty.
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
God is good!
God is truth! God is beauty!
Praise him!
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
Sing aloud, loud, loud!
God is good!
God is truth! God is beauty!
Praise him!
[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.
Most merciful God,
by the death and resurrection
of your Son Jesus Christ,
you created humanity anew.
May the power of his victorious cross
transform those who turn in faith
to 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.
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