Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, May 25, 2025)

 

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday, the fourth and last Sunday in May, is the Sixth Sunday of Easter (or the Fifth Sunday after Easter). The Feast of the Ascension is next Thursday, May 29.

The three days before Ascension Day are traditionally known as the Rogation Days and this Sunday, the Sunday before Ascension Day, as Rogation Sunday. The following Sunday, June 8, is Whitsun, also known as the Feast of Pentecost.

In the past the fields were blessed on Rogation Sunday. Processions were held in which the Great Litany was sung or recited and additional prayers offered for the right kind of weather for the crops to grow and for a bountiful harvest.

It was also customary to conduct perambulations of the boundaries of the parish, the practice of “beating the bounds,” in which the boys and apprentices of the parish were shown the boundary markers of the parish and then beaten or otherwise treated roughly to ensure that they did not forget them. If the boundary marker was a pond or brook, they might be thrown into it. In later, more gentler times choir boys, armed with switches, would beat the boundary markers.

The topic of this Sunday’s message is what Jesus taught his disciples about loving him.

GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Gregg Schneeman’s arrangement of Franklin Sheppard’s hymn tune TERRA BEATA for bowed psaltery.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Cecil Francis Alexander’s “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

1 Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

2 The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

3 The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden –
He made them every one.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

4 He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.

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 in a new tab to hear Christoper Idle’s “Glory in the Highest.”

1 Glory in the highest to the God of heaven!
Peace to all your people through the earth be given!
Mighty God and Father, thanks and praise we bring,
singing Hallelujah to our heavenly king.

2 Jesus Christ is risen, God the Father's Son!
With the Holy Spirit you are Lord alone!
Lamb once killed for sinners, all our guilt to bear,
show us now your mercy, now receive our prayer.

3 Christ the world's true Saviour, high and holy One,
seated now and reigning from your Father's throne:
Lord and God, we praise you! Highest heaven adores:
in the Father's glory, all the praise be yours;
in the Father's glory, all the praise be yours!

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Let us pray.

Silence

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good
things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such
love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above
all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we
can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 16: 9-15

That night Paul had a vision in which he saw a Macedonian standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” As soon as Paul had this vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, because we decided that God had called us to preach the Good News to the people there.

We left by ship from Troas and sailed straight across to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. From there we went inland to Philippi, a city of the first district of Macedonia; it is also a Roman colony. We spent several days there. On the Sabbath we went out of the city to the riverside, where we thought there would be a place where Jews gathered for prayer. We sat down and talked to the women who gathered there. One of those who heard us was Lydia from Thyatira, who was a dealer in purple cloth. She was a woman who worshiped God, and the Lord opened her mind to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and the people of her house had been baptized, she invited us, “Come and stay in my house if you have decided that I am a true believer in the Lord.” And she persuaded us to go.

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Kiran Young Wimberley’s “May God Be Gracious” (Psalm 67).

1 May God be gracious unto us
May God’s face shine unto us
That your way be known on earth
And your power among all nations

2 Let the peoples praise you, God
All the peoples praise you, God
And be glad and sing for joy
Guide the peoples of all nations

3 God, our God, has blessed us kindly
Blessed us and sustained us kindly
God be gracious unto us
And God’s face shine on all nations

4 May God be gracious unto us
May God’s face shine unto us
God be gracious unto us
And God’s face shine on all nations

A reading from the Revelation to John.
Revelation 21: 10-14, 22 - 22: 5

The Spirit took control of me, and the angel carried me to the top of a very high mountain. He showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, coming down out of heaven from God and shining with the glory of God. The city shone like a precious stone, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels in charge of the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel. There were three gates on each side: three on the east, three on the south, three on the north, and three on the west. The city's wall was built on twelve foundation stones, on which were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

I did not see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God shines on it, and the Lamb is its lamp. The peoples of the world will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their wealth into it. The gates of the city will stand open all day; they will never be closed, because there will be no night there. The greatness and the wealth of the nations will be brought into the city. But nothing that is impure will enter the city, nor anyone who does shameful things or tells lies. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of the living will enter the city.

The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing down the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. There shall be no more night, and they will not need lamps or sunlight, because the Lord God will be their light, and they will rule as kings forever and ever.

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Silence

Open this link to hear Isaac Watt’s “Come, Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs.”

1 Come, let us join our cheerful songs
with angels round the throne;
ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
but all their joys are one.

2 "Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
"to be exalted thus."
"Worthy the Lamb," our lips reply,
"for he was slain for us."

3 Jesus is worthy to receive
honor and pow'r divine;
and blessing more than we can give
be, Lord, forever thine.

4 Let all that dwell above the sky
and air and earth and seas
conspire to raise thy glories high,
and speak thine endless praise.

5 The whole creation joins in one
to bless the sacred Name
of him that sits upon the throne,
and to adore the Lamb.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
John 14: 23-29
Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and my Father and I will come to them and live with them. Those who do not love me do not obey my teaching. And the teaching you have heard is not mine, but comes from the Father, who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am still with you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.

“Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am leaving, but I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father; for he is greater than I. I have told you this now before it all happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe.

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

What Did Jesus Teach His Disciples about Loving Him?

A number of years ago, while driving, you could pull up behind a vehicle and see a sticker plastered across its bumper proclaiming “I love Jesus” or giving these instructions, “Honk, if you love Jesus.” If you stopped at a Stuckey’s, a popular roadside stop when gas was cheaper and family road trips more common and went inside you would find not only delicious pecan candies, Southern charm, and quirky souvenirs but also a rotating display rack with a selection of these stickers.

When I saw one of these stickers on the bumper of a car or pickup truck, I had to wonder what to the occupants of the vehicle loving Jesus meant. Did it mean that they had a high opinion of Jesus? Did they feel warm and fuzzy inside when they thought about Jesus or someone else talked about Jesus? What did loving Jesus mean to them? I must admit that I never had the courage to ask the occupants of one of those vehicles when I got a chance.

I wondered even more when the driver of a vehicle sporting one or more of these stickers cut in front of me when I was driving or pulled into a parking spot into which I was about to pull, or shouted obscenities and unkind remarks at me through the open widow of their car or pickup truck when I was standing or walking on the side of the road. They did not act as if they knew Jesus at all.

It is very clear from this Sunday’s Gospel reading, when it comes to loving him, attitudes and actions matter more to Jesus than words and feelings. We can say whatever we like and feel whatever we like, but our words and feelings are meaningless if they are not accompanied by the right attitudes and the right actions. Obeying Jesus’ teaching is how we demonstrate our love for him.

In the Old Testament God, speaking through the prophets, say the same thing. Those who genuinely love God demonstrate their love for God by obeying God’s commandments.

The initial steps in obeying Jesus’ teaching and thereby demonstrating our love for him are to believe in him and to trust in him, to believe what he says and to trust what he says.

This means believing what the apostle John reports that Jesus said about he and the Father being one (John 10:30) and whoever having seen him having seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus not only claimed to be divine but also that he was the visible representation of an invisible God. Those who wished to know and understand God could do so by knowing and understanding Jesus. It also means believing what John reports in this Sunday’s Gospel that Jesus said about the teaching that he gave not being his but coming from God.

On the road to Jerusalem and to the momentous events that followed his arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus asked his disciple this question, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13-20). It is a question that one way or another, he asks all of us.

How do we see Jesus? Do we see him as a mythical figure as some folk do? Do we see him as an iterant preacher with delusions of grandeur who ran afoul of the Jewish religious authorities? An enlightened sage who studied under Buddhist masters in the Himalayas of Tibet and whose teaching his disciples did not fully understand and therefore misinterpreted? Do we see him as a warrior on horseback, a fiery sword in his hand, a judge who will condemn those to whom we have taken a dislike and who will reward us by making us the rulers of a kingdom with him. Or do we see Jesus as the disciples would come to see him—God who for our sake became human to suffer and die on a cross for our salvation and to teach us how to live?

How we see Jesus has implications for us. If we see him as the disciples did, as Jesus revealed himself to them. then we are confronted with the same question that the risen Jesus addressed to Simon Peter on the shore of the sea of Galilee, “Do you love me?” It is a question for which a affirmative answer involves a life of obedience and all that entails, a life that is framed and fashioned according to the teaching of Jesus and lived as a wholesome example and pattern to others, a life which unequivocally demonstrates that we love the One whom we call Lord.

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.

Particular intentions may be mentioned before this litany, or petitions added at appropriate points.

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 Kate B. Wilkinson’s “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior.

1 May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
live in me from day to day,
by His love and pow'r controlling
all I do and say.

2 May the word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph
only through His pow'r.

3 May the peace of God my Father
rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing.

[Instrumental interlude]

4 May the love of Jesus fill me
as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing:
this is victory.

5 May I run the race before me,
strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus
as I onward go.

6 May His beauty rest upon me
as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel,
seeing only Him.

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.