Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, May 8, 2025)
May 8th is the date of the lesser feast of Julian of Norwich in the Church of England. The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States also commemorate her on this date. Julian of Norwich was a medieval anchoress, mystic, and theologian. Also known as Juliana of Norwich, the Lady Julian, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, she wrote Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving English-language works attributed to a woman and the only surviving English-language works written by an anchoress. Two of this evening’s songs, a hymn and an anthem, are based on her writings.
In this evening’s message we explore the implications of a passage from the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians for modern-day Christians.
GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
Open this link in a new tab to hear William Coulter and Barry Phillips’ instrumental arrangement of the Shaker tune TREE OF LIFE.
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “God of Day and God of Darkness.”
1 God of day and God of darkness,
Now we stand before the night;
As the shadows stretch and deepen,
Come and make our darkness bright.
All creation still is groaning
For the dawning of your might,
When the Sun of peace and justice
Fills the earth with radiant light.
2 Still the nations curse the darkness,
Still the rich oppress the poor;
Still the earth is bruised and broken
By the ones who still want more.
Come and wake us from our sleeping,
So our hearts cannot ignore
All your people lost and broken,
All your children at our door.
3 Show us Christ in one another,
Make us servants strong and true.
Give us all your love of justice
So we do what you would do.
Let us call all people holy,
Let us pledge our lives anew,
Make us one with all the lowly,
Let us all be one in you.
4 You shall be the path that guides us,
You the light that in us burns;
Shining deep within all people,
Yours the love that we must learn,
For our hearts shall wander restless
'Til they safe to you return;
Finding you in one another,
We shall all your face discern.
5 Gentle Father, Loving Mother,
Jesus: Brother, Saviour, Friend;
Spirit of all grace and power
may we praise you without end.
Grant us all a peaceful resting,
Let each mind and body mend,
so we rise refreshed tomorrow,
hearts renewed to Kingdom tend.
Let us confess our sins to God our Father.
Silence is kept.
Heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour
in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault;
by what we have done
and by what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ who died for us,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name. Amen.
Merciful Lord,
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that we may be cleansed from all our sins,
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim your praise.
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.
Praise the Lord.
The Lord’s name be praised.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Owen Park’s composition of the ancient Phos hilaron, “Hail Gladdening Light.”
1 Hail, gladdening Light, of His pure glory poured
Who is the immortal Father, heavenly, blest,
Holiest of Holies, Jesus Christ our Lord!
2 Now we are come to the sun’s hour of rest;
The lights of evening round us shine;
We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit divine!
3 Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung
With undefiled tongue, Son of our God, Giver of life, alone:
Therefore in all the world Thy glories, Lord, they own.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Peter Inwood’s setting of Psalm 141, “O Lord, Let My Prayer Rise Before You Like Incense.”
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
1 Lord, I am calling:
hasten to help me.
Listen to me as I cry to you.
Let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
2 Lord, set a guard at my mouth,
keep watch at the gate of my lips.
Let my heart not turn to things that are wrong,
to sharing the evil deeds done by the sinful.
No, I will never taste their delights.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
3 The good may reprove me,
in kindness chastise me,
but the wicked shall never anoint my head.
Ev’ry day I counter their malice with prayer.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
4 To you, Lord, my God, my eyes are turned:
in you I take refuge;
do not forsake me.
Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those who do evil.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
5 Praise to the Father, praise to the Son,
all praise to the life-giving Spirit.
As it was, is now and shall always be
for ages unending. Amen.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you as incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:11-22
So remember that once you were Gentiles by physical descent, who were called “uncircumcised” by Jews who are physically circumcised. At that time you were without Christ. You were aliens rather than citizens of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of God’s promise. In this world you had no hope and no God. But now, thanks to Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God.
When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
Silence may be kept.
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.
One Big Family
The crux of this evening’s reading is that through Jesus Christ God has united Jews and Gentiles, non-Jews, into a single body. Through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, both Jews and Gentiles have access to God. In Jesus Christ they are joined together into a single household, the household of God, a temple dedicated to the Lord and a dwelling place for God through the Holy Spirit.
Take some time to think about that.
God intends us to be one big family whose members are living in harmony with each other, not separated into groups fighting with each other about everything and anything.
In his teaching Jesus emphasized as the second greatest commandment next to loving God with the entirety of our being, loving our neighbor as ourselves. He made it pretty clear that he was not just talking about our next door neighbor or people like ourselves. On the night of his betrayal and arrest, he gave his disciples a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them, telling them that their love for each other would set them apart as his disciples.
We cannot ignore what Jesus taught and commanded, following a Jesus of our own making, a Jesus who condones our prejudices and will punish those whom we have taken a dislike when he comes again. At his second coming Jesus will hold to account everyone for what they have said and done, including ourselves. He has made plain what matters most to him.
Being a true disciple of Jesus means framing and fashioning our lives according to Jesus’ teachings and commandments and encouraging others to do likewise. It is difficult to see how someone can claim to believe in Jesus when they treat what he taught and commanded as if it does not apply to them. Jesus himself asked his disciples, “Why do you call me Lord when you do not do what I tell you?” He told the apostles that those who loved him would keep his word and obey his commandments.
We are put right with God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that is expressed not just in words but in actions too—what the apostle James, Jesus’ older brother, called a “living faith.”
The apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians wrote, "no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit…." What Paul was saying is that no one can really own Jesus as their Lord unless the Holy Spirit is working in them. Owning Jesus as one’s Lord goes beyond paying lip service to Jesus. It involves actually taking Jesus as one’s Lord, believing what he said, and obeying him.
We may not own Jesus in a big way at first. As the Holy Spirit works in us, however, we will grow to believe Jesus more and more and to surrender more and more of our life to him. Trusting Jesus and obeying him will become the pattern of our life. We in turn will be transformed, becoming more and more like our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Steven C. Warner’s arrangement of Julian of Norwich’s “All Will Be Well.”
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
1 Our Lord said that all would be well,
All manner of things would be well.
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
2 With all the sadness wrought in the world,
the good shall always prevail.
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
3 In all the doubts that shroud simple truths,
we pray for the wisdom of God.
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
4 Give us the faith to trust in your love,
when things are concealed from our view.
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
5 Our faith is firm and stands on the Word,
the Word that endures for all time.
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
6 And so we pray to trust in the hope
that all manner of things shall be well.
All will be well,
and all will be well,
all manners of things will be well.
will be well, will be well.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
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,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to 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.
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
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.
Lord, show us your mercy,
and grant us your salvation.
Keep our nation under your care,
and guide us in justice and truth.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness,
and make your chosen people joyful.
Lord, save your people,
and bless your inheritance.
Give peace in our time, O Lord,
for you are our help and strength.
Create in us dean hearts, O God,
and renew us by your Holy Spirit.
Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
Give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
O God
from whom all holy desires
all good judgements
and all just works proceed:
Give to your servants
that peace which the world cannot give,
that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments,
and that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies,
may pass our time in rest and quietness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Lighten our darkness, O Lord, we pray
and in your great mercy defend us
from all perils and dangers of this night;
for the love of your only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Jean Janzen’s “Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth.”
1 Mothering God, you gave me birth
in the bright morning of this world.
Creator, source of every breath,
you are my rain, my wind, my sun
2 Mothering Christ, you took my form,
offering me your food of light,
Grain of life, and grape of love,
your very body for my peace.
3 Mothering Spirit, nurt’ring one,
in arms of patience hold me close,
So that in faith I root and grow
until I flow’r, until I know.
Let us pray for all people.
God of providence, God of love,
we pray for all people: make your way known to them, your saving power
among all nations.
[Especially we pray for…]
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for your Church throughout the world: guide and
govern by your Holy Spirit, that all who call themselves Christians
may be led in the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit,
in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.
[Especially we pray for…]
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We commend to your fatherly goodness all who are afflicted or distressed
in mind, body, or circumstances. Relieve them according to their needs.
Give them patience in their sufferings, and deliverance in their afflictions.
[Especially we pray for…]
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s “God of the Ages.”
1 God of the ages, now and past,
thankful of heart, we turn to you.
God the faithful year by year,
grant us your mercies ever new.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
2 God of our parents, teachers, friends,
you gave them grace to walk your way.
May we, like them, arise to meet challenges,
risks of our new day.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
3 God of the present, guide us now;
send us your Spirit’s holy flame.
Acting in courage, speaking love,
may we bring honor to your name.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
4 God of the future, grant us faith;
courage for ventures yet unknown.
God, to the church your love has built,
now to their labors add our own.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
God of the ages, hear our prayer;
all generations know your care.
THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
To God, who by the power at work within us,
is able to do far more abundantly
than all we ask or think,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3: 20
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