Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, July 10, 2025)
Beginning this Thursday evening we will be using the order of service for Evening Prayer from the Anglican Church of Canada’s The Book of Alternative Services (1985).
The topic of this evening’s message is what Jesus meant when he said those who followed him must take up their cross daily.
GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8.12
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbour.
Silence is kept.
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 our 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.
Alleluia!
Open this link in a new tab to hear Andrea Sandefur’s setting of Psalm 134, “Come, All Your Servants of the Lord.”
Come all you servants of the Lord (bless the Lord)
Who stand by night in the house of the Lord
Come all you servants of the Lord (bless the Lord)
Who stand by night in the house of the Lord
Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
Lift up your hands, and bless the Lord
Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
Lift up your hands, and bless the Lord, bless the Lord
May the Lord bless you from Zion
He who made heaven and earth (heaven and earth)
May the Lord bless you from Zion
He who made heaven and earth (heaven and earth)
Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
Lift up your hands, and bless the Lord
Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
Lift up your hands, and bless the Lord
Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
Lift up your hands, and bless the Lord
Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
Lift up your hands, and bless the Lord, bless the Lord
Open this link in a new tab to hear David Preston’s “Shout with Joy to God, All Nations” (Palm 66).
1 Shout with joy to God, all nations,
Sing the glory of his name;
Praise with loudest acclamations!
His tremendous deeds proclaim!
All his foes in fear and trembling
Bow beneath his mighty arm,
While all earth with joy assembling
Sounds his praise in song and psalm.
2 Come and see, with awe and wonder,
See displayed the power of God!
As he held the waves asunder
Israel crossed the sea dry-shod;
Praise him, then, with jubilation,
Who for ever rules by might,
Keeping watch lest any nation
Dare contest his sovereign right.
3 Praise him, who has stood beside us
And not let our footsteps slide!
In the fires of life you tried us
Till, like silver, purified:
You sent fierce affliction to us,
Conquerors trampled on our head,
Yet through flame and flood you drew us
And to peace and freedom led.
4 What thank-offering shall I render,
My most solemn vows to pay,
Made to you, my strong defender,
When I faced the evil day?
Here I offer on your altar
All I am and have to do;
May my purpose never falter,
All my life be spent for you.
5 Come and listen, all who fear him,
Hear what God has done for me:
With my praises I drew near him,
And poured out my urgent plea;
Had I cherished sin within me,
God would not have heard my prayer ;
Praise him for the answer given me:
In his gracious love and care.
Coda:
Had I cherished sin within me,
God would not have heard my prayer ;
Praise him for the answer given me:
In his gracious love and care.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Luke 9:12-24
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”
But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” For there were about 5,000 men there.
Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” So the people all sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!
One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”
Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Open this link in a new tab to hear David Haas and Marty Haugen’s “Psalm 98: All the Ends of the Earth.”
All the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God;
all the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God.
All the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God;
all the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God.
1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds;
whose right hand has won the vict’ry for him, his holy arm.
All the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God;
all the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God.
2 The Lord has made his salvation known justice revealed to all,
remembering kindness and faithfulness to Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God;
all the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God.
3 All of the ends of earth have seen salvation by our God.
Joyfully sing out all you lands, break forth in song.
All the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God;
all the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God.
4 Sing to the Lord with harp and song, with trumpet and with horn.
Sing in your joy before the king, the king, our Lord.
All the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God;
all the ends of the earth have seen the pow-er of God.
"Take Up Your Cross Daily...." What Did Jesus Mean?
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me….” Jesus’ words must have sent cold shivers down the spines of the crowd.
The crowd knew that a man struggling under the heavy weight of a wooden cross was a dead man walking. The cross would be the instrument of his execution.
The Romans had a number of cruel ways of executing condemned criminals. Nailing their hands and feet to the beams of a wooden cross and suspended them from that cross so that they would die a slow and painful death from suffocation, hunger, thirst, and exposure was one of them.
The dying man would be subject to taunts and jeers of onlookers who might throw stones and excrement at him. This manner of execution was intended to prolong the suffering, humiliation, and degradation of the condemned. .
Jesus did not mince words when it came to telling those who might be weighing his call to follow him what they could expect. The path of discipleship would not be an easy one. Those who decided to heed his call could expect to face difficulty, suffering, even death.
Taking up one’s cross daily means making a total commitment to following Jesus and renewing that commitment every day.
Following Jesus means giving up old attitudes, ways of thinking, and behaviors. It means trusting in his words and his actions and living one’s life in accordance with his teaching and example. It means pressing on whatever may come our way.
One cannot be a part-time disciple, sometimes following Jesus and sometimes following our own desires, depending upon how we feel at the moment.
This is not to be confused with growing in our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus and leaning into our growing understanding. Being a disciple is about being a learner with Jesus as our teacher. The learning process is one that lasts a lifetime.
One way to keep our hearts and minds focused on following Jesus is to begin each day with a simple prayer, asking God to enable us to follow Jesus more closely, that our thoughts be Jesus’ thoughts, our words Jesus’ words, and our actions Jesus’ actions, that others encounter not us but Jesus through us.
Silence.
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,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Charles W. Everest’s “Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said.”
1 Take up your cross, the Savior said,
if you would my disciple be;
take up your cross with willing heart,
and humbly follow after me.
2 Take up your cross, let not its weight
fill your weak sprit with alarm;
his strength shall bear your spirit up,
and brace your heart, and nerve your arm.
3 Take up your cross, heed not the shame,
and let your foolish heart be still;
the Lord for you accepted death
upon a cross, on Calvary's hill.
4 Take up your cross, then, in his strength,
and calmly every danger brave:
it guides you to abundant life
and leads to victory o'er the grave.
5 Take up your cross, and follow Christ,
nor think till death to lay it down;
for only those who bear the cross
may hope to wear the glorious crown.
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
Heavenly Father,
you have promised to hear when we pray
in the name of your Son.
Therefore in confidence and trust
we pray for the Church:
(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)
Father, enliven the Church for its mission
that we may be salt of the earth and light to the world.
Breathe fresh life into your people.
Give us power to reveal Christ in word and action.
We pray for the world:
(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)
Creator of all,
lead us and every people into ways of justice and peace.
That we may respect one another in freedom and truth.
Awaken in us a sense of wonder for the earth and all that is in it.
Teach us to care creatively for its resources.
We pray for the community:
(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)
God of truth, inspire with your wisdom
those whose decisions affect the lives of others
that all may act with integrity and courage.
Give grace to all whose lives are linked with ours.
May we serve Christ in one another, and love as he loves us.
We pray for those in need:
(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)
God of hope, comfort and restore
all who suffer in body, mind or spirit.
May they know the power of your healing love.
Make us willing agents of your compassion.
Strengthen us as we share in making people whole.
We remember those who have died and those who mourn:
(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered.)
We remember with thanksgiving those who have died in the faith
of Christ, and those whose faith is known to you alone.
Father, into your hands we commend them.
Give comfort to those who mourn.
Bring them peace in their time of loss.
We praise you for (N and) all your saints
who have entered your eternal glory.
May their example inspire and encourage us.
We pray for ourselves and our ministries:
(Particular intercessions/thanksgivings may be offered. )
Lord, you have called us to serve you.
Grant that we may walk in your presence:
your love in our hearts,
your truth in our minds,
your strength in our wills;
until, at the end of our journey,
we know the joy of our homecoming
and the welcome of your embrace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gracious God,
you have given us much today;
grant us also a thankful spirit.
Into your hands we commend ourselves
and those we love.
Be with us still, and when we take our rest
renew us for the service of your Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
In darkness and in light,
in trouble and in joy,
help us, heavenly Father,
to trust your love,
to serve your purpose,
and to praise your name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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,
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 SENDING OUT OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The almighty and merciful God bless us
and keep us now and for ever. Amen.
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