Sundays at All Hallows (April 19, 2026)

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday is the Third Sunday of Easter, and we continue our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This Sunday’s Gospel reading is an account of one of a number of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to his disciples and to other witnesses, his appearance to Cleopas and an unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus, a village outside Jerusalem.

Beginning this Sunday, we will be using an order of service, adapted from the Church of Ireland’s A Service of the Word. A number of Anglican Churches have made provision for such a service as an alternative to the Daily Offices and Holy Communion.

In this Sunday’s message we offer our reflections upon the appearance of the risen Jesus to Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus.

GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Brian J. Heinlein’s arrangement of WIE SCHÖN LEUCHTET for handbells.

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

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
Psalm 96: 2

Open this link in a new tab to hear Christopher 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!

[The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.]

[Let us pray.]

Silence

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.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Book of Isaiah
Isaiah 43: 1-12

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’

Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this,
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, ‘It is true.’
You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no saviour.
I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses, says the Lord.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen's “I Will Walk I the Presence of God” (Psalm 116).

For the love of the One who has heard my cry:
I will walk in the presence of God.
God has heard my distress, and I shall not die:
I will walk in the presence of God.

I will walk in the presence of God.
in the land, in the land of the living.
For the love of the One who has heard my cry:
I will walk in the presence of God.

In the cords of my death, I was tangled ‘round:
I will walk in the presence of God.
Those who seek you in anguish shall not be bound:
I will walk in the presence of God.

I will walk in the presence of God.
in the land, in the land of the living.
For the love of the One who has heard my cry:
I will walk in the presence of God.

God has raised up my soul from the gates of death:
I will walk in the presence of God.
God has dried all my tears and renewed my breath:
I will walk in the presence of God.

I will walk in the presence of God.
in the land, in the land of the living.
For the love of the One who has heard my cry:
I will walk in the presence of God.

What return can I give for the gifts I claim?
I will walk in the presence of God.
Lift the cup of salvation and praise your name:
I will walk in the presence of God.

I will walk in the presence of God.
in the land, in the land of the living.
For the love of the One who has heard my cry:
I will walk in the presence of God.

A reading from the First Letter of Peter.
1 Peter 1: 17-23

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear John Macleod Campbell Crum’s “Now the Green Blade Rises.”

1 Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love has come again, like wheat that springeth green.

2 In the grave they laid Him, Love whom we had slain,
Thinking that never He would wake again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love has come again, like wheat that springeth green.

3 Forth he came in quiet, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Quick from the dead the risen Christ is seen:
Love has come again, like wheat that springeth green.

4 When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain,
Christ’s touch can call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love has come again, like wheat that springeth green.

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.
Luke 24: 13-35

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

On the Road to Emmaus

Cleopas and his companion apparently were so deep in conversation that they did not at first notice the stranger who was walking beside them. If you had asked them later when he joined them, I suspect that they would not be able to tell you. 

Luke tells us that they were kept from recognizing that the man who walking beside them was Jesus. One writer suggested that the reason they were unable to recognize him was that the late afternoon sun was in their eyes. That explanation, however, does not account for why they were unable to recognize him until he, in Luke’s words, “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” While he was explaining how the Scriptures testified to him, they would have been bound to have gotten a good look at his face.

Luke does not explain why they were unable to recognize Jesus. Explaining why is not essential to the narrative. They did not, and that is all which matters. While we may feel the narrative is short on details, it does tell us what is important. We may be tempted to fill in missing details from our imagination, but it is best to stick to what is written and not embellish it with the products of our own fertile minds.

The two disciples’ eyes were opened when Jesus performed what was for him a signature act of blessing, breaking, and giving bread. These disciples we can safely assume had eaten with Jesus on a number of occasions. They may have been present when he miraculously fed the five thousand and the four thousand.

When we are around someone for a while, certain actions, gestures, words, and habits become associated in our mind with that person. We may not always be consciously aware of these associations. I suspect that explaining Scripture was for these two disciples strongly associated with Jesus and accounts at least in part for why their hearts burned within them as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. I also do not rule out that God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, was working in them. While they had not yet received the gift of God’s indwelling presence, the Holy Spirit was active in their lives. I suspect that blessing, breaking, and giving bread may have even stronger associations with Jesus for them. This particular act triggered their realization that their guest was their risen Lord; that and God’s grace enabled them to recognize him for who he was.

It struck me that Jesus’ walking beside the two disciples and engaging them in conversation fits with how Jesus seeks us before we seek him. He is the one who takes the initiative. It is God’s grace that goes before. It precedes any movement God-ward on our part.

It also struck me that Luke’s account of the appearance of the risen Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus contain the basic pattern of the Holy Eucharist—Word and Table. We first meet Christ in the proclamation and exposition of the Word, and then in the bread and wine of the Holy Communion.

Elements of our own faith journey may be seen in Luke’s narrative too. We are not able to recognize Jesus for who he is until God enables us, much less to respond to his call. While we may not meet Jesus on the road to our village like the two disciples, we may meet friends and strangers through whom Jesus speaks to us.

What may be the most important thing we can learn from this Sunday’s Gospel reading is that God meets us in the events of our daily lives. Our risen Lord meets us on the road as we journey through life. He opens the Word to us and our hearts burn within us and he makes himself known in the breaking of the bread. He gives himself to us in Word and sacrament, he who is the Bread of Life. We do not go away from these encounters unchanged. Like the two disciples who met him on the road to Emmaus our lives will never be the same.

Silence.

Open this link in a new tab to hear John Bell and Graham Maule’s “As We Walked Home at Close of Day.”

1 As we walked home at close of day,
a stranger joined us on our way.
He heard us speak of one who’d gone,
and when we stopped, he, too, stayed on.

2 “Why wander further without light?
Please stay with us this troubled night.
We’ve shared the truth of how we feel
and now would like to share a meal.”

3 We sat to eat our simple spread,
then watched the stranger take the bread;
and, as he said the blessing prayer,
we knew that someone else was there.

4 No stranger he; it was our eyes
which failed to see, in stranger’s guise,
the Lord who, risen from the dead,
met us when ready to be fed.

5 Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
As Mary and our sisters said,
the Lord is risen from the dead!

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his 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 into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father
almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
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

[Let us thank God for his goodness.]

Almighty God,
we praise you for the blessings brought to the world through your Church.
We bless you for the grace of the sacraments,
for our fellowship in Christ with you and with each other,
for the teaching of the Scriptures, and for the preaching of your word. 

We thank you for the holy example of your saints,
for your faithful servants departed this life,
and for the memory and example of all that has been true and good in their lives.
Number us with them in the company of the redeemed in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Let us pray for the Church and the world.]

Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church
that we all may be one.

Grant that every member of your Church may truly and humbly serve you 

that your name may be glorified by all people.

We pray for all bishops and other ministers
that they may faithfully preach your word and administer your sacraments

We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world 

that there may be justice and peace on the earth.

Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake
that your glory may be proclaimed through our lives.

Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble
that they may be delivered from their distress.

We praise you for your saints who have entered their eternal joy
may we also come to share in the fulness of your kingdom.

We pray for our own needs and for those of others:

Silence

Those present may add their own petitions.

Faithful God,
you have promised to hear the prayers
of all who ask in Jesus’ name.
In your mercy, accept our prayers.
Give us what we have asked in faith,
according to your will:
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The gospel calls us to turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.
As we offer ourselves to him in penitence and faith,
we renew our confidence and trust in his mercy.

Silence

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you
in thought, and word, and deed,
and in what we have failed to do.
Have mercy on us,
forgive us all that is past,
and grant that we may serve you
and live a new life to your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God,
have mercy on us and forgive 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 God,
your Son made himself known in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in his redeeming work:
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

And now as our Saviour taught us, we pray

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,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Sydney Carter’s “Lord of the Dance.”

1 I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.

2 I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they wouldn't follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and for John;
They came with me and the dance went on.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.

3 I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame,
The holy people, they said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,
And they left me there on a cross to die.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.

4 I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I'd gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.

5 They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that'll never, never die,
I'll live in you if you'll live in me;
"I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.

"Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance," said he.
"I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance," said he.

GOING OUT AS GOD’S PEOPLE

Eternal God,
grant to us this day and every day
such readiness and delight in following Christ,
that whether our lives are short or long
we shall have lived abundantly. Amen

May the Almighty and merciful God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
bless us and keep us

this day and forevermore.. 

Amen.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Nancy Raabe’s choral arrangement of
Shirley Erena Murray’s “Go Gently, Go Lightly.”

Go gently, go lightly,
go safe in the Spirit,
live simply, don’t carry
much more than you need:
go trusting God’s goodness,
go spreading God’s kindness,
stay centered on Jesus
and where he will lead.

Go gently, go lightly,
go safe in the Spirit,
live simply, don’t carry
much more than you need:
go trusting God’s goodness,
go spreading God’s kindness,
stay centered on Jesus
and where he will lead.

Go singing, go bringing
the gifts of the Spirit,
go hopefully searching
for things that are true:
in living, in loving,
whatever befalls you,
God keep you, God bless you
in all that you do.
God keep you, God bless you
in all that you do.