Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (August 27, 2026)

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

The Scriptures provide us with a number of lessons about healing and prayer. In this evening ‘s message we take a look at what we can learn.

GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear David Im’s arrangement of GOODNESS OF GOD for solo guitar.

Silence

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth
stand in awe of him. Psalm 96:9

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and
just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8-9

Let us now confess our sins to almighty God.

Silence

Almighty and most merciful Father,
we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much
the devices and the desires of our own hearts.
we have offended against your holy laws,
we have left undone what we ought to have done,
and we have done what we ought not to have done.
Yet, good Lord, have mercy on us;
restore those who are penitent,
according to your promises declared
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grant, most merciful Father, for his sake,
that we may live a godly, righteous, and sober lives,
to the glory of your holy 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.

Open our lips, O Lord;
And we shall declare your praise.
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.
Let us praise the Lord.
The Lord’s name be praised.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Christopher Idle’s “Light of Gladness, Lord of Glory.”

1 Light of gladness, Lord of glory,
Jesus Christ our king most holy,
shine among us in your mercy:
earth and heaven join their hymn.

2 Let us sing at sun's descending
as we see the lights of evening,
Father, Son, and Spirit praising
with the holy seraphim.

3 Son of God, through all the ages
worthy of our holiest praises,
yours the life that never ceases,
light which never shall grow dim.

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

For your Name’s sake, O God,
lead us in the paths of righteousness
and let your mercy follow us
that we may dwell with you for ever. Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Second Book of Kings
2 Kings 4: 8-37

One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, ‘I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.’

One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, ‘Call the Shunammite.’ So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, ‘Tell her, “You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?”’

She replied, ‘I have a home among my own people.’

‘What can be done for her?’ Elisha asked.

Gehazi said, ‘She has no son, and her husband is old.’

Then Elisha said, ‘Call her.’ So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ‘About this time next year,’ Elisha said, ‘you will hold a son in your arms.’

‘No, my lord!’ she objected. ‘Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!’

But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. He said to his father, ‘My head! My head!’

His father told a servant, ‘Carry him to his mother.’ After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

She called her husband and said, ‘Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.’

‘Why go to him today?’ he asked. ‘It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.’

‘That’s all right,’ she said.

She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, ‘Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.’ So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, ‘Look! There’s the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, “Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?”’

‘Everything is all right,’ she said.

When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, ‘Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.’

‘Did I ask you for a son, my lord?’ she said. ‘Didn’t I tell you, “Don’t raise my hopes”?’

Elisha said to Gehazi, ‘Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.’

But the child’s mother said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So he got up and followed her.

Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, ‘The boy has not awakened.’

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got onto the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, ‘Call the Shunammite.’ And he did. When she came, he said, ‘Take your son.’ She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.

Silence

Opens this link in a new tab to hear Timothy Dudley Smith’s “Tell Out, My Soul” (Magnificat).

1 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
tender to me the promise of his Word;
in God my Savior shall my heart rejoice.

2 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his name!
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
his mercy sure, from age to age the same;
his holy name, the Lord, the Mighty One.

3 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

4 Tell out, my soul, the glories of his Word!
Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children's children and forevermore!

A reading from the Gospel according to Mark.
Mark 7:31-37

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means ‘Be opened!’). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosed and he began to speak plainly.

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’

May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.

Silence

Open this link in a new tab to hear Timothy Dudley Smith’s "Faithful Vigil Ended" (Nunc dimittis).

1 Faithful vigil ended,
watching, waiting cease
Master, grant your servant
his discharge in peace.

2 All the Spirit promised,
all the Father willed
now these eyes behold it
perfectly fulfilled.

3 This your great deliverance
sets your people free
Christ their light uplifted
all the nations see.

4 Christ, your people's glory!
Watching, doubting cease
grant to us your servants
our discharge in peace.

What do the Scriptures teach us about healing and prayer?

While the Old Testament has fewer accounts of miraculous healings than does the New Testament, they, like the accounts in the New Testament, point to two attributes of God. God is merciful and God heals! This evening’s Old Testament reading from the Second Book of Kings and New Testament reading from the Gospel of Mark draw our attention to these attributes of God.

God in these two readings works through different agencies, Elisha, a prophet, in the Old Testament reading, and Jesus, the Word become flesh, the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in the New Testament reading, and in different ways. The mercy shown, however, is God’s and the healing is God’s doing.

These two miraculous healings are also a reminder that God chooses who he heals and how he heals. As to why this is the case, I must admit that I have no satisfactory explanation to offer.

Too often we are tempted to tell God what to do and how to do it when praying for healing for ourselves or someone else and are disappointed when God does not follow our instructions to the letter. We can save ourselves from disappointment leaving by leaving the what to do and the how to do it in God’s hands. We would be wise to recognize that God heals through medical treatment as well as miracles and to seek medical treatment for ourselves and our loved ones. To do so is not show a lack of faith in God but recognize God’s sovereignty in how he heals. Too many young children and aging relatives have been consigned to needless suffering and an untimely death because those responsible for their care have been unwilling to leave to God the agency through which he works and the way in which he works.

It is also tempting to attribute a lack of faith on our own part or whoever is praying for healing for not receiving the hoped-for outcome to our or their prayers. Faith is what motivates us to turn to God in prayer. It doesn’t determine how God answer our or someone else’s prayers. God does not measure faith as on a scale. If it weighs heavily enough, God will answer a prayer as the one praying it had hoped.

Nor can we bribe God into answering our prayer in a way satisfactory to ourselves, giving us the outcome that we desire, regardless of what some unscrupulous preachers may tell their flocks to obtain gifts of money; property; livestock; fruits, vegetables, and grain; manual labor; and even sexual favors from their flocks’ more gullible members. The size and nature of our offerings nor to whom they are given has no effect upon the outcome of our prayers. God is no pagan idol whose priests must be lavished with gifts for a desired outcome to our prayers.

What puzzles even Bible scholars is why Jesus commanded the crowd not to tell anyone what he had done. He must have realized that people would ignore his command and keep talking about the miraculous healing. 

One possible explanation is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:1-18 Jesus cautions his disciples against practicing their righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. He goes on to explain what he means. He warns against making a big production of their almsgiving, prayers, and fasting so as to purposely draw attention to themselves. Jesus’ command to the crowd is consistent with the principle in which he instructed his disciples. He did not want to be viewed as practicing his righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. This also explains why he took the man aside, away from the crowd, before he healed him.

What Jesus says in Matthew 6:1-18 does not contradict what he said earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:14-16, about letting one’s light shine before others, that they may see one’s good deeds and glorify God. The issue in Matthew 6:1-18 is motivation. The practices against which Jesus warns his disciples are not intended to cause others to glorify God but to make a particular individual to seem better or more important than they are and to gain the admiration and praise of others.

Jesus himself prayed in public as well as withdrawing to secluded places to pray. His instruction to the disciples to pray in secret was not meant to prohibit us from praying in the presence of others but to warn us against making a public spectacle of our prayers, a spectacle intended to elevate us in the eyes of others.

It is both permissible and desirable to pray right there on the spot upon learning that they or someone else needs prayer for healing, provided circumstances permit and they are agreeable. It is too easy to forget a promise to pray for someone in the business of daily life.

Prayer is a way of expressing goodwill and concern for their wellbeing toward the person for whom we are praying as well as entrusting that person to God’s merciful kindness. What matters is that we pray from the right motive—to show Christ-like love to a neighbor and to treat them as we would wish ourselves to be treated.

Silence

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
And 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

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on 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,
and 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 and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear
than we to pray, and constantly give more than either we desire
or deserve: pour down on us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving
us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving
us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, except
through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, your Son our
Lord. Amen.

Eternal God, from whom all holy desires, all good purposes,
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 free from the fear of our
enemies we may pass our time in trust and quietness;
through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Lighten our darkness, 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 John Bell and Graham Maule’s "We Cannot Measure How You Heal."

1 We cannot measure how you heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross,
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.

2 The pain that will not go away,
the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds,
are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends
the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside,
the memories that haunt the mind.

3 So some have come who need your help
and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world
are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here
to mend the body, mind and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain,
and make your broken people whole.

Silence is kept.

Those present may offer their own prayers and thanksgivings, either silently or aloud.

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.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Healer of Our Every Ill.”

Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

1 You who know our fears and sadness,
grace us with your peace and gladness;
Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts.

Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

2 In the pain and joy beholding
how your grace is still unfolding,
give us all your vision, God of love.

Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

3 Give us strength to love each other,
every sister, every brother;
Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.

Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

4 You who know each thought and feeling,
teach us all your way of healing;
Spirit of compassion, fill each heart.

Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

THE SENDING FORTH OF GOD’S PEOPLE

The Lord be with you.
And also with you
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Open this link in a new tab to hear John A. Behnke’s “Benediction.”

The Lord bless you
The Lord keep you
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious
And be gracious
The Lord look upon you with favor
And give you peace.
The Lord bless you
The Lord keep you
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious
And be gracious
The Lord look upon you with favor
And give you peace.
Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen.