Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (October 8, 2026)

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

In this evening’s message we consider a question that is asked by longtime Christians as well as those exploring Christianity, “What is faith?”

GATHER IN GOD’S NAME

Open this link in a new tab to hear Jon Sorta’s arrangement of Marty Haugen’s STILLNESS (My Soul in Stillness Waits) for piano.

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 The Grail’s “In the Silent Hours of Night” (Psalm 134).

In the silent hours of night,
In the silent hours of night,
Bless the Lord,
Bless the Lord.

In the silent hours of night,
In the silent hours of night,
Bless the Lord,
Bless the Lord.

1 O come bless the Lord,
All you servants of the Lord,
Who stand by night in the courts
of the house of the Lord.

In the silent hours of night,
In the silent hours of night,
Bless the Lord,
Bless the Lord.

2 Lift up your hands to the holy place,
Come, bless the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.

In the silent hours of night,
In the silent hours of night,
Bless the Lord,
Bless the Lord.

3 Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and will be forever. Amen.

In the silent hours of night,
In the silent hours of night,
Bless the Lord,
Bless the Lord.

Blessèd are you, Lord our God,
our creator and sustainer:
in the darkness we look to your light
and we place ourselves and all your household
under your protection through the night.
Blessèd be God for ever! Amen.

THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

A reading from the Book of Genesis.
Genesis 28: 10-22

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it[a] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

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 Letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 11:1-16

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

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 Is Faith?

In this evening’s second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 11:1, we find this definition of faith:

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Another way of stating this definition of faith is that we trust something that we cannot prove in a way that is clear and exact and which makes no room for confusion or doubt. For example, we trust that God exist although we cannot prove God’s existence. We trust that we are put right with God by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead but we cannot offer explicit proof of it.

This definition of faith requires that we believe something is true, for example, we believe that God is kind and forgiving. It also requires that we rely on what we believe. We trust its truthfulness. We not only believe that it is trustworthy but also we actually trust it. We put our full confidence in it. As well as believing that God is kind and forgiving, we trust that is indeed the case and live our lives in a way that is suitable or right for what we believe and trust.

A helpful illustration of the two things that faith requires is a park bench under a shady tree on a hot, sunny day. Believing something to be true involves recognizing that the bench under the tree is a good place to sit away from the hot sun. Trusting what we believe involves sitting on the bench and taking advantage of the shade that the tree offers.

Faith plays an important role in our salvation, in our restoration to a right relationship with God. In his gospel the apostle John testifies, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He is not alone in his testimony. In his Letter to the Romans, in Romans 5:1-2, the apostle Paul tells us, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” To be justified is to be put right with God.

Without faith we learn from this evening’s second reading, from Hebrews 11: 6, we cannot please God. In order to turn to God, we first must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him in all earnestness.

The good things we say and do “spring up” from our faith and are themselves evidence what the apostle James described as a vital faith, the kind of faith necessary for salvation (James 2:14-26).

We do not come by faith naturally. We are not born with it. Faith is a gift from God. God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, enables us to believe God’s Word when hear it and to trust what we hear. It may be a passage about Jesus read from the Bible, a verse about him quoted from memory, a sermon explaining the gospel, or even a conversation in which someone tell us about what Jesus has done for us, through which the Holy Spirit will quicken our faith, giving it life.

This is why it is so important for Christians to tell others about Jesus, to be the messengers of the good news.

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.

Lord, give your people grace to withstand the temptations of the
world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds
to follow you the only God; through Jesus Christ 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 the Anonymous 18th Century English Carol, “Alleluia to Jesus.”

1 As Jacob with travel was weary one day,
At night on a stone for a pillow he lay;
He saw in a vision a ladder so high
That its foot was on earth and its top in the sky:

Alleluia to Jesus, who died on the tree,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me.

2 This ladder is long, it is strong and well made,
Has stood hundreds of years and is not yet decayed;
Many millions have climbed it and reached Sion’s hill,
And thousands by faith are climbing it still:

Alleluia to Jesus, who died on the tree,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me.

3 Come, let us ascend! All may climb it who will;
For the angels of Jacob are guarding it still:
And remember, each step that by faith we pass o’er,
Some prophet or martyr hath trod it before:

Alleluia to Jesus, who died on the tree,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me.

4 And when we arrive at the haven of rest,
We shall hear the glad words, “Come up hither, ye blest,
Here are regions of light, here are mansions of bliss."
Oh, who would not climb such a ladder as this?

Alleluia to Jesus, who died on the tree,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me,
And has raised up a ladder of mercy for me.

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 to hear James Edward Seddon’s “Church of God, Elect and Glorious.”

1 Church of God, elect and glorious,
holy nation, chosen race;
called as God's own special people,
royal priests and heirs of grace:
know the purpose of your calling,
show to all his mighty deeds;
tell of love which knows no limits,
grace which meets all human needs.

2 God has called you out of darkness
into his most marvellous light;
brought his truth to life within you,
turned your blindness into sight.
Let your light so shine around you
that God's name is glorified;
and all find fresh hope and purpose
in Christ Jesus crucified.

3 Once you were an alien people,
strangers to God's heart of love;
but he brought you home in mercy,
citizens of heaven above.
Let his love flow out to others,
let them feel a Father's care;
that they too may know his welcome
and his countless blessings share.

4 Church of God, elect and holy,
be the people he intends;
strong in faith and swift to answer
each command your master sends:
royal priests, fulfil your calling
through your sacrifice and prayer;
give your lives in joyful service
sing his praise, his love declare.

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.