Pentecost 6, Evening Prayer, July 12, 2020 (full size gallery)
We had 25 for Evening Prayer on July 12, an outside service. It was the first service at the church since March 8 though we have been having online zoom services since that time. The bulletin is here.
Evening Prayer has been the title for the Evening Office in Anglican worship since the 1552 revision of the Prayer Book. It is a shorter service with opening sentences, readings, sermon and prayers and no communion. The Invitatory may include the canticle Phos Hilaron, an ancient hymn praising Christ at the lighting of lamps at sunset, appropriate for the time of the service.
We had three musical selections which are at a separate video link – Helmut on violin “Ave Maria”, Nancy soloist on “Spirit of the Living God” and Phil on guitar “How Can I Keep from Singing.”
The sermon is here. It is tied to the Gospel, “Parable of the Sower.” A selection follows:
“So how fitting that today’s gospel is about soil, about the earth itself—for we are here, standing on sacred ground.
“In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the sower, which we’ve just heard, and the seed that gets sown on the good soil brings forth piles and piles of grain that will provide seed for the next year’s planting and flour for bread, so that everyone will have more than enough to eat throughout the year.
“Soil itself is alive. Good soil is balanced—a mix of silt, sand and clay along with humus, that organic material that is essential to the soil’s fertility. Good soil is strong enough to anchor the roots of the plants that grow, and is light enough to let in air and water which the roots need to thrive. And the soil even helps plants communicate with one another.
“So good soil not only produces good yields from seeds, but it holds tree communities together in mostly positive ways, although a few trees do wage war on others through this usually beneficial fungal system by releasing toxic chemicals that can then harm their rivals.
“When we Christians are the good soil in which others can grow, we not only help each person thrive, but we provide the rich soil in which everyone can work together and bring forth even more fruit, contributing to God’s work of providing abundantly for the earth and all of its inhabitants, so that all can become one great superorganism working together for the good of all and for the glory of God. ”
The service ended with 15 ears of corn distributed to each person from Johnny, demonstrating the abundance of the sower.