Choral Evensong for February 20, 2022

so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so uh [Music] [Music] oh lord open thou our lives [Music] oh god makes me to save us [Music] is [Music] crazy [Music] welcome to saint thomas church fifth avenue in the name of our lord jesus christ and to those of you joining us around the world wherever you may be via our live stream this evening we also warmly welcome the choristers of the church of the transfiguration in new york city and their choir master dr claudia dumschat welcome all of you thank you for joining us for this special night of fellowship and prayer and music the choirs will now sing psalm 104 and we now sing sit for the singing of the soul [Music] oh [Music] oh is [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] us [Music] six [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] tonight [Music] oh [Music] um [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] hello is [Music] oh [Music] here beginneth the first chapter of the book of genesis in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters and god said let there be light and there was light and god saw the light that it was good and god divided the light from the darkness and god called the light day and the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning were the first day and god said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters and god made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so and god called the firmament heaven and the evening and the morning were the second day and god said let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and god called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called he sees and god saw that it was good and god said let the earth bring forth grass the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so and the earth brought forth grass an herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind and god saw that it was good and the evening and the morning were the third day and god said let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be four lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and it was so and god made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the stars also and god set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness and god saw that it was good and the evening and the morning were the fourth day and god said let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven and god created whales and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind and every winged fowl after his kind and god saw that it was good and god blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let fowl multiply in the earth and the evening and the morning were the fifth day and god said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth after his kind and it was so god made the beast of the earth after his kind and cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and god saw that it was good and god said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth so god created man in his own image in the image of god created he him male and female created he them and god blessed them and god said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth and god said behold i have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in the witch is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life i have given every green herb for meat and it was so and god saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them and on the seventh day god ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and god blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which god created and made here endeth the first lesson [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] my songs [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] boys [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] she's [Music] see [Music] [Applause] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] here begin is the 25th verse of the sixth chapter of the gospel according to saint matthew therefore i say unto you take no thoughts for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor eat yet for your body what he shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raymond behold the fowls of the air for they so not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father fitteth them are in not much better than they which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his teacher and why take a thought for raymond consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet i say unto you that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these wherefore if god so clothed the grass of the field which today is tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you o e of little faith therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or where we though shall we be clothed for after all these things do the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you take therefore no thought fools a moral for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof here and if the second lesson oh foreign [Music] is [Music] so [Music] uh [Applause] [Music] hello foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i believe in god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy ghost born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead i believe in the holy ghost the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body the light the lord be with you [Music] let us pray oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] father [Music] is [Music] us against us [Music] oh lord show thy mercy upon us [Music] oh lord save the state [Music] and you thy ministers with righteousness [Music] oh lord save thy people [Music] give peace in our time o lord [Music] oh god may clean our hearts within us [Music] oh lord who has taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth send thy holy ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity the very bond of peace and of all virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee grab this for thine only son jesus christ sake who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same holy ghost one god now and forever [Music] oh god from whom our holy desires all good counsels and all just works do proceed give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give that our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of jesus christ our savior [Music] light in our darkness we beseech thee oh lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only son our savior jesus christ [Music] this [Music] hmm [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit these days dealing with my teenage son i realize how important it is to establish a right self-identity and how difficult it is to do that birds struggle to hatch and come out in his novel damien herman has compared the pain of puberty to a bird emerging from an egg what kind of struggles and challenges have you faced to discover and establish your self-identity i remember when my daughter was about five years old one day she asked me why does god only have a son and no daughter i was quite perplexed but i pretend to be calm and sad well that's a very good question let's think about why she thought for a moment and said oh i know why and she joyfully said i am the daughter of god it was a conversation six years ago so she may have forgotten it but i cherish that moment as it was an astounding answer from a little girl could there be a better and truer confession of one's identity than that the bible is of course a sacred book written by inspiration from god but it's a collection of texts of human thoughts written by humans in human language this book contains human interpretation of various problems in the world and of the origin of all things in the world and the bible is the confession of faith that all of these things will be accomplished within the plan and will of god the bible speaks of humans as beings created in the image of god human beings see themselves as beings resembling the creator who created time and space created the sky and earth and created all living things it is truly astounding that human beings as creatures assert to have an identity that resembles that of their creator this claim would be impossible without the realization that a human being has discovered divinity within oneself though this ideology is sometimes misunderstood and misused we know the history of western civilizations misuse of the phrase god said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion of all creatures to justify the reckless development and destruction of the earth ecosystem but how did god created the lives entrusted to human to rule as we have heard from the first reading today heaven and earth and all life in the world were created by the word of god and looking at each creation god saw that it was good god entrusted human beings to rule the creatures so humans who resemble god are given the power and authority to rule but more importantly to take care of them with the creator's love for the creatures which god said was very good in god's sight and this sing all creations with god's love for life is how we live as beings who are created in god's image considering that in the ancient near east the king was often called the image of the deity and was vested with god's authority and mesopotamian cosmologists ordinarily portrayed human beings as slaves it is clear that how to understand god is inextricably related with how we human beings see and define ourselves even though the hebrews had lived under slavery in egypt and wandered in the desert for long time they were able to have self-identity resembling god because they knew god the source of all existence as the god of love knowing what kind of god who created me is fundamental to knowing who i am and how to live it is an important issue not just for adolescents who are contemplating and exploring their identity but for all of us no matter how old we are every day we need to realize and confirm who we are and how we should live that is why we pray and read bible and participate in this liturgy in the community of faith if we neglect the task of realizing and confirming that we are beings created by god's love and beings created in god's image it is easy to strive for the full self that the world is trying to instill in us this word constantly whispers us the illusion that what to eat what to drink and what to wear is so important to my identity this word whispers as if wearing prada and carrying living tongue back makes me a better human being those whispers invade our lives everywhere and anytime and they can dominate our subconscious and ultimately our way of thinking and living so we need to actively seek out to sit still even for just five minutes each day close our eyes and ears to the world and open them to god to see who we really are what we eat drink and wear has nothing to do with who we are we are beings who can focus on more precious things in life than worry about what to eat drink and wear we are beings who can seek the kingdom of god and god's righteousness we are beings made in the image of god we are beings able to discover divinity within us we are daughters and sons of god whom god admire in god's sight [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] a prayer for the family of nations almighty god our heavenly father guide we beseech thee the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness that they may become the kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ o god merciful and compassionate who are ever ready to hear the prayers of those who put their trust in thee graciously hearken to us and all those who call upon thee and grant us thy help in this our need through jesus christ our room o eternal god who alone spread us out the heavens and rulest the raging of the sea we commend to thy almighty protection thy servants for whose preservation on the great deep of the sea and of war our prayers are desired guard them we beseech thee from the dangers of war from sickness from the violence of enemies and from every evil to which they may be exposed conduct them safely to the haven where they would be with a grateful sense of thy mercies through jesus christ our lord amen the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift up the light of his countenance upon him upon you and give you peace and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy ghost be amongst you and remain with you always [Music] please r [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: Saint Thomas Church 5th Avenue

Views: 558

Keywords:

Id: 7OklkOiayN8

Length: 84min 0sec (5040 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 21 2022