October 26 2025 Evensong Sermon
We are told that we are living in an age of anxiety. I will not repeat the ongoing list of things that are making people anxious. Be they global, national, local, whatever. There is much that is making people anxious in our days. From extremely serious situations to more modest concerns regarding the performance of the Blue Jays in the next couple of games or what happens when a priest retires and someone else comes in.
To deal with the anxieties that we might be feeling, I would recommend taking this Evensong service leaflet home. There is much in here that can ease our anxieties. Even that introduction to what we are doing here tonight in choral Evensong taps into the ancient wisdom of people of faith. People from the Jewish age that had prayers, periods of prayer throughout the day to mark the day and the concerns of that day. And in the evening, as they were readying for the darkness to descend and the fears of the night, they would pray. In the mid 16th century, Thomas Cranmer as he composed the book of common prayer upon which this service is based, he drew the ancient wisdom of the monastic rites to compile this service. A service that begins with a confession. What better way to ease our anxieties than to look into our hearts and recognize where we have fallen short, where we have turned away from God’s ways and call upon God for his mercy and hear those beautiful words that you are forgiven by the saving work of Jesus Christ.
What better thing to do after hearing that good news but to join in the jubilate deo. Oh, be joyful. So much to be joyful for. This evening for the first time in my five years here, we’ve gathered for Evensong. It is actually intended to be a daily evening prayer service. One that can be done together or on your own in your home. And when you do that, you will get a steady diet of sacred scripture like Psalm 101, which is assigned for this day. And you’ll hear passages from scripture that you will not hear if you only come on Sunday mornings and that weekly service is your only dose of the Bible.
This evening we are given this beautiful reading from Proverbs that talks about wisdom. Wisdom that existed before anything existed. Wisdom we sometimes personify in the Holy Spirit. Wisdom is exactly what we need to face the anxieties of our age. And we can count on it. It exists. It is, has always been, and promises to always be present.
One of the beautiful things of Evensong is it rehearses the history of Christ coming into the world to ease all of our anxieties, to offer us peace. And it begins with that beautiful hymn, the Magnificat, where Mary responds to wisdom, to the Holy Spirit’s promise, that she will conceive and give birth to the Messiah. And Mary rehearses for us in these words what that entails, what it implies for her and for all of creation.
Then we turn to this second lesson, one of those that you will not hear on a Sunday morning because it’s not in the Revised Common Lectionary. And it is filled with anxieties even in the midst of Jesus Christ being present. In fact, doing amazing things, miraculous things like driving a demon out of a demon-possessed man, giving him back his voice, giving him back his sight. Such is the power of Jesus through the working of his Holy Spirit. But what do we see in the text? We see a bunch of anxious religious people saying, “Whoa, this isn’t the way it works. Oh, this makes me anxious. This, this can’t be from God.” They have lost track of what God has always promised; to send one to reconcile all the world to God and to one another. So have a good look at that reading, that gospel passage, because it holds in it this promise that if you take Jesus into your heart as your savior, if you place your trust in him, you need not fear.
The old man Simeon when he held that little baby Jesus in the temple holding the incarnate God who had now fufilled his promise of coming into the world. That old man could look up to God and say, “You can dismiss me now.” He no longer needed to fear even death itself, for he has beheld the savior. The promise is fulfilled. So what do we do in Evensong? We offer prayers. We ask God to continue to work in the world. Save our king. Endue our ministers with righteousness. Make them holy people. Save your people. Oh God. We pray. Collects gathering, collecting our prayers, prayers for peace, prayers for aid against all perils, knowing that God’s good work is unfolding. We can sing an anthem of thanksgiving.
Our Evensong service will continue with more songs of praise, of thanksgiving, of prayers, all based on the goodness that God has always committed to his creation and which is being fulfilled in our day. Hold that up against the anxieties that others will try and place on you. May we all know the peace of Christ that passes all understanding.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.