Call to Worship
L: Praise the Lord, all you saints!
P: Praise him all you heavenly hosts!
L: Let us praise the name of the Lord:
P: For his name only is exalted!
L: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:
P: Isaiah, Jeremiah and all you Patriarchs and Prophets!
L: Miriam, Ruth and Naomi:
P: Elizabeth, Mary and all you Holy Women!
L: Matthew, Mark and Luke:
P: James and John and all you Evangelists and Apostles!
L: Stephen, Thomas, Peter and Paul:
P: Philip, Bartholomew and all you Holy Martyrs!
L: Praise the Lord!
P: O praise the name of the Lord!
L: These are the saints whose robes are washed white in the blood of the Lamb.
P: Praise the Lord!
L: We are the saints who are the living body of Christ, the Church.
P: Praise the Lord! O praise the name of the Lord!
Almighty God,
your people of all the ages live and praise you without ceasing.
In our communion with you, we have communion
with generations past and generations yet unborn.
Before your throne we are one
with a great multitude which no one could number,
and in praising you we join with those from every nation.
Grant to your church on earth
that as we celebrate the triumph of your saints in glory
we may profit by their example
and enter with them into the inexpressible joys
you have prepared for those who love you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Morning Prayers
As we aloud read the names of members of this congregation who have died over the last 12 months, let us silently give thanks to God for each of them.
Dorothy Kent, Conrad Cook, Catherine Cavin, Mae Smith, Anna Lautzenhiser, Joe Weirick,
Now in silence we remember all those other precious souls who no longer walk by our side in this life, yet whose integrity and steadfast love profoundly touched and enriched our lives.
Silence................................................................................
God of life, we give you thanks for all those people, so very dear to us, whose loving presence here on earth is no more, yet who live a larger life hidden in Christ.
Grant them your peace and joy,
and shine your light upon them.
We give you thanks for those servants of yours in this nation whom we never met, yet whose faith and love were like beacons in this world of shadows.
Grant them your peace and joy,
and shine your light upon them.
We give you thanks for the outstanding Christians around the world who lived and died in the faith, blazing trails of glory in the name of Jesus.
Grant them your peace and joy,
and shine your light upon them.
We give you thanks for your loving saints across the centuries, from many denominations, who served Christ at high cost, and bequeathed to us a rich heritage.
Grant them your peace and joy,
and shine your light upon them.
O Lord our God, from whom neither life nor death can separate those who trust in your love, and whose gentle power holds in its embrace your children both in this world and the next, so unite us to yourself that in fellowship with you we may always be united with our love ones, whether here or there.
Let us pray for Christians who at this moment are suffering persecution by evil rulers and their enforcers, some in prison, some facing summary execution.
God of salvation, save your people;
and shine your light upon them.
Let us pray for Christians who because of their beliefs are being shunned or ridiculed, in workplace or neighborhood, in schools or in within families.
God of salvation, save your people;
and shine your light upon them.
Let us pray for Christians in local and federal politics, in commerce and industry, in the disciplines of medicine, law and social work; especially praying for those who are finding it difficult to maintain the love-values of Christ where they work.
God of salvation, save your people;
and shine your light upon them.
Let us pray for Christians who under difficult and dangerous conditions are trying to show Christ’s love by serving with aid agencies in underdeveloped countries, where poverty, disease, corruption and violence hinder their work and threaten their lives.
God of salvation, save your people;
and shine your light upon them.
Let us pray also for folk among us or around us who are enduring tough times; those out of work and the ill, the lonely and the broken hearted, the handicapped and any who suffer domestic abuse, the overworked and the exhausted. Let us pray for those whose healing touch is needed by God.
O God of salvation, save your people;
and shine your light upon them.
God our holy and eternal Friend, through you may we see ourselves linked to the love and joy of other Christians around the world today, and in fellowship with the mighty host of the redeemed souls gathered before your throne, in that world where evil, sorrow, pain and death are no more.
Through Christ Jesus our Brother and Savior.
Amen!
"Forever & Ever"
Daniel 7:1 In the first year of King Belshazzar of
15As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. 16I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter: 17“As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. 18But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”
The word Saint in the New Testament isn’t used to describe anyone who was holier than anyone else. The saints, as they were called in the scriptures, were just ordinary folks who were followers of Jesus Christ. “The saints” was just another way to say, “the Church.” And a saint was just another way to say a member of the church.
And so we come today, on All Saints Sunday, to recognize the many gifts of all the faithful, both living and departed.
Originally, the Feast of All Saints was established to remember those saints that had been determined to be Saints with a capital “S” by the Latin Church. Saints in the Latin or Roman church with a capital S are those departed souls who have been determined absolutely to be in heaven through a rigorous, if not strange process.
The major cap S saints got their own day in which to be remembered, but the minor cap S saints all got lumped in together to be honored and remembered on one day--November 1. Remembering the saints--known and unknown.
We Disciples have a different understanding of that word saint--we use it in the original form--and, having a different understand of God’s gracious salvation, we can take this day of remembrance to celebrate the lives of all the departed, as we trust in God to hold them in her arms when we can no longer hold them in ours.
And so, today, we remember the saints--all of them--known and unknown.
And so today, we read from this strange book from the prophets called Daniel--and from an even more curious section of this book which, apart from a few words spoken by Jesus in the Gospels, is the only part of our bible to be written in Aramaic--the language of the Hebrews from the Babylonian exile to the first century.
And in this strange little book of Daniel, we read what is called apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literally means to reveal, but we tend to think of it as doom and gloom stuff. It was written to a people in a time of trouble who would find in its strange language a comforting message that no matter what, God’s people were going to be all right.
What’s the best known apocalyptic literature? Why, Revelation, of course. And it has within its strange and convoluted language a very simple message in two parts: 1) Stay faithful, and 2)everything is going to be all right.
And back in Daniel, we have a strange message in this seventh chapter. Daniel has disturbing dream about four beasts that arise out of the sea. An angelic interpreter explains to Daniel that these represent the four empires which will conquer the Hebrews and dominate them for some time to come. Historically, we have think of these as the Babylonians, themselves, followed by the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks.
In other words, God’s people may be overrun and ruled by strangers, and the future can look pretty bleak. My Lord, can you imagine what it must have been like to have taken from your home, ghettoized in a strange place and having to answer to people you despise?
If you want to get a feel for what the nation of
Now, no one would ever advocate bashing the heads of babies--even the babies of your enemies. But that’s the anger and helplessness and hopelessness that the Hebrews felt about their situation.
Can you imagine feeling that helpless and hopeless and angry?
Now in the midst of this time, this curious little book of Daniel appears. It has so many historical errors and factual inaccuracies that it makes us wonder why we even pay it any attention. But it has a message--a very simple and comforting message that rings absolutely true across the centuries to our time. That message rings out in verse 18: “But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”
Times are very hard now--and they’re not going to get better for a while, but God’s people are going to be OK. God’s holy ones are going to be all right.
That word--holy ones--like the word saint, might throw for a loop if we don’t look at it closely. The Hebrew word here does not mean perfect or holier than anyone else or virtuous. It means “set apart,” the holy ones are made holy not by their own doing, but because they are called by God and named by him. The holy ones were not the saint-ly, they were saints because they belonged to God. And because they belonged to God, they could endure the difficult times in which they lived because they belonged to God. And because they belonged to God, everything was going to be all right.
And for us, what might this mean. Do you think we live in scary times? I know we do. But sometimes, we scare ourselves without good cause.
John Henry Faulk used to tell a story about when he was a Texas Ranger, a captain in fact. He was seven at the time. His friend Boots Cooper, who was six, was sheriff, and the two of them used to do a lot of heavy law enforcement out behind the Faulk place in south
Johnny and Boots loped down to the hen house on their trusty brooms (which they tethered outside) and commenced to search for the snake. They went all through the nests on the bottom shelf of the hen house and couldn't find it, so the both of them stood on tippy-toes to look on the top shelf. I myself have never been nose-to-nose with a chicken snake, but I bet you could take Johnny's word for it that it will just scare you to no end. Scared those boys so bad that they both tried to exit the hen house at the same time, doing considerable damage to both themselves and the door.
Johnny's mama, Miz Faulk, was a kindly lady, but watching all this, it struck her funny. She was still laughing' when the boys trailed back up to the front porch. "Boys, boys, " said Miz Faulk, "what is wrong with you? You know perfectly well a chicken snake cannot hurt you."
That's when Boots Cooper made his semi-immortal observation. "Yes ma'am," he said, "but there's some things'll scare you so bad, you hurt yourself."
Some of us are scared to death that Barack Obama is our President! Arggh! Some of us are scared that the republicans are taking over the House of Representatives! Horrors!
I can’t see that either President Obama or Speaker-to-be John Boehner are the beasts who have arisen from the sea to subjugate the people, but I know this--even if think we are in exile--we, God’s people, are going to be all right.
And on this day, we remember that we are the saints of God--not perfect, but called by God to be his own and to live and love in his name. And we join the names of our own dead with God’s saints in every time and every place. In so doing, we too are gathered, healed, re-united, and re-membered into God’s loving relationship with us and all creation--past, present, and still to come.
And while this is comforting to us, we don’t celebrate this day to feel good, and to be at peace within ourselves. We do so to remember the example set for us by our departed loved ones, and to work for God’s goodness, peace, and justice in the world.
There is a sentence with which I begin and end all the funerals and memorials I preach. It comes originally from an Affirmation of Faith of the United Church of Canada, but it has become my own affirmation of faith. “In life, in death, in life after death, we belong to God.” If you can say that with me, I invite you to join me--in life, in death, in life after death, we belong to God. And because of that, we are going to be, like the saints who’ve gone before us, all right.
Forever, and ever, Amen.
Call to Offering
Our witness to Christ may not be the ultimate sacrifice of our lives.
Our witness may simply be to say “Yes” to the call
To share all of our gifts generously and wholeheartedly.
God takes pleasure in us whether we are able to participate
by providing support or whether we are among those who receive support.
The invitation awaits our bold but joy-filled response.
Response
These, to thee, our God, we owe, Source whence all our blessings flow.
And for these, our souls shall raise grateful vows and solemn praise.
Come, then thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home.
Come to God’s own temple , come, raise the song of harvest home.
Dedication
Loving God, we present to you our gifts.
We pray that you might bless them and us
as we praise you with our voices and with our lives. Amen
Benediction
You, who are faithful,
depart this place to return to a world
that will test your faith.
Go forth remembering the commitment
of saints who did weep and pray and rejoice
because of their love of God.
Join them as you sing songs of praise to God
and say “Yes” to God with your lives. Amen.
Response
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
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