Order of Worship
Sunday, November 1, 2020
All Saints Sunday
Prelude ELW 424 Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
Introduction to the day
All Saints celebrates the baptized people of God, living and dead, who are the body of Christ. As November heralds the dying of the landscape in many northern regions, the readings and liturgy call us to remember all who have died in Christ and whose baptism is complete. At the Lord’s table we gather with the faithful of every time and place, trusting that the promises of God will be fulfilled and that all tears will be wiped away in the new Jerusalem.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Confession and Forgiveness
All may stand and make the sign of the cross as the presiding minister begins.
Blessed be the holy Trinity, Ê one God, who forgives all our sin, whose mercy endures forever.
Amen.
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Gracious God,
have mercy on us. We confess that we have turned from you and given ourselves into the power of sin. We are truly sorry and humbly repent. In your compassion forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do. Turn us again to you, and uphold us by your Spirit, so that we may live and serve you in newness of life through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name of +Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.
Amen.
Hymn of Praise Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty ELW 413
Greeting
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, you have knit your people together in one communion in the mystical body of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment, and to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
First Reading Revelation 7:9-17
The book of Revelation is written to seven churches in western Asia Minor during a time of great oppression. Today’s reading is a response to the question asked in 6:17: “Who is able to stand?” The writer gives the faithful the assurance of God’s protection and a vision of victory.
Second Reading 1 John 3:1-3
A saint is one who has been set apart by God for God’s purposes. God, out of divine love, set us apart to be the children of God. Our holy hope is that we shall see God as God really is.
Gospel Matthew 5:1-12
In the Beatitudes, Jesus provides a unique description of those who are blessed with God’s favor. His teaching is surprising and shocking to those who seek wealth, fame, and control over others.
Sermon
Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s 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 to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I 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.
A LITANY FOR ALL SAINTS
We sing:
For all the saints, who from their labor rest, ELW 422
Who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Pastor: All powerful and ever-living God,
today we rejoice in the holy men and women
of every time and place.
May their prayers and praises glorify you forever.
Pastor: Holy ones present at our beginnings:
People: Stand here beside us!
Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob and Rachel and Leah;
makers of the covenant, forebears of God’s people:
Stand here beside us!
Elizabeth and Simeon; Joseph, Eunice and Monica; models of the love
and care of children:
Stand here beside us!
John the baptizer, proclaimer of the Lord's coming:
Stand here beside us!
We sing:
Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might:
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, the one true Light.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Pastor: Holy ones who showed the good news to be the way of life:
Stand here beside us!
Thomas the questioner; Paul of Tarsus, missionary to the Gentiles; Augustine of Canterbury, apostle to the English; Henry Melchiar Muhlenberg and Justus Falckner, Lutheran pastors to the North American colonies; all travelers who carried the Gospel to distant places:
Stand here beside us!
Nelson Mandela, president; Mahatma Gandhi, pacifist; Dag Hammarskjold, peacemaker; all who made governance an act of faith:
Stand here beside us!
Peter, one-time denier of the Lord; all faithful shepherds of the Master’s flock:
Stand here beside us!
Mary Magdalene, anointer of the Lord’s feet; Luke the physician; Florence Nightingale; Albert Schweitzer; Saint Teresa of Calcutta; all who brought hands of healing to the sick and suffering:
Stand here beside us!
Nicholas Winton, rescuer of Jewish children from the Holocaust; Fred Rogers, whose neighborhood knew no limits:
Stand here beside us!
We sing:
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Pastor: Holy ones who made the proclaiming of God’s love a work of art:
Stand here beside us!
Johann Sebastian Bach; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Ralph Vaughan Williams, Luciano Pavarotti; all who sang the Creator’s praises in the language of the soul:
Stand here beside us!
David and the Psalmist; John Milton, sketcher of Paradise; William Blake, imaginer of Jerusalem, George Herbert, priest and poet; all poets of the heavenly vision:
Stand here beside us!
Zaccheus the tree-climber; Benedict of Nursia, founder of western monasticism; Brother Lawrence; Therese of Lisieux, the little flower;
Thomas Keating contemplative pray-er; all teachers of holy simplicity:
Stand here beside us!
We Sing:
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Pastor: Holy ones driven by the justice and mercy of God;
Stand here beside us!
Amos the prophet, who held up the plumbline; John Wycliffe, who brought the Scripture to the common folk; Jan Huss, the first reformer; Martin Luther, who could do no other than to stand; John XXIII, visionary pope; Pope Francis who loves the marginalized; all who kept the Church ever-reforming:
Stand here beside us!
Pierre Teilhard de Charelin; Augustine of Hippo; Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin; Paul Tillich; all who saw God at work and wrote down what they saw:
Stand here beside us!
Johnny Appleseed, mad planter of Eden; Sojourner Truth, pilgrim of justice; Benedict Joseph Labre, priest and panhandler; Nicholas, bishop of Myra and secret gift-giver; Elijah Cummings, John Lewis, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, workers for justice; all whose love for God was beyond containment:
Stand here beside us!
We sing:
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blest.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Pastor: Holy ones who died in witness to the Christ:
Stand here beside us!
Stephen, the first martyr, stoned in Jerusalem; Justin, Ignatius and Polycarp, who refused to worship Caesar; Perpetua and Felicity, torn by beasts in the arena; Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein, put to death at Auschwitz; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor who dared to challenge the Third Reich, executed at Flossenburg:
Stand here beside us!
James Reeb, Jonathan Daniels, Michael Schwerner, Medgar Evers, Viola Liuzzo, martyrs for civil rights; Martin Luther King, Jr., shot in Memphis; Oscar Romero, shot in San Salvador; the 21 Coptic Christians, beheaded in Libya; Clementa Pinckney and the eight others shot in Charleston by one to whom they extended welcome:
Stand here beside us!
Martyrs of Rome, of Leone, of Japan, of Eastern Equatorial Africa, of Uganda, of Melanesia; martyrs everywhere:
Stand here beside us!
We sing:
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of Glory passes on his way.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Pastor: Holy ones of every time and place:
Stand here beside us!
Glorious company of heaven:
Stand here beside us!
All runners of the holy race:
Stand here beside us!
Those from our community of faith:
Edna Hansen – November 1, 2019
Rev. Ted Menter – January 9, 2020
Sandy Oestreich – March 14, 2020
Bill Sawyers – March 27, 2020
Rei Gurd – May 29, 2020
Betty Tart – June 19, 2020
Vivian Ottinger – July 2, 2020
Catharine Burdette – August 27, 2020
Dan Carreira – September 12, 2020
Palmer Wittnebel – September 30, 2020,
and those whose names are on our hearts.
Pastor: Great cloud of witnesses:
Stand here beside us!
We sing:
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Pastor: Jesus our Savior creator of all:
Stand here beside us!
Jesus our Savior, redeemer of all:
Stand here beside us!
Jesus our Savior, sanctifier of all:
Stand here beside us!
Jesus our Savior, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end:
Stand here beside us!
Pastor: We thank you, Lord God, for the brave and believing people who have gone before us and planted your gospel message of grace in this place. We praise you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, who worked in them to gather and give order to this community of faith. Remembering them, we pray that we may follow as they followed, in the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Offering Prayer
Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Benediction
Life is short, and we do not have much time
to gladden the hearts of those
who make this earthly pilgrimage with us.
So, be swift to love,
make haste to do kindness,
shower abundant hospitality
on friend and stranger.
Walk in justice,
that you may follow the path of mercy and love.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit
is with you and will remain with you forever.
Charge to the People
Go in peace. Bear the light of Christ to the world following in the footsteps of the saints who have gone before us. Thanks be to God.
Postlude
Pastor Pam Smith
Soloist Harold Wright
Organist David Cannistraci
Readers: Katie King Pat Blanchette
Brenda Hornickle Mark Thomsen
Tim Blanchette P.J. Blanchette
Mary Flekke
Bell Ringer Katie King
Acolytes Riley King Emily King
