Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith & Giving
All Saints Sunday
Call to Worship (from Ephesians 1:17-20)
One: Today we come together to worship the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many: We unite, eager to know what is the hope to which God is calling us.
One: In this place, we look for God’s power at work,
Many: not only in raising Jesus from the dead,
One: but in declaring Jesus head over all things in the church!
Many: So let us worship God,
giving thanks to the One whose power binds us together.
Opening Prayer
We lift our voices to pray, God, as we sing “Give Thanks for Life”, CH #649
Moment for Stewardship (from Luke 6:30-31)
Jesus’ teaching on the Plain was addressed not only to his disciples, but to the great multitude of people from all around.
This is not a pleading for people to come and follow Jesus. It’s a difficult set of teachings, demonstrating the demand of discipleship: “Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
As we remember the saints who have gone before us, I call to mind ______
(name someone from your congregation, or someone well-known to the people gathered, telling of this person’s generous giving…)
[I might lift up P.E. MacAllister, who just died at 101. He is reknowned for his generous support of his own congregation, of his community, and of the opera world].
Today, you are invited to join the great cloud of witnesses, sharing in a way you would love to see others share with you.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
God of all life, we do give your our thanks for the life of _________ (whose story we heard), and for every life we remember today.
Thank you for the generosity demonstrated by those who have gone before us, and for the opportunity we have to show our love in the gifts we’ve given. Use them, and use us, to share Good News with a world filled with need. AMEN
Invitation to Communion (adapted from Joseph R. Jeter, Re-Membering, p. 142)
Time, someone said, is simply a way to keep everything from happening at once. And that is a good thing. If life had no orderly sequence of events, it would not be possible. But there are exceptions to this rule, occasions when time fades before us. Naturalist John Muir spoke of “those great thousand-year days” he experienced in the high Sierra (in John of the Mountains, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938 p. 213)
…
At the end of the film Places in the Heart, this is vividly demonstrated. The scene is set in a little country church. As communion is served, we see that all the characters, living and dead, are present to receive the sacrament. Everyone is present at the table. And everyone always is.
Friends, today, on this All Saints Sunday, we become ever-so aware, in the midst of our own thousand-year moment. Everyone is already at the table. We wait only…for you.