All Saints Sunday
Psalm 119:137-144
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Luke 19:1-10
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise the Lord, all you saints!
People: We praise God!
Leader: For God’s name is exalted!
People: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all patriarchs and prophets!
Leader: Miriam, Ruth, and Naomi,
People: Elizabeth, Mary, and all Holy Women!
Leader: Martin, Cesar, and William,
People: Joan, Teresa, and Dorothy.
Leader: Let all the saints, from Zacchaeus of long ago to ________, here today (name someone known by the congregation).
People: Praise the name of the Lord!
Leader: For we are all saints, part of the living body of Christ, the Church.
People: Praise the Lord!
Opening Prayer
Loving God, you’ve blessed us through scripture, through the power of your Spirit, and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, whom we know as “the Christ.”
Today we remember and give thanks for ALL the saints…those whom you’ve named and claimed over the centuries.
Most of all, we remember and give thanks for your presence with us as we honor you, Giver of Life. Even as Zacchaeus offered recompense for his life as a tax collector, help each of us offer back gifts to you in gratitude for your claim on us as your beloved children. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship
As followers of Jesus, we claim our intention to learn from him,
to claim him as our Lord, as the Christ, as the Master of our lives.
If that’s our true identity, one way to demonstrate who we are is to see if our giving reflects what’s most important to us.
If you were to check out your giving statement from the church, or the record on your credit card statement, or the graph of how your expenses are divided by category, you would have a visual description of what your dollars declare is important.
As we remember “the saints” today, I’m grateful for ________________. (Use someone from your congregation who was a faithful giver or adapt this to fit your situation: “I’m grateful for my own parents who taught us not only with their words, but with their weekly offering checks and their end-of-life proclamations and legacy gifts.”)
Today, we celebrate the giving of you saints!
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Alleluia! We give you praise, God of all life, for these gifts, and for the saints who are gathered to share in this offering.
Receive this collection.
Call each of us to your life and your service in the coming days,
that together we might remember Jesus,
and seek to live out his ministry each day of our lives. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
The invitation is simple: come!
Eat here, sharing in this feast.
Not a meal to nourish the body, but more than enough to feed the soul.
We receive the bread and wine connected to the ages:
to the saint of old who felt unworthy,
to the seeker eager to know God,
to the teenager who wonders what it’s all about,
to the child who eats with unburdened faith.
Woven into this time, the tears and the hopes of generations.
Come!
No one will be turned away, for we know God as our Creator,
Jesus the Christ as our host
and the power of God’s Spirit to gather us in.
Come! Remembering John Muir, renowned naturalist, who spoke of “great thousand-year days” experienced when hiking in the Sierras:
Today, at this table, we share a thousand-year moment;
for here we’re not just with one another in this sanctuary,
but we’re surrounded by the “great cloud of witnesses”
from Paul and Lydia on to the children among us.