Welcome
Opening Litany:
In all our weakness and strength, with our youth-filled spirits and aging bodies,
we come to be your people, O God.
Strong in faith and eager with questions, singing our praise and whispering our prayers,
we come to be your people, O God.
Filled with saintly determinatione yet mindful of our human limitations,
we come to be your people, O God.
Made strong in your endless love for us, we know ourselves to be yours and
we come to be your people, O God.
May we truly become your people today.
Confession and Forgiveness:
Blessed be the + Holy Trinity, the one who fashions us, the one who heals us, the one who reforms us again and again.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin, calling for God’s transforming power.
Silence for reflection and self-examination.
Source of all life,
we confess that we have not allowed your grace to set us free. We fear that we are not good enough. We hear your word of love freely given to us, yet we expect others to earn it. We turn the church inward, rather than moving it outward. Forgive us. Stir us. Reform us to be a church powered by love, willing to speak for what is right, act for what is just, and seek the healing of your whole creation. Amen.
God hears our cry and sends the Spirit to change us and to empower our lives in the world. Our sins are forgiven, + God’s love is unconditional, and we are raised up as God’s people who will always be made new, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Prayer of the Day:
Let us pray.
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: Hebrews 11:32-2:2
11:32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Children’s Sermon
Sermon:
All Saints Litany:
Let us give thanks to God for all the saints of our lives and the witness they have shared with us even as we continue to walk the journey of faith and make our way to the glory that God is preparing for all of us.
Let us pray.
Eternal God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, we praise you for the saints of all times and places who have walked the road of faith before us and beside us.
For their witness to your love and their commitment to your justice, for their trust in your mercy regardless of the circumstance, we give you thanks and praise.
God of all creation, we praise you for all your servants who have witnessed to your truth, who have shown us your love, who have inspired us to have hope.
By their example of faith, hope, and love, remind us of your calling to join in making your new creation real in this world and the next.
God of grace and peace, we praise you for women and men and children who reflect your love into our world.
Guide us to continue their faithful work as we too walk in the light of your love.
God of all saints, today we especially remember the saints from among this community who have departed our company over the past year.
We thank you for the faithful witness of N. and N., for their courage amidst strife and their hope in the face of death.
We remember so many other saints who have walked this road with us, whom we name before you aloud or in silence:
Continue to inspire us by their faithful witness, that we too might join in bringing your justice, mercy, and peace to our world.
Eternal God, as we walk this pilgrim way, make our faith firm, our hope clear, and our love pure, that we might join the saints of all the ages in praise eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Apostle’s 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.
Sharing of the Peace
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Sending Litany:
God’s people have celebrated all that God has done, from creation, to the cross, to the saints who have lived among us.
Now we go from this place to the work place, the home place, the market place; every place living as God’s own people.
Lord’s Prayer:
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
Benediction:
Go on your way rejoicing;
Surrounded as you are by such a great cloud of witnesses, take courage as you face each new challenge, and comfort when you pick yourself from a fall,
In whatever good you choose to do, precede it with hope, accompany it with prayer, and follow it with thanksgiving.
The blessing of God Most Wonderful, whom the saints have trusted as Father, + Son and Holy Spirit, be with you now and ever more.
Amen.
Dismissal:
Go in peace. Remember the poor.
Thanks be to God!
Prayer Requests:
Helen Barsh, Kathy Guffey, Rick Guffey, Family and Friends of Joe Moyer, Jamie, Matt Koch, Melody Erb, Thomas Burns, Cindee Long, Paisley Marie, Bob Keifer, Peg Swinehart.
Portions reprinted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, copyright 2006. Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress, license #SBL09796L. Music reprinted from the ELW, by permission of OneLicense, license #A712349. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.