All Saints Day
VISUAL ARTS (PARAMENTS, GENERAL DECORATIONS, SPECIFIC DECORATIONS)
Brim: Creative Overflow in Worship Design
Banner Designs for the Church Year
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CALL TO WORSHIP
Come to the place from which all saints have their beginning.
Come and be all souls fed.
Come to the place where all are nurtured in the faith of the ancestors.
Come and be all souls fed.
Come to the place where God is worshiped above all other desires.
Come and be all souls fed.
Come to the place where God calls to us from the future.
Come to the place that is boundless and timeless and knows God’s limitless grace and mercy.
—Byron Forester
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INVOCATION
God of all time and places, you dwelled with Abraham, Jacob, and Moses as you guided their lives in ways that we never fully understand. Their faith has led us to be present here today and we pray your Holy Spirit will dwell with us, leading us, inspiring us, making us ready to receive your word and have our lives be nurtured in the faith of our ancestors. Amen.
—Byron Forester
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MUSIC (HYMNS, SONGS, ANTHEMS)
- O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing;
- For All the Saints
- How Firm a Foundation
- Lord When I Came into This Life.
—Byron Forester
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CALL TO CONFESSION
More times than we can count, the people of God turned away from God to pursue impermanent things, rather than that which is eternal. The Holy One does not count such times but through the grace made known to us through Jesus Christ, offers us forgiveness for our turning away when we confess our waywardness to God and to each other.
—Byron Forester
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PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Eternal God, you gave us examples to live by in the people who shaped our lives with goodness and grace.
We are enticed by greed and power, and we pursue paths that lead to destruction. You gave us examples of faith, selflessness, justice-seeking, generosity.
We ignore faith, seek only our own well-being, look away from injustice, and withhold our abundance from those who need it.
Forgive us we pray.
Remind us again and again of who are and how we were brought here to you.
Open our hearts to receive forgiveness. Open our spirits so that we may share and be those examples to others. Amen.
—Byron Forester
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ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God has always drawn near to God’s people in times of distress and lostness, seeking to bring us back; to reconcile us with God’s divine plan of salvation.
Sisters and brothers, we are God’s forgiven people.
—Byron Forester
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CHILDREN’S SERMON
(Greeting; settling, however that is done in one’s church)
Did you ever wonder how the church keeps going?
I would like for you to look around and at the grown-ups behind you (ask them to stand if they need to).
You see a lot of people you know very well and maybe some you don’t know as well.
You may see your family or Sunday school teacher, or your Sunday night children’s leader.
Hmmm, I wonder if there is someone here who has taught you Vacation Bible School you can see?
I see the preacher.
Where is the pianist/organist?
Who sings in the choir, can you see them?
Where are the people who take up the offering?
Do you see the person who handed out the bulletins at the door?
Do you see anyone who has lit the candles?
All these people are doing things so that we can come here and worship God and learn about God. (Ask them to sit down again. Good luck.)
You know, all the adults in our church were children like you at one time. And when some of them were your age, they also had a church family that taught them about God and showed them how to worship and loved them and wanted good things for them.
Every person in our church family wants only good things for you; to grow up finding out about Jesus who wants us to be kind to everyone, and to know that you are loved by God and always will be.
As you grow up, you will learn more and more about what it means to be a Christian.
And then someday a group of children will turn around and look at you and they will see that you love them and want good things for them, and their kids will do the same. And that’s how the church keeps going on.
Prayer: Merciful God, thank you for the blessing of these young servants. May they be raised up and become workers in your kingdom. Amen.
—Byron Forester
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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
O Lord, speak to us the words you spoke to the prophets and show us your purpose for us. May we hear with new ears, see with new eyes, act in bold new ways to make your word known to those who come after us. Amen.
—Byron Forester
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SCRIPTURE TEXTS/SERMON IDEAS
- Proverbs 3:1-9
- Ephesians 1:11-23
—Byron Forester
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SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS (VIDEOS, TAPED SONGS)
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PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
O God since the beginning of time you have called your people to love and serve you. This your people have done, not perfectly and not consistently, but effectively enough so that those they have raised up see your glory in their dedication, commitment, and sincerity. We know that we sit here because someone, at some point in our lives, loved us enough to bring us to church to worship you and learn your ways.
We offer you thanksgiving for those people: parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, friends, and neighbors, maybe even sometimes people we didn’t even know, who sought to enrich and equip us with the desire to seek you and your wisdom. We give you thanks for pastors, Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, musicians, elders, youth group leaders, those who sit in the pews every Sunday who have nurtured us and shown us the right paths to take, who have taught us of your great call for justice, compassion, and mercy and made it all meaningful to us.
May we become those that our children look to as examples in their lives, who placed within them the desire to be good, kind, and faithful servants so that they, too, will pass along the faith of their ancestors to their children.
May we always tell the stories of people whose lives were testimonies of your witness through their good works, humility, unconditional love, prayer; people who, even through the darkest times of their lives, continued to live in hope, secure in the knowledge that you always have the last word, that by accepting your presence in their lives they were able to live peacefully, comfortable in the knowledge that they will live eternally in your peace and grace.
We now name those people who have been the saints in our lives whose ways have led us to know something of who and what you are.
(the congregation may say aloud and remember those who have died in the past year or at any time who brought us to you.)
As they have been a blessing to us, so we may we also be a blessing to those who come after us.
Lord, though your peace is beyond anything we can understand, we feel it and we work so that others may seek to understand it also.
Continue to lead and guide all your children, O Lord. May all come to know your love and mercy. Amen.
—Byron Forester
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LITANY
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks and praise to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
For all the Saints, who from their labors rest, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For Abraham and Sarah, to whom you made yourself known and became parents of a great nation, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For Moses and his helpers who led your people out of bondage, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For priests who continuously guided your people and reminded them of your covenant of grace, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For prophets who spoke your word to stiff-necked people, calling for justice and mercy, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For the writers of the gospel who brought to us the words and teachings of Jesus, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For the writers of the epistles who instructed your people in the building of the kingdom, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For the martyrs and all who were persecuted for their unwavering insistence that Jesus is the Lord of all, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For the great theologians whose writings and meditations on your word have expanded our knowledge and understanding of your purpose for us, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For the saints of our own time who were persecuted and died for their commitment of bringing all people into the family of God, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For the great cloud of witnesses who by the way they lived their lives have influenced our own lives brought into closer communion with you, we give you thanks, O God.
We lament their passing. We remember their blessing.
For Jesus Christ, the great Lord of the Church, your Word Incarnate, who came to live among us to reveal to us your love, mercy, justice, salvation, and reconcile us to you eternally.
We remember his never-ending love, his compassion for the least of these, his sacrifice for us, his resurrection into eternal life.
—Byron Forester
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INVITATION TO THE OFFERING
As people who have received the spiritual fruits from those who have gone before us, may we offer our gifts of money, time, and the dedication of our own lives to the building of your kingdom so that those who have need may also learn of your goodness, mercy, and purpose.
—Byron Forester
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OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord, we know that our gifts are inadequate to the calling you have sent us, but this is what we have. Please accept what we give and multiply them through your great wisdom and might. Make us a people who are dedicated to living according to your ways, so that we might be able to share our faith in ways that are pleasing to you. In the name of Christ who leads us, loves us, and saves us. Amen.
—Byron Forester
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CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
Go out into the world sharing the good news
that has been handed down to us.
Go out offering peace and good will to all.
Let your lives be beacons of God’s love for all whom we meet.
May the goodness of God always be known to you.
May the love of Christ always enfold you.
May the strength, wisdom, and presence of the Holy Spirit
give you the foundation to always be brave, earnest, and strong. Amen.
—Byron Forester