All Saints Sunday
**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
Introduction to the Day
Of all three years of the lectionary cycle, this year’s All Saints
readings have the most tears. Isaiah and Revelation look forward to the day
when God will wipe away all tears; in John’s gospel, Jesus weeps along with
Mary and all the gathered mourners before he demonstrates his power over death.
On All Saints Day we celebrate the victory won for all the faithful dead, but
we grieve for our beloved dead as well, knowing that God honors our tears. We
bring our grief to the table and find there a foretaste of Isaiah’s feast to
come.
Confession and Forgiveness
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,
who forgives all our sin,
whose mercy endures forever.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Have mercy on us, O God.
We confess that we have sinned against you and against our neighbor. We have built walls instead of tables and have turned away the stranger. We have sought glory for ourselves and have treasured that which does not satisfy. Help us to love as you love, to welcome those you send, and to treasure mercy and justice. Turn us from our ways to your ways, and free us to serve those in need.
Amen.
God, who makes all things new, forgives your sins for ☩
Jesus’ sake and
remembers them no more. Lift up your heads and your hearts. Yours is the
kingdom of God.
Amen.
Remembrance of All
Saints
Let us remember all the saints before God.
We praise and bless you, O holy Trinity. You
have taught your church that it is an ageless communion of saints. We thank you
for gathering those who faithfully waited in hope for the redemption you
promised, and now for adding us who celebrate the love of Christ for the
redemption of the world. Prepare a place for us among those who are already
with you. Help us remember them as an encouragement to saintly living, exciting
us to love, in anticipation of an eternal reunion. With them we praise and
bless you, O holy Trinity.
Amen.
Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me;
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find
rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
And you will find
rest for your souls.
Gathering Song – For All Your Saints, O Lord (ELW #427)
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.
Canticle of Praise – Glory to God
Prayer of the Day
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
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 Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Readings
A reading from the Book of Isaiah 25:6-9
On this
mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of
well-aged wines strained clear.
And he will
destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord
God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take
away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be
said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for
him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his
salvation.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the
world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it
on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And
who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean
hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is
false,
and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
and
vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company
of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and
be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that
the King of glory may come in.
Who is the King of
glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and
be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that
the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of
glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory.
A reading from the Book of Revelation 21:1-6a
Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
And the one
who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he
said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to
me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To
the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation – Alleluia
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John 11:32-44
Glory to you, O Lord.
When Mary
came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her
weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed
in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to
him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he
loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the
blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus,
again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying
against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead
man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead
four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you
would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked
upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you
always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,
so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried
with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and
feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to
them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ.
Sermon
May only truth be spoken and truth heard. Amen.
We started our service today by talking about tears – Isaiah and Revelation look forward to the day when God will wipe away all tears and Jesus weeps along with Mary and all the gathered mourners before he demonstrates his power over death.
While
tears can mean many things (joy, anger, frustration), today, on All Saints’
Sunday, our tears are tears of grief and loss.
Over
the last two years, we have had much reason to shed tears – there has been a
lot of loss, and there is a lot for which we grieve.
Because
of this pandemic:
- We have lost connections with people. We went for so long without being about to see people, to touch them and hug them. And even now, while we can see each other once again, hugs and handshakes no longer come as automatically as they once did.
- We have lost opportunities to travel, kids
have lost a year of sports and other activities.
- Many have lost their jobs or their businesses.
- Many of us have suffered with our mental health, perhaps even our physical health. We know that members of our parishes are now missing from our pews because of deteriorated health.
- And many people, many loved ones, have been lost.
It
has been a really hard couple of years. Millions have died. And as we slowly
come out of it, if I can say so without jinxing our progress, the weight of
this grief and loss is starting to kick in.
Effective
vaccines have allowed life to return to some sense of normalcy, but the collective
burden of all those deaths over the last 20-24 months lies heavy on our hearts.
Chances
are, we all know someone who has died of Covid or lost a loved one to it. So,
perhaps on this All Saints’ Sunday, it is time to acknowledge the weight of all
that pain and the power of death over the past year and a half.
The
readings for this week give us the words we need for us to do so.
“Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. The rebuke of Mary (and
earlier, of Martha) echoes what many of us feel. And inherent in the rebuke is
the question, “Lord, why weren’t you here?” Their beloved brother died, and
their dear friend was absent.
The
Isaiah text speaks of death as “the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the
sheet that is spread over all nations”. Death is the great equalizer. There is
no nation, no people, immune from its reach. In ancient Canaanite myths, Death
boasts that his appetite is like that of lions in the wilderness, insatiable,
and that he will devour everything in his path.
Modern
Western society is not nearly as forthright about death as the ancient
Canaanites or Israelites. We do not ourselves prepare loved ones’ bodies for
burial. We do not dig graves by hand or lower caskets into them. We have our
loved ones’ bodies cremated or we leave them in caskets at the graveside, the
grave itself tastefully covered up until the mourners have departed the
cemetery.
Covid
made even the rituals we do have more difficult. Countless people were not able
to say good-bye to their loved ones in person. Funerals were postponed or
livestreamed, the comfort of each other’s presence lost.
As
well, people are having to mourn twice – once upon death and then again upon burial.
This extension of a person’s grief has been heartbreaking to witness.
Though
we do not personify Death as the ancients did, its power over us is as strong as
its power over them. Death has swallowed up many, many lives in our world today
and has indeed cast a shroud over all peoples. It is right and proper that we
acknowledge that loss on this All Saints’ Sunday.
And
it is right and proper that we cry, that we shed our tears unashamedly, that we
allowed ourselves to feel the grief and the sadness that maybe we have pushed
aside over the last while.
Many
of us feel ashamed of our tears, especially if others see them. In a culture
that prizes strength and grows uncomfortable with prolonged grieving, many of
us respond to our own tears with a hasty wipe of the sleeve and a quick “Get
over it.”
Not
so with God, whose loving compassion compels God to draw near to the
brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. The God who said, “Blessed are you who
weep now” will not reproach you for the tears you shed as you walk through the
ruins of our broken world.
When
Jesus joined a crowd outside the town of Nain and watched a widow weep over her
son’s body, “he had compassion on her”. When Mary fell apart at Jesus’s feet
over the death of her brother, the man of sorrows went one step further: “Jesus
wept”. Jesus had compassion, and Jesus wept – even though Jesus was about to
speak the word to snatch them both back from death.
Just
because Jesus loves us and knows how to fix our problems doesn’t mean he takes
a shortcut through our grief. The same one who raises the dead first stops to
linger with us in our sorrow – to climb down into our valley of tears and walk
alongside us. In our despair, Jesus weeps with us.
Many
of you have come here today to honour someone you have loved who has died. Your
hearts are heavy with the loss of someone dear.
Today,
we will speak the names of those who died since the last All Saints’,
expectedly, unexpectedly, peacefully, violently, all of them now taken into the
embrace of the God from whom they came.
We
will ring the bell and we will hold them close to our hearts, and we will feel
the presence of God in the valley of our tears.
Even
those whose names are eventually forgotten are always and forever held in the
light of God in glory. Because while death is a gut-wrenching reality to us, it
is meaningless to a God of resurrection.
But
today is not just about mourning our dearly departed. It is also a day to give
thanks for their lives and witness.
And,
most importantly, to proclaim faith in the One who continues to hold us,
together with them, in the great communion of saints that stretches across time
and space.
Hymn of the Day – Shall We Gather at
the River (ELW #423)
Creed
Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we
say the Nicene Creed:
We believe in one
God,
the Father, the
Almighty,
maker of heaven and
earth,
of all that is, seen
and unseen.
We believe in one
Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of
the Father,
God from God, Light
from Light,
true God from true
God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the
Father;
through him all
things were made.
For us and for our
salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin
Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and
the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the
Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the
Father and the Son,
who with the Father
and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken
through the prophets.
We believe in one
holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one
baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the
resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Eternal God, you hold firm amid the changes of
this world. Hear us now as we pray for
the church, the world, and everyone in need.
Silence
Merciful God, we give thanks for all
missionaries who have brought your message of
hope to new communities and wiped tears away.
Continue to raise up courageous
missionaries to share your gospel of hope.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Creating God, we praise you for abundant
harvests and the goodness of creation.
Create communities of care for your earth so
that all land, water, and soil will be
celebrated and cherished by future generations
of saints.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God of peace, we give you thanks for nations
of peace that serve as a refuge for all
whose homelands are afflicted with violence.
Strengthen those who continue to work
for peace and support all veterans who carry
the scars of war.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God of healing, we give you thanks for health care workers who labor around the
clock
to answer cries for help. Bring wholeness to
all who struggle with post-traumatic stress
disorder, anxiety, depression, addiction, and
all who long for healing in any way.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God of justice, we praise you for the feeding ministries and for all meals that
bring
people together for nourishment and
fellowship. Bless chefs, bakers, servers,
dishwashers, communion assistants, and meal
ministry coordinators.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or pray in silence.
God our protection and strength, we entrust to
you all for whom we pray. Remain with
us always, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Amen.
Peace
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Offering Prayer
Let us pray.
Holy God, the earth is yours and everything in
it, yet you have chosen to dwell among your creatures. Come among us now in
these gifts of bread and wine, and strengthen us to be your body for the world through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
This service was created for live worship. For
those worshiping on your own, you may either read the Eucharistic prayer, or
skip ahead to the Lord's Prayer.
Eucharist
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the
Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give
our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,
that we should at all times and in all places
give thanks and praise to you, almighty and
merciful God,
through our Savior Jesus Christ;
who on this day overcame death and the grave,
and by his glorious resurrection opened to us
the way of everlasting life.
And so, with all the choirs of angels,
with the church on earth and the hosts of
heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending
hymn:
Holy,
holy, holy Lord,
God
of power and might,
heaven
and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna
in the highest.
Blessed
are they who come in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna
in the highest.
With all the saints of Africa and Asia, India
and the islands, Europe and the Americas,
we praise
you, O God, for you create the worlds.
With all the baptized, the old and the young,
the weak and the strong, the famous and
the forgotten,
we bless you,
O God, for you provide us with water and food.
With all the faithful in cities and on farms,
in mansions and huts, past and present,
we worship
you, O God, for you shelter the generations.
With all your holy people, those who
ministered in the church, those who served the
poor,
and all who
walked the way of the cross,
we glorify
you, O God, for in Jesus you journeyed with us on earth.
With Paul and the evangelists, we remember the
meal of your Son:
In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord
Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and
gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat;
this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave
thanks,
and gave it
for all to drink, saying:
This cup is
the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you
and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
With Peter and all the martyrs, we honor
Christ’s death, saying Amen.
Amen!
With Mary Magdalene and all the apostles, we
proclaim his resurrection, shouting
Amen.
Amen!
With John and all the theologians and mystics,
we look for his returning, pleading
Amen.
Amen!
With the Virgin Mary and all who sang of your
greatness,
we pray for
the power of the Spirit.
Visit this gathering, this bread and this cup,
with the
presence of the body and blood of Christ.
Form us into a communion of service,
and infuse
your earth with the wholeness we seek.
With grandparents and godparents, with the
church universal,
lead us to a
future we cannot yet see,
and at the
end draw all humanity to yourself.
Now with all of the family you saved by your
love,
we shout
blessing blessing, glory glory, wisdom wisdom, thanksgiving thanksgiving, honor honor, power power, might might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
Amen!
Lord’s Prayer
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us
pray as Jesus taught us.
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.
Invitation
A feast of love is offered here
for you and for all the saints.
Amen.
Share in the Eucharist
Prayer After
Communion
Let us pray.
Blessed Jesus, at this table, you have been
for us both host and meal. Now send us forth to extend our tables and to share
your gifts until that day when all feast together
at your heavenly banquet.
Amen.
Blessing
God, the beginning and the end, who has
written your name in the book of life, ☩ bless and keep you in
grace and peace from this time forth and forevermore.
Amen.
Sending Song – Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing (ELW #886)
Dismissal
Led on by the saints before us,
go in peace to serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
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