The Sunday of All Saints
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#424 Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones |
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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. Psalm 24 1The earth is the Lord’s and all
that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; 2for he has founded it on the
seas, and established it on the rivers. 3Who shall ascend the hill of
the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4Those who have clean hands and
pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is
false, and do not swear deceitfully. 5They will receive blessing from
the Lord, and vindication from the God of their
salvation. 6Such is the company of those who
seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. 7Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. 8Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle. 9Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. 10Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the
King of glory. |
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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 Savior and Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. |
Reading:
Isaiah 25:6-9
A reading from the prophet Isaiah
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. 7And 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. 8Then 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.
9It 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
Reading:
Revelation 21:1-6a
A reading from the book of Revelation
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. 2And I saw the holy
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as
their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with
them; 4he 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.” 5And 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.” 6Then 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.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia. They are before
the throne of God, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
Alleluia! (Rev. 7:15)
Gospel Reading: John 11:32-44
A reading from the Gospel of John
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.”
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also
weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said,
“Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus
began to weep. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But some
of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this
man from dying?” 38Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus 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.” 40Jesus said to
her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of
God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said,
“Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I 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.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a
loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The 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.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn
#422 For All
the Saints (4 verses)
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers of the Church:
Bless our neighbours of the Anglican Church of Canada - Trinity Church, Aylmer, their pastor, Bishop Barry Clarke, and the Bishop of Huron, the Rev. Todd Townshend.
All Saints list:
Barbara Brisson
Mary Kovacs
Mary Handel
Edward Stanat
Brent Strickland
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Doris Bechtloff (my Cousin)
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Sr. Celeste Ciesielka, CCW
(* Tune: #836)
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let us pray for all things as
our Lord would have us ask:
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.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus
Christ, shepherd of your Church, you give us new birth in the waters of baptism
and call us to salvation at your table. Dispel the terrors of death and the
darkness of error. Lead your people along safe paths that they may rest
securely in you and live for ever in your Father’s house, where you reign for
ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn #414 Holy God, We Praise Your Name
Benediction and
Sending
The Lord bless you and keep us.
The Lord make his face shine on us and
be gracious to us.
The Lord look upon us with favor and +
give us peace.
Amen.
Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks
be to God!
We invite you to the in-person services on the following dates:
·
November 14 & November 28
·
December 12 & December 24 (7pm – Christmas
Eve)
·
January 9 & January 23, 2022
“See,
I am making all things new.”
·
The three readings we
hear today all tell us of the love and mercy of God to all of God’s people.
Isaiah speaks of a feast for all people and the destruction of “the shroud that is cast over all peoples”,
which is death. The reading from the book of Revelation assures the readers of
“a new heaven and a new earth”
and a “new Jerusalem.”
John’s Gospel narrates the raising of Lazarus and tells of Jesus’ own emotional
response to the death of his friend and the sorrow of his sisters – “Jesus began to weep.” and he
was “greatly disturbed.”
·
All three readings deal
with death and how God ultimately responds to death. It is a reality that we
all deal with, often daily and not one any of us would be happy with. The
common thread is this: it is all in God’s hands. Isaiah tells us that God “will swallow up death forever.”
The writer of Revelation tells the Church that “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.” Through John, Jesus
says of Lazarus “Unbind him, and
let him go.” Although the story directly speaks of the
grace-cloths, but the larger issue is the freedom from death, the “unbinding”
of people from the larger enemy.
·
This talk of death,
freedom from death, and even resurrection is the center point of the festival
of All Saints. On this day, we remember all who have followed Jesus Christ in
their lives on earth. It isn’t simply those who we call “saints”, those
Christians we often hold up as examples of how to live according to grace. Honestly,
there are legitimate examples of grace-filled living who can often be examples
for us. There are also many, many more Christians who will not have their own
festival day, will not have congregations named for them, and will be
remembered by the Church, although not by the entire, world-wide Church.
·
When we remember those
people – as we will shortly in today’s service – we might feel sad for our own
loss. We can expect that, for the loss is real for each of us. Just as real,
though, is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. It is on that mercy that we all
rely. It is not our works and achievements – as great as they might be – that
brings the saving grace of God. That is a gift and remains a gift for all time
and eternity.
·
I suppose that the bottom
line here is that All Saints Day is a celebration of God’s mercy, grace, and
love rather than some grand festival of human achievement. I think the saints –
big and small – would point that out. Maybe we can hear them asking “Why are
you looking at me? It’s the light through the window that makes the beauty.
Look there.”
And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among
mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; 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.”
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