All Saints Day - Morning - Christian Worship Tools

(November 1^st)

“THE HOME OF GOD IS AMONG MORTALS”

Revelation 21:1-6a

GREETING (adapted from Revelation 5:9b-10, 12b, 13b, 14)

Jesus, you are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slaughtered

and by your blood you ransomed saints for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation;

you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,

and they will reign on earth.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!

To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! Amen!

HYMN 708 “Rejoice in God’s Saints”

PSALM 24

PRAYER

(Consider some of the following concerns of people for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)

For all the saints above For what saints have accomplished

For all the saints around us For what saints can still accomplish

For all the saints yet to be born For the example of the saints

For God’s forgiveness making sainthood possible For the martyred saints and their witness

For God’s sanctifying the people of the church For the reward given the saints

For the holy kingdom Christ is bringing For the communion of the saints

For our citizenship in the coming kingdom For the world’s treatment of saints

For our neighbors’ citizenship in the kingdom For God’s treatment of saints

For the joy, peace and love residing in saints For the sanctification of the world’s peoples

For the joy, peace and love saints give others For the sanctification of our community

For faithfulness to reign in our hearts For the sanctification of family and friends

For faithfulness to reign in the hearts of neighbors For our own sanctification

For a Christ-like nature ____________________________

For the fruits of the Spirit to grow within us ____________________________

For good to be produced by our words and deeds ____________________________

THE LORD'S PRAYER

SCRIPTURE LESSON

(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)

Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.

Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.

Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.

Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.

PRAYER (II Timothy 2:20-21)

(In this prayer, you can pause at the end of lines and name people, contemporary or historical, who demonstrate the saintly qualities listed.)

Eternal and Holy Father, who builds and keeps our eternal home,

in this your house there are utensils not only of gold and silver,

but also of wood and clay, some for special use, some ordinary.

The saints who serve as these useful utensils in our world today,

the highly-qualified leaders, the humble servants, are remembered

for their faithful obedience and loving offering of their daily lives.

Your saints have blessed us with the quality of their lives,

their countless sacrifices and their constant loving care.

Thank you, Father, for the company of people who are:

care-givers who clear bed-pans and wipe dirty bottoms (name a saint or two);

healers who apply the bandages and soothing balms (name a saint or two);

those who offer a listening ear and comforting words (name a saint or two);

all those who voluntarily and happily go the extra mile (name a saint or two);

moms and dads who faithfully raise children in love (name a saint or two);

Your saints have blessed us with the quality of their lives,

their countless sacrifices and their constant loving care.

Thank you, Father, for the company of people who are:

intercessors for whom no need is too small, or too big (name a saint or two);

martyrs and witnesses faithfully marching through fire (name a saint or two);

prophets and visionaries giving everything for the truth (name a saint or two);

pastors and missionaries lovingly leading their flocks (name a saint or two);

preachers and teachers patiently explaining the gospel (name a saint or two).

Your saints have blessed us with the quality of their lives,

their countless sacrifices and their constant loving care.

Thank you, Father, for the company of people who are:

workers and employers witnessing through loving labors (name a saint or two);

ordinary people who generously share their daily bread (name a saint or two);

the quiet, gentle giants, who would never hurt even a fly (name a saint or two);

the funny, goofy friends, giving the shirts off their backs (name a saint or two);

the humble souls always putting others first in their lives (name a saint or two).

Your saints have blessed us with the quality of their lives,

their countless sacrifices and their constant loving care.

Thank you, Father, for the company of people who are:

saints large and small, old and young and middle-aged (name a saint or two);

those quietly unknown as they go about your business (name a saint or two);

those serving in ways contrary to their nature and will (name a saint or two);

those fighting injustices, with love their only weapon (name a saint or two);

those obeying your commands just to glorify you, God. (name a saint or two).

Your saints have blessed us, but they also shame our complaining,

our complacency, our idleness, our appetite for sin, our excuses.

Use their example, God, to light a holy flame in our flabby hearts.

Burn away the chaff and busyness of our useless preoccupations.

Form us into utensils useful for holy service in your household.

Whether we be gold or silver, wood or clay, just make us yours. Amen.

SILENCE AND COMMITMENT

(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)

HYMN 712 “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God”

CLOSING PRAYER (Revelation 21:1-6a)

Heavenly Father, let us see, like John before us,

the holy city coming down out of heaven from you.

Let us hear you making a home among mortals,

where you will dwell, and make us to be your people.

Wipe away every tear, and let death be no more.

Bring an end to all mourning, crying and pain forever.

Make us, and all things, new, Heavenly Father,

our Alpha and our Omega, our beginning and our end. Amen.