All Saints’ Day (also called All Souls’ Day) is a part of the church calendar that dates back to the early church. Originally a day was set to commemorate the life and death of each martyr. As the number of martyrs increased, a special day was set aside to remember these many saints and their commitment to Christ and his church—a commitment that led to their suffering and death. More recently this service has also come to include a time of reflection and thanksgiving for friends and loved ones who have died in the past year. Congregations observe this day to remember the “cloud of witnesses” that have gone before, and to acknowledge as a community the grief and hope that is an ongoing part of the lives of those within their fellowship—not only in the past year but throughout their lives.
Congregations wishing to use this service may want to include a note about the history and meaning of All Saints’ Day in the bulletin, as well as the following information:
During this service you may light a candle and write the name of a loved one whom you seek to remember this day. Candles can be lit from the Christ Candle; names may be placed on the table at various points during the service. Our offering this morning will be received at the table as you bring up your candle. Our offerings are always expressions of thanks to God, and this activity will tie in our thanks to God for those who have gone before us.
The Approach to God
Leader
Almighty God,
whose people are knit together
in one holy church, the body of Christ our Lord:
You have surrounded us with so great a cloud of witnesses.
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 your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Hymn
“We Will Glorify” Paris
Leader
People of God, in whom is our help?
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.
Grace be to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is to come, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Amen. (Revelation 1:4–5, NIV)
We Reflect on the Human Condition
Leader
This morning, we gather together as the people of God for a service of remembrance that celebrates the lives of the saints. In so doing, we pay homage to persons who have touched our spirit and marked our existence. These are the saints who made us laugh and corrected our foibles—even as they displayed weaknesses of their own. They oiled our wounds and dried our tears. They provoked our minds. Over time, they brought us gladness; and they helped us find faith.
As we remember them this morning, let us realize we are also remembering ourselves—the pain of our personal losses, the struggles inside our own hearts, including the seeming finality of all of life’s departures. It’s a journey that inevitably takes us deep into our own humanity—a journey Christ has offered to walk with us. Let us accept his invitation.
Hymn
“I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” African American Spiritual
Scripture: Psalm 90, NRSVUE
Reader 1
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Reader 2
You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
All: Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Reader 1
We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
Reader 2
Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
All: Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Reader 1
Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Reader 2
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
All: Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Hymn
“Our Lives Are Filled with Sorrows” Seerveld
Meditation
Hymn
“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” Moultrie
Candles and Names
We Question Our Losses
Scripture: Psalm 22, NEB
Reader
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
All: O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night but find no rest.
Reader
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
All: For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they bound my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
Reader
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
All: To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Reader
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
Meditation
Hymn
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” Dorsey
Candles and Names
We Learn God’s Counteraction
Scripture: John 11:17-31
Hymn
“And Can It Be” Wesley
Meditation
Hymn
“Amazing Grace” Newton and Cowper
Candles and Names
We Affirm the Triumphant Vision
Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17
Reader 1: After that I looked and saw a vast throng, which no one could count, from all races and tribes, nations and languages, standing before the throne and the Lamb. They were robed in white and had palm branches in their hands, and they shouted aloud:
All: Victory to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
Reader 2: All the angels who stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures prostrated themselves before the throne and worshipped God, crying:
All: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might—be to our God forever! Amen.
Hymn
“What Wondrous Love” (st. 1–2) Brink
Candles and Names
Scripture Reading Continued
Reader 1: One of the elders turned to me and asked, “Who are these all robed in white, and where do they come from?”
Reader 2: I answered, “My Lord, it is you who know—they are those who have passed through the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they stand before the throne of God and worship him day and night in his temple.”
Reader 1: And he who sits on the throne will
protect them with his presence. Never again shall they feel hunger or thirst; never again shall the sun beat on them or any scorching heat—
Reader 2: Because the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs and to the water of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Hymn
“What Wondrous Love” (st. 3-4) Brink
Prayer
Pastor: Let us give thanks for these brothers and sisters in Christ whom God has granted rest from their labors—all those servants whom we remember today. Grant us grace to follow Christ as they did. Bring us with them to those things no eye has seen, nor ear heard, which you have proposed for those who love you.
Reading of the Names
All: Give us faith to look beyond touch and sight and seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, enable us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Bring us at last to your eternal peace, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Benediction
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
Hymn
“For All the Saints”(st. 1-2, 4, 7) Walsham How
