All Saints Day — November 1, 2022
Worship Ways for All Saints Day
November 1, 2022
Call to Worship
One: Come, a great cloud of witnesses surrounds us as we gather.
Many: May the lingering echo of saints resound in our songs.
One: May their stories open a space for the Spirit to enter us anew.
Many: In remembering them, may we find ourselves re-membered.
One: May the God of every generation form us anew for this generation.
Many: And may a new joy rise in our lives and in the life of the world.
Invocation
God of every age and time, inspire us today with memories of saints whose energy still lingers, hovering around and within as encouragement and strength. Wrap us anew with a felt sense of your persistent presence, granting a new energy to offer You everything of our hearts, minds and souls. Yes, Love of Life, root us and ground us in this. And let it be more than enough for today, as we gather in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Prayer for Transformation and New Life
Loving God, Grant me grace to release everything too much or too little into your transforming fire of refinement. Sear in me the strength of your saints – generous and gentle, focused and fierce – just enough to answer every devilish temptation distracting or denying Your Holy hope for my re-formation. Yes, Love, form me anew from the inside out, centering others ahead of every selfishness that dares me to choose anything less than You. Release me from the burdens and brokenness of my own making, that I may be readied to meet You in every ordinary saint whose path crosses mine in the gift of this day. Amen.
Words of Grace
Hear the good news! Jesus tells us that the Holy One is a God of grand reversals. Weeping turns to rejoicing, hunger is answered with fullness, honesty of heart is answered with grace upon grace. Every energy that diminishes is interrupted with a newness of life made possible by the One who is always searching us out with forgiving love. In Jesus, God revealed that grace and forgiveness has already arrived, and it includes you and me. It is the Good News! You can trust it with your life. The saints knew it and now you do, too. Thanks be to God! Amen and Amen.
Invitation to Generosity
Luke tells us that Jesus introduced a strange kind of arithmetic. He said, when you give things away, you actually have more. Maybe it’s that we get more of what we really need – freedom from the stuff that so often can hold us hostage, keeping us from a life that is truly free. The saints of old seemed to know this. So, we are invited to give not only because it helps others, but because by giving we are opened up to a fullness we could not otherwise have imagined. It is God’s gift to us. May the joy of the saints be our joy today as we offer our gifts to God for the good of the world.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
O Giver of Life, continue to form in us a transparent spirit that by our giving and our living others may discover You. Reshape our priorities and grant us a willing vision to see and respond to those hidden saints who reveal something of you in the least likely ways and in the most surprising places. Thank you for calling us into a life such as this and bless these gifts that they may bless others. Amen.
Benediction
Beloved of God, trust that the Holy One still forms saints. They might be standing next to you. They might just be you. Trust that God has formed your life to be part of something larger than you could possibly imagine. So go, anticipating that God is already blessing you to bear good news into the world. Yes! Yes! Yes! Amen and Amen!
All Saints Day Service Prayers were written by Rev. Dr. David Long-Higgins, Conference Minister of the Heartland Conference, United Church of Christ.
