All Saints Sunday Worship Service | 11-05-23
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
All Saints Sunday
11-05-2023 10:00AM Hybrid Worship
+ We Gather to Worship +
OPENING SONG: “COME, WE THAT LOVE THE LORD” Brown #135
THE OPENING RITE (based on PSALM 34):
L God is good…
C All the time!
L And all the time…
C God is good!
L I feel as if I can never stop praising God.
Come and rejoice with me over God’s great goodness!
C When I was weeping and wounded on the inside, God was there to give me strength and courage!
When I was beaten and battered on the outside, God was near to help and support me!
L What God has done for me God can do for you.
Turn to God… God will not turn away from you.
C I have learned through experience that God hears, God cares, and God loves!
I trust that God offers me his peace, power, and promises in the midst of my pains and problems!
L Even the children of God must experience affliction and tears as they live on this earth.
But they know that they have a loving God who will keep them and watch over them no matter what.
C The godless suffer in loneliness and sink into despair, living without hope.
But the servants of God find meaning and purpose in spite of their suffering and conflict! HALLELUJAH!
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY (together) :
Almighty God, you have knit your people together in ONE HOLY CHURCH, the Body of Christ our Lord. Grant us amazing grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment, and to know the abundant joys you have prepared for those who sincerely love you. We want to be ready when the trumpet sounds, when the saints go marching in. Amen.
+ We Open Ears and Hearts to God’s Word +
FIRST READING: REVELATION 7:9-17
[Who is able to stand? An assurance to the faithful of God’s ultimate victory.]
7:9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
7:10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
7:11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
7:12 singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
7:13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”
7:14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
7:15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
7:16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat;
7:17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
SECOND READING: 1 JOHN 3:1-3
[Already God’s children now! And someday we will be just like Him.]
3:1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
3:3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
GOSPEL VERSE:
“I really love the Lord… I really love the Lord!
You don’t know what He’s done for me, gave me the victory.
I love Him, I love Him… I really love the Lord!” (repeat)
HOLY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 5:1-12
[Burdened, battered, belittled… and blessed by the BEST!]
5:1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.
5:2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
SONG SELECTION ALL SAINTS CHOIR
THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
SONG RESPONSE: “BLESSED ASSURANCE” Brown #118
THE APOSTLES’ CREED (together):
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE PRAYERS… Today we remember with a lighted candle and our tears and thanksgiving the members of our congregation who have died since last ALL SAINTS DAY: Shelia Marie Bradley-Vitruk (4-17-2023) and Fannie Elizabeth Thompson (5-3-2023).
And certainly there are other loved ones of faith – relatives and friends and neighbors and co-workers and well-known and hardly known saints – that we might mourn and celebrate today. For now we have a picture, a vision, a promise of how they and all our departed saints rest and rejoice – for if we have died with Christ, we shall live with him. Let us hold on to our memories, let us hold fast to the resurrection promise, and let us look beyond their grave and ours. LET US WIPE AWAY OUR TEARS AND BE STEADFAST IN OUR DAILY JOURNEY TO JOIN THEM OVER THERE!
+ We Share God’s Holy Meal +
OFFERING OF TITHES (10% giving) AND GIFTS… By God’s grace and our response of gratitude and generosity, we are a sharing people. So let us bless others both near and far away with our gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
SONG SELECTION: ALL SAINTS CHOIR
THE OFFERTORY SONG:
“Thank you, Lord… thank you, Lord… thank you, Lord… I just want to thank you, Lord!
(2) Been so good…
(3) Love you, Lord…”
OFFERING PRAYER led by the Communion Assistant:
God of grace and glory, we thank you for the gift of creation and the gift of our lives, for the gift of salvation and the gift of Jesus Christ, for the gift of your Holy Spirit and the gift of your Church. Take our attitude of gratitude and transform it into caring and sharing towards the least, the lost, and the lonely all over the face of this earth. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. Amen.
THE PREFACE:
L The Lord be with you. C And also with you.
L Lift up your hearts! C We lift them up in love for God!
L Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. C It is right to give God our thanks and praise.
L Almighty God, today we keep the festival of your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Around your throne the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing your praise forever.
Their glory fills us with joy, and their communion with us gives us inspiration and strength,
and may we run with perseverance the race that is set before us on this earth,
and may we anticipate the place you have prepared for us among those who are already with you,
and may we seek to be saintly in our living and fervent in our loving, even as we now sing…
C [singing]… (1) “O when the saints go marching in… O when the saints go marching in…
O Lord, I want to be in that number – when the saints go marching in!
(2) O when they gather ‘round that throne…
(3) O when they crown him King of kings…
(4) And on that hallelujah day…”
THE EUCHARISTIC WORDS by the Celebrant, who recalls and re-enacts Jesus’ Holy Meal.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (spoken)
COMMUNION AND BLESSINGS… All believers in Jesus Christ are welcome at the Lord’s Table! We will have “continuous distribution” with wafers and either wine or grape juice. Praise the Lord for this community meal that renews our spirits, powers our faith, and reminds us of the future heavenly banquet that awaits us!
COMMUNION SONGS: “SOON AND VERY SOON” Brown #38
COMMUNION SONG: “WE SHALL OVERCOME” Brown #213
THE COMMUNION BLESSING by the Celebrant after all have communed.
POST-COMMUNION PRAYER by the Communion Assistant.
+ We Rejoice in Our Mission +
THE BENEDICTION by the Pastor…We are sent forth to be and become the BODY OF CHRIST for the world!
CLOSING SONG: “SOME GLAD MORNING WHEN THIS LIFE IS O’ER” Brown #176