Lifting the
Shroud
is our worship theme for All Saints Sunday, November 4, 2012. Our focus
scripture is Isaiah 25:1-10a.
Chapters
24-27 of Isaiah are full of a contrast between judgment and salvation. In
places it looks very bad for all people without exception. And in other places,
like verses 6-10a of chapter 25, it looks good beyond any human expectation.
Perhaps this contrast mirrors our experience. Sometimes our enemies get us down
and we wish the worst for them. Sometimes we ourselves are the bad guys, and we
know deep down that we deserve the worst. But then there are other times when
we feel the pull of God’s powerful Spirit which comes from far beyond anything
our enemies can do, or even any viciousness buried in the bottom of our hearts.
The pull of God’s Spirit is a pull in the direction of justice, and
hopefulness, and love, and even peace.
Often
times this pull comes to us as we celebrate a wedding or a Thanksgiving Dinner
or a church pot luck supper! A wedding ceremony can lift up the highest ideals
for love and its promise to “bear all things, believe all things, hope all
things, endure all things”. It is a time when we gather with our closest loved
ones, (perhaps an enemy or two), and in the spiritual presence of so many
saints who have gone before. Then, too, a wedding reception with food and dance
that appeals to the body as well as the soul can gather all ages into a spirit
of fun and a real sense of belonging. So it’s not hard to understand Isaiah’s
proclamation that the day will come when God will call all people up the
mountain for an eternal feast of fine food and wine. That the day will come
when God will lift the shroud of death and we will finally live together in
peace. May we all be blessed to feel what Isaiah feels when he is speaks these
welcome words: “It 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.”
Here is a Call to Worship, a Prayer
Litany, and a Unison Communion Prayer appropriate for All Saints Sunday. Please
use or adapt anything that is helpful to you.
Call to
Worship From Revelation 21:1-4
L:
Sisters and brothers, let us rejoice in the vision of John:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth!
The old heaven and the old earth and the
sea had disappeared.
P: Then I saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, descending from God
out of heaven, beautiful as a bride
adorned for her husband.
L: A
great voice thundered from heaven:
“See, God is making God’s home with
mortals!
God will live with them. They will be God’s
people.
P: God will wipe every tear
from their eyes.
There will be no more death, or sorrow, or
crying, or pain.
All of this – gone forever!”
All:
Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Amen.
A Prayer Litany for
Members and Friends Who Died This Year
From I
Corinthians 15
L: We
proclaim the good news with joy: Christ is risen from the grave!
Yet some say there is no
resurrection from the dead.
P: If that is true, if Christ has not been raised, our
faith is futile.
We are not released from sin,
and those who die in Christ perish.
L: If it is for
this life only that we hope in Christ,
we are, of all people, most to
be pitied.
P: But in fact, Christ has been raised from death,
the first fruits of those who
have died!
L: For since
death comes through a human being,
the resurrection also comes
through a human being.
P: As in Adam all die, so in Christ will all be made alive!
L: As it is
written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”;
so the last Adam became a
life-giving spirit.
P: It is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical.
L: The first man
was from the earth, a man of dust;
the second man, the Lord, is
from heaven.
P: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,
so we will also bear the image
of the man of heaven.
L: So flesh and
blood cannot inherit the kingdom
of God,
nor does the perishable inherit
the imperishable.
P: Hear then a mystery! We will not all die,
but in the twinkling of an eye,
we will all be transformed.
L: The last trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable!
When our perishable bodies become imperishable, and
our
mortal bodies become immortal,
then the saying will be fulfilled:
P: Death is swallowed up in victory!
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
All: Thanks be to God, who gives us
the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Unison
Communion Prayer
Eternal God, on this Memorial Sunday we come
to Christ’s table keenly remembering the great cloud of the saints of our lives.
Their lives have influenced us in so many ways. They influence us still. Their
example, their wisdom, their faithfulness live on in our hearts. Their
spiritual presence sustains us each day. Never do we face any challenge or walk
through any dark valley alone. Always we are part of the great parade of those
your love calls to come close to you and to join you in your work of new
creation.
This holy meal to which you invite us is
but a foretaste of the great feast that goes on eternally in heaven. So we come
to Christ’s table full of joy. Joy in his love. Joy in the chance to do his
ministry. Joy in the knowledge that one day his love will completely fill the
entire universe and all creation will join to sing your praise.
Now we pray that you will bless this bread
and cup. As we receive these symbols of Christ’s ministry, death, and
resurrection, may we also receive his Living Spirit. Feed us with his life and
power. Prepare us to carry on his ministry on earth in the presence and with
the help of the saints above. All this we pray in his name. Amen.
