Home Church All Saints Day, October 31, 2021, Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church All Saints Day, October 31, 2021, Rev. Karen Hollis

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!

Preparing the Space Around Us

Welcome, if you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin. We are one community and all part of the body of Christ. I invite you to prepare the space around you so that for the next hour you can be fully in this worship experience, not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus us in the midst of it all on God. Today we are observing All Saints day, and remembering those in the congregation we have lost over the last few years. You may want to light a candle before spending time with the worship service.

Preparing the Space within Us

Let us prepare now the space within us for a time of worship. I invite you to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is with us and within us . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God, open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship.

Greeting                                                         
One:  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, 

          and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All:    And also with you       

Call to Worship  -  Iona Abbey Worship Book

One: Thanks be to you, O God, that we have risen this day,

All:    to the rising of this life itself.

One:  Be the purpose of God between us and each purpose,

All:    the hand of God between us and each hand,

One:  The pain of Christ between us and each pain,

All:    the love of Christ between us and each love.

One:  O God, who brought us to the bright light of this new day,

All:    bring us to the guiding light of eternity.

Opening Prayer - BAS, edited

Loving God, as we gather to worship you, we remember those we love, but see no longer. Meet us, O God, in this place of deep feeling, of vivid memories, and gratitude for the time we shared. We give thanks that those departed from us are in your care; grant them peace and shine on them with everlasting light. We pray in Christ Jesus, Amen

Remembering (see attached)

Nancy Jenner              Oct.19, 1935 – Dec. 12, 2017

Ethel Straw                 Jul. 28, 1923 – Feb. 20, 2018

Al Nutter                      Aug. 16, 1938 – Mar. 13, 2018

Diane Parks                Jan. 11, 1946 – Jan. 27, 2019

One: We give thanks for these lives, O God.

All:   May our hearts be filled with their memory and may the gifts of their lives continue to guide us on our way.

Hymn: Give Thanks for Life  -  VU #706

1 Give thanks for life, the measure of our days,

mortal, we pass through beauty that decays,

yet sing to God our hope, our love, our praise,

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

2 Give thanks for those who made their life a light

caught from the Christ-flame, bursting through the night,

who touched the truth, who burned for what is right,

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

3 And for our own, our living and our dead,

thanks for the love by which our life is fed,

a love not changed by time or death or dread,

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

4 Give thanks for hope, that like the wheat, the grain

lying in darkness does its life retain,

in resurrection to grow green again,

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9  -  David Soy

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 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.

Remembering (see attached)

Evelyn Steele               Jul. 20, 1923 – Jul. 13, 2019

Richard Bradshaw       Jul. 26, 1943 – Mar. 17, 2020

Rose Jones                  Jul. 25, 1934 – Jun. 25, 2020

Margaret Hesthammer Oct 15, 1920 – Aug. 20, 2020

One: We give thanks for these lives, O God.

All:   May our hearts be filled with their memory and may the gifts of their lives continue to guide us on our way.

Psalm 24 (Trnsl. Lynn C. Bauman)  - Nancy Hetherington Peirce

O everything that is, is yours, my God, it all belongs to you, this earth, the world with all its creatures.

You set it in the midst of the oceans wide and made its core both deep and firm.

The heights and holy mountains tall, are yours, but who of us shall journey there to be with you, or stand before you in that sacred place?

Only those with purest hearts, whose hands are clean of every evil, every stain, whose minds are freed from falsehood and from lies, whose tongues no longer speak deceit.

All these shall know your blessing, Lord, your great restoring power.

And this you give as gift to those who seek for you, who search to see the living face you turned in love upon the ancient ones.

So open wide your gates and doors, O humankind. Open everything, and let God’s glory in.

This God whose beauty streams to us in majesty so strong. A God who battled chaos and who won!

Yes, open everything to God. Let no door be shut. Let beauty flood and fill the world!

This king of majesty, this queen of light, The Lord of All, the God of everything that is, you God, the Radiant One, Most Beautiful!

Gospel Reading  -  Nancy Hetherington Peirce

One:  God be with you.            

All:    And also with you.

One:  The Good News of Jesus Christ according to John;

All:    Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

John 11:32-44 (NRSV) 

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

One: This is the Gospel of Christ; 

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Remembering (see attached)

Jamie Lawrence          Aug. 8, 1930 – Apr. 25, 2021

Vanessa Downer        Mar. 3, 1963 – Apr. 27, 2021

Helen Wilson               Sep. 10, 1924 – Jun. 16, 2021

Harold Jenner             Sep. 5, 1934 – Jul. 12, 2021

One: We give thanks for these lives, O God.

All:   May our hearts be filled with their memory and may the gifts of their lives continue to guide us on our way.

Reflection:  - All Saints               

Silent Reflection (see attached)

A New Creed

Let us affirm our faith . . . 

We are not alone,

    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:

    who has created and is creating,

    who has come in Jesus,

       the Word made flesh,

       to reconcile and make new,

    who works in us and others

       by the Spirit.

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,

    to live with respect in Creation,

    to love and serve others,

    to seek justice and resist evil,

    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

    God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

Hymn: Fairest Lord Jesus  -  VU #341

1 Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,

O thou of God to earth come down:

thee will I cherish, thee will I honour,

thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2 Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,

robed in the blooming garb of spring;

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3 Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight,

and fair the twinkling, starry host;

Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer

than all the angels heaven can boast.

4 All fairest beauty heavenly and earthly,

wondrously, Jesus, is found in thee;

none can be nearer, fairer or dearer

than thou, my Saviour, art to me.

Remembering (see attached)

Elgin McKillop             Passed away in July 2021      

Alex McConnell           Sep. 30, 1926 – Jul 27, 2021

Rick Schultze              Feb. 4. 1945 – Sep. 11, 2021

Ted Brydges               Sep. 11, 1943 – Oct. 13, 2021

One: We give thanks for these lives, O God.

All:   May our hearts be filled with their memory and may the gifts of their lives continue to guide us on our way.

Prayers of the People   -   Karen Hollis

One:  Loving God

All:    Hear Our Prayer

Lord’s Prayer   -  Ecumenical Version

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, 

and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

Giving Thanks for Hiromi’s Ministry  - Don Butt

Benediction Song -  Tom Hunter

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessing  -  Iona Community

If you are with another person, you’re invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:  The Creator’s blessing be yours on your road, on your journey,           guiding you, cherishing you.

N-Z:   The Son’s blessing be yours, wine and water, bread and stories, feeding you, challenging you.

A-M:  The Spirit’s blessing be yours, wind and fire, joy and wisdom, comforting you, disturbing you.

All:    The Angel’s blessing be yours, on your house, on your living,  guarding you, encouraging you. Let us walk together, a community on a journey, sustained in God’s blessing. Amen!

One:  Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:    Thanks be to God! Alleluia!