Bulletin – Sunday, November 3, 2024 – All Our Saints Sunday / Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, November 3, 2024
All Our Saints Sunday / Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

We Gather as People of Faith

Welcome

Announcements

Lighting the Christ Candle

We light this candle for all the saints who went before us, who have spoken to our hearts and touched us with your fire. We light this candle for all the saints who live beside us, whose weaknesses and strengths are woven with our own. We light this candle for all the saints who live beyond us, who challenge us to change the world with them. We praise you, O God.

Call to Worship

One:   God calls us forth this morning to this place of worship.
All:      Like Lazarus, we are called out of the tombs we build for ourselves and into the light and hope of God’s love.

One:   Let us open our hearts, our minds, and our deepest being to God.
All:      Let us worship God who surrounds us, uplifts us, and upholds us with boundless grace and love forever.

Hymn – “For the Faithful Who Have Answered” (VU #707)

For the faithful who have answered when they heard your call to serve,
For the many ways you led them testing will and stretching nerve,
For their work and for their witness as they strove against the odds,
For their courage and obedience we give thanks and praise, O God.

Many eyes have glimpsed the promise, many hearts have yearned to see.
Many ears have heard you calling us to greater liberty.
Some have fallen in the struggle, others still are fighting on.
You are not ashamed to own us. We give thanks and praise, O God.

For this could of faithful witness, for the common life we share,
For the work of peace and justice, for the gospel that we bear,
For the vision that our homeland is your love – deep, high, and broad –
For the different roads we travel give thanks and praise, O God.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

Beloved God, who was known to our mothers and fathers, and even to our spiritual ancestors, have mercy on us. We do not always love as you would have us love. We do not always do as you would have us do. In our stubbornness, we turn from you when we should turn toward you.

Hold us, beloved God. Comfort us when we mourn the passing of friends and family, and help us to know that they are rejoicing in your presence. We praise you for the grace you shower on us, constantly forgiving our errors, especially the ones that we don’t share with any but you. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Friends, hear the good news! Though thousands upon thousands of our ancestors did not follow God’s ways perfectly, we have hop in the one who did! Jesus, a being of a particular people in a particular time, taught through his words and deeds that God has already forgiven us. Thus, we and all who have come before us are rightly known as saints – holy ones of God! Thanks be to God for God’s mercy, grace, and love! Amen!

Sung Response – “Come and Fill Our Hearts” (MV #16)

Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
You alone, O Lord, are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace,
Alleluia!

Honouring Our Saints

Hymn – “Those Hearts that We have Treasured” (VU #494)

Those hearts that we have treasured, those lives that we have shared,
Those loves that walked beside us, those friends for whom we’ve cared,
Their blessing rests upon us, their life is memory,
Their suffering is over, their spirits are set free.

They still give hope and comfort, they did not lose the fight,
They showed us truth and goodness, they shine into our night.
Remember days of gladness; remember times of joy;
Remember all the moments that grief cannot destroy.

From hearts that we have treasured, from lives that we have shared,
From loves that walked beside us, from friends for whom we’ve cared,
We’ve learned to treasure kindness, we’ve learned that grace provides,
We’ve learned to be together, we’ve learned that love abides.

We Hear God’s Word

Scripture Reading: Ruth 1:1-8

¹ In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. ² The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. ³ But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

⁶ Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. ⁷ So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. ⁸ But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹ The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. ¹⁰ They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” ¹¹ But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? ¹² Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, ¹³ would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” ¹⁴ Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ So she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” ¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you, to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!”

¹⁸ When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

Scripture Reading: Mark 12:28-34

²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; ³³ and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church
Thanks be to God!

Hymn – “Come and Seek the Ways of Wisdom” (MV #10)

Come and Seek the Ways of Wisdom,
She who danced when earth was new.
Follow closely what she teaches,
For her words are right and true.
Wisdom clears the path to justice,
Showing us what love must do.

Listen to the voice of Wisdom,
Crying in the marketplace.
Hear the Word made flesh among us,
Full of glory, truth, and grace.
When the word takes root and ripens,
Peace and righteousness embrace.

Sister Wisdom, come, assist us;
Nurture all who seek rebirth.
Spirit-guide and close companion,
Bring to light our sacred wroth.
Free us to become your people,
Holy friends of God and earth.

Meditation

Anthem – “Jesus, Teach Me”

Jesus, teach me what I need to know.
Guide and lead me where I need to go.
In everything I say and do, teach me how to love like You.

Shine Your heavenly light.
Touch me and open my eyes.
As I go through the day, Lord, let me follow Your way.

Jesus, teach me what I need to know.
Guide and lead me where I need to go.
In everything I say and do, teach me how to love like You.

Lord, the sound of Your voice fills me with comfort and joy.
Now I know I must start listening with all of my heart.

Jesus, teach me what I need to know.
Guide and lead me where I need to go.
In everything I say and do, teach me how to love like You.
Teach me how to love,
Teach me how to love like You.

We Respond to God’s Word

Invitation to Share

In honour of the saints who went before us, the saints who live with us, the saints who go beyond us, we bring present our offerings to you, O God.

Offering Response – “Doxology” (VU #541)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God all creatures high and low;
Give thanks to God in love made know;
Creator, Word, and Spirit, One. Amen.

Offering Prayer

God of all good gifts, who gives freely to us, have mercy on us and grant us the peace and grace that only you can provide. Amen.

Prayers of the People

One:   We pray for the saints from ancient times who lived humbly, serving others, facing hardships, and faithfully following the Way.
All:      God of love and mercy, receive our prayer.

One:   We pray for the saints in our world today who face hardship in defending justice, working for peace, and caring for those suffering in the midst of violence, oppression, hunger, and fear
All:      God of love and mercy, receive our prayer.

One:   We pray for the saints no longer living among us, who supported and encouraged us in our faith development by helping us grow in our love for God through Jesus Christ.
All:      God of love and mercy, receive our prayer.

One:   We pray for the saints living among us today, companions on our journey of faith, connected to one another by Christ.
All:      God of love and mercy, receive our prayer.

One:   We pray for the saints in our community who are struggling. We pray for Heather, Barb, Angela, Joe, Nick, Brenda, Laila, Bert, Paul, Sylvia, Grace, Cam, Greg, Richard, Muriel
All:      God of love and mercy, receive our prayer.

One:   We pray for ourselves that we may be the saints you call us to be, companions to each other as we follow the Way of Jesus.
All:      God of love and mercy, receive our prayer. Amen.

We Go Into God’s World

Hymn – “O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us”

O God, we give thanks for the saints gone before us –
Remembering well how they walked Jesus’ Way.
They valued the truth and would rise to defend it.
They knelt to be kind to the poor day by day.
They welcomed in immigrants, honoured new neighbours,
Put love before greed, and sought peace over strife.
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
Recall Jesus’ teachings and welcome this life.

O God, we give thanks for the saints now among us –
For teachers and helpers and activists, too,
For those in our families and those who work with us
To make the world better, to make the world new.
We thank you for those who seek justice for others,
For those who seek Jesus and live by his grace.
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
Give thanks for their witness of love in this pace.

O God, we give thanks for the Way Jesus shows us;
May we seek to follow his reign from above.
The word often calls us to hatred and violence,
But Christ’s Way is welcome and mercy and love.
Like prophets, apostles, and martyrs before us,
Like those who bear witness to you every day,
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
Be saints who are eager to choose Jesus’ Way.

Benediction

Leave here rejoicing; surrounded as you are by such a great cloud of love, take courage as you face each new challenge, and comfort when you pick yourself from a fall. In honour of the saints who came before us, the saints who live with us, the saints who go beyond us: in whatever good you choose to do, precede it with hope, accompany it with prayer, and follow it with thanksgiving. Amen.

Response – “Lead Me, Lord”

Lead me, Lord, I will follow.
Lead me, Lord, I will go.
You have called me, I will answer.
Lead me, Lord, I will go.