November 5, 2023
ALL SAINTS CELEBRATION
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
· Please join us in Calvin Hall following worship today for a time of fellowship.
· Beginning in October: A Butterfly ministry in our basement! You are invited to come help paint butterflies of grace to remind our hurting neighbors of God’s care and of our prayers. Call Shirley Darsidan at 563-613-2850 for more information.
· Ladies Lunch Bunch will gather on November 8 at 11:30 AM at Krumpets in Fulton, IL. Please add your RSVP to the sign up sheet at office door.
· On Nov. 6 we will host the Ministerial Alliance’s “Socks, Songs and Sacred Thanks” program at 6:30 PM. We will need 3 or 4 people to welcome folks and show them to the Great Hall and assist with the refreshment table. If you are available to assist, please speak with Pastor Joyce. (See the flyer on the last page of this bulletin.)
· Reminder to Committees—Annual reports need to be to Karla by November 15. (Annual Meeting on December 10.)
· With the new ownership of Clinton Floral they will be charging for delivery and tax the new cost will be $30
PRAYER REQUESTS
· JoAnn Grimm who struggles with health problems.
· Joan Pinkston, on hospice.
· Ellen and Keith Miller who struggle with health issues.
· For our Nominating Committee who are working to fill 2 elder positions, as well as Clerk of Session.
· For our world where conflict and struggle causes such pain and suffering.
PRELUDE
*PSALTER Psalm 24, CEB
Leader: The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too.
People: 2 Because God is the one who established it on the seas;
God set it firmly on the waters.
Leader: 3 Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain? Who can stand in his holy sanctuary?
People: 4 Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart;
the one who hasn’t made false promises, the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly.
Leader: 5 That kind of person receives blessings from the Lord
and righteousness from the God who saves.
People: 6 And that’s how things are with the generation that seeks him--
that seeks the face of Jacob’s God.
Selah (This means to pause and pray a moment)
Leader: 7 Mighty gates: lift up your heads! Ancient doors: rise up high!
So the glorious king can enter!
People: 8 Who is this glorious king?
The Lord—strong and powerful! The Lord—powerful in battle!
Leader: 9 Mighty gates: lift up your heads! Ancient doors: rise up high!
So the glorious king can enter!
People: 10 Who is this glorious king?
The Lord of heavenly forces—he is the glorious king!
Selah
*GATHERING PRAYER
Leader: Let us pray.
People: Almighty God, you created heaven and earth and give life to all your children. May we open the gates of our hearts that you may enter, bringing your power and glory to sustain us and heal us, bringing your mercy and compassion to cleanse us and redeem us. We seek your grace as we honor and remember the saints who have gone before us and as we seek to live worthy of being called saints ourselves. Amen.
*HYMN Lift Up Your Heads #8
(You may be seated.)
CALL TO CONFESSION
Though God has called us to live for saintly purpose, we have often gone our own way. Therefore, let us confess our sins and our failures with these traditional words of confession.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. In your mercy, forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Jesus, God’s Anointed, came to earth to teach us how to live, died that we might be forgiven, and rose again with the promise that we may also live beyond the grave.
Through Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God!
SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
PASSING THE PEACE
(Please greet those around you as we all say these words in unison.)
May the peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.
INTERLUDE
Word
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
God, as we hear your Words of life, may we take them to heart, and remember the promises You make to us.
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Isaiah 25:6-9, NLT
6 In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. 7 There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!9 In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”
NEW TESTAMENT LESSON Revelation 21:1-6a, NRSVUE
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
GOSPEL LESSON John 11:32-44, NIV
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
SERMON Remember
*HYMN Psalm 23 #170
(You may be seated.)
PASTORAL PRAYER
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.
OFFERING OUR LIVES
God of life and life beyond this, we give ourselves to you even as we bring our gifts, that we may know and serve and dwell in you for this life and for the next.
GIVING OUR GIFTS & OFFERTORY
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow #592
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical p. 14
*REMEMBERING OUR SAINTS
*LIGHTING A CANDLE TO HONOR THOSE WE REMEMBER
(During the hymn, you are welcome to come and light a candle.)
*HYMN For All the Saints #526
Sending Forth
*CHARGE & BLESSING
POSTLUDE
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
ALL SAINTS CELEBRATION
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
· Please join us in Calvin Hall following worship today for a time of fellowship.
· Beginning in October: A Butterfly ministry in our basement! You are invited to come help paint butterflies of grace to remind our hurting neighbors of God’s care and of our prayers. Call Shirley Darsidan at 563-613-2850 for more information.
· Ladies Lunch Bunch will gather on November 8 at 11:30 AM at Krumpets in Fulton, IL. Please add your RSVP to the sign up sheet at office door.
· On Nov. 6 we will host the Ministerial Alliance’s “Socks, Songs and Sacred Thanks” program at 6:30 PM. We will need 3 or 4 people to welcome folks and show them to the Great Hall and assist with the refreshment table. If you are available to assist, please speak with Pastor Joyce. (See the flyer on the last page of this bulletin.)
· Reminder to Committees—Annual reports need to be to Karla by November 15. (Annual Meeting on December 10.)
· With the new ownership of Clinton Floral they will be charging for delivery and tax the new cost will be $30
PRAYER REQUESTS
· JoAnn Grimm who struggles with health problems.
· Joan Pinkston, on hospice.
· Ellen and Keith Miller who struggle with health issues.
· For our Nominating Committee who are working to fill 2 elder positions, as well as Clerk of Session.
· For our world where conflict and struggle causes such pain and suffering.
PRELUDE
*PSALTER Psalm 24, CEB
Leader: The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too.
People: 2 Because God is the one who established it on the seas;
God set it firmly on the waters.
Leader: 3 Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain? Who can stand in his holy sanctuary?
People: 4 Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart;
the one who hasn’t made false promises, the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly.
Leader: 5 That kind of person receives blessings from the Lord
and righteousness from the God who saves.
People: 6 And that’s how things are with the generation that seeks him--
that seeks the face of Jacob’s God.
Selah (This means to pause and pray a moment)
Leader: 7 Mighty gates: lift up your heads! Ancient doors: rise up high!
So the glorious king can enter!
People: 8 Who is this glorious king?
The Lord—strong and powerful! The Lord—powerful in battle!
Leader: 9 Mighty gates: lift up your heads! Ancient doors: rise up high!
So the glorious king can enter!
People: 10 Who is this glorious king?
The Lord of heavenly forces—he is the glorious king!
Selah
*GATHERING PRAYER
Leader: Let us pray.
People: Almighty God, you created heaven and earth and give life to all your children. May we open the gates of our hearts that you may enter, bringing your power and glory to sustain us and heal us, bringing your mercy and compassion to cleanse us and redeem us. We seek your grace as we honor and remember the saints who have gone before us and as we seek to live worthy of being called saints ourselves. Amen.
*HYMN Lift Up Your Heads #8
(You may be seated.)
CALL TO CONFESSION
Though God has called us to live for saintly purpose, we have often gone our own way. Therefore, let us confess our sins and our failures with these traditional words of confession.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. In your mercy, forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Jesus, God’s Anointed, came to earth to teach us how to live, died that we might be forgiven, and rose again with the promise that we may also live beyond the grave.
Through Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God!
SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
PASSING THE PEACE
(Please greet those around you as we all say these words in unison.)
May the peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.
INTERLUDE
Word
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
God, as we hear your Words of life, may we take them to heart, and remember the promises You make to us.
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Isaiah 25:6-9, NLT
6 In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. 7 There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!9 In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”
NEW TESTAMENT LESSON Revelation 21:1-6a, NRSVUE
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
GOSPEL LESSON John 11:32-44, NIV
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
SERMON Remember
*HYMN Psalm 23 #170
(You may be seated.)
PASTORAL PRAYER
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.
OFFERING OUR LIVES
God of life and life beyond this, we give ourselves to you even as we bring our gifts, that we may know and serve and dwell in you for this life and for the next.
GIVING OUR GIFTS & OFFERTORY
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow #592
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical p. 14
*REMEMBERING OUR SAINTS
*LIGHTING A CANDLE TO HONOR THOSE WE REMEMBER
(During the hymn, you are welcome to come and light a candle.)
*HYMN For All the Saints #526
Sending Forth
*CHARGE & BLESSING
POSTLUDE
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
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