Order of Service for November 3rd, 2024

All Saints Sunday

 

WE GATHER TO PRAISE GOD

 

PRE-BROADCAST PRELUDES: 

Chorale Prelude on “Rockingham”                        - C.H. Parry

Sarabande                                                                 - H. Howells

 

PRELUDE: Interlude (Set Two, No. 4)                          - E. Thiman 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LAND:

We give thanks for the land and our ancestors who have cared for it, for Indigenous and for settlers. Thank you to the people called Haudenosaunee, Mississauga, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora (Ska-Ruh-Reh) Six Nations.

are located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe (Anish-nah-bay), and Haudenosaunee (Hoe-den-no-show-nee) peoples. This land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples, which symbolizes the agreement to share, protect resources, and not engage in conflict.

 

Thank you to our ancestors who continue to tend to the land, nourishing our communities and creation. Thank you for those who have taught us to be tender and respectful to all living things. As members and representatives of the United Church of Canada we acknowledge the role our church played in the Residential School System and humbly live into the United Church’s apology. Help us make space for reconciliation and live into the promise our ancestors made together in Treaty 2. Help us remember we are not perfect -- but as a repenting and reforming people, we are constantly working towards the perfection of God’s kingdom.

 

INTROIT: Consoling Spirit of God                                             -Taizé Community

 

CALL TO WORSHIP:

There are no words

To heal the brokenness of grief

or fill the ache in the hollow parts

of displaced love.

It is too simple to say,

‘they are at peace’

when we are broken open.

There are no words.

 

There are offerings of attempts,

That fall flat or make our blood boil,

There are lineups and lists of condolences

There are deliveries

that might sit in the freezer for months,

or grow green fuzz sitting on the counter.

There are long gaps of silence

 and longer nights.

There are periods of numbness.

There are sudden rushes of pain,

as if your memory brushed up against their soul.

There are angry outbursts

raging at God for the injustice of it all.

 

There are moments when you briefly forget

and a laugh can escape

even with tears running down your cheeks

and for a blink of an eye

the weight of hopelessness is let go.

 

Yet, there is profound beauty in our broken humanity.

The moments of the most real.

With no words,

just one mother holding another

and sobs that shake both bodies,

and love that is brave enough not to run away from grief.

 

That is what this place is about.

Don’t forget it.

Don’t turn death into something vain or spooky or a thing to be

avoided.

But trust in this love that will not let you go,

it is an anchor as you reach out to someone who feels safe

enough in your arms to feel strong enough to feel sad enough to

hold on for dear life, and don’t worry about words, just hold on. 

It won’t let go.

 

PASSING OF THE PEACE: The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you… And also with you.

 

*OPENING HYMN: VU #619 Healer of Our Every Ill

 

            ♫R     Healer of our every ill, 

light of each tomorrow,

                        give us peace beyond our fear, 

and hope beyond our sorrow.

 

            ♫1      You who know our fears and sadness,

                        grace us with your peace and gladness.

                        Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts.

                        Healer of our every ill, 

light of each tomorrow,

                        give us peace beyond our fear, 

and hope beyond our sorrow.

 

            2         In the pain and joy beholding,

                        how your grace is still unfolding.

                        Give us all your vision, God of love.

                        Healer of our every ill, 

light of each tomorrow,

                        give us peace beyond our fear, 

and hope beyond our sorrow.

 

            3         Give us strength to love each other,

                        every sister every brother.

                        Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.

                        Healer of our every ill, 

light of each tomorrow,

                        give us peace beyond our fear, 

and hope beyond our sorrow.

 

            4         You who know each thought and feeling,

                        teach us all your way of healing.

                        Spirit of compassion, fill each heart.

                        Healer of our every ill, 

light of each tomorrow,

                        give us peace beyond our fear, 

and hope beyond our sorrow.

 

~Children are welcomed to the front of the Sanctuary 

for Children’s Time following the hymn~

 

CHILDREN’S TIME:

When at night I go to sleep
Fourteen angels watch do keep
Two my head are guarding
Two my feet are guiding
Two are on my right side
Two are on my left side

Two who warmly cover
Two who o’er me hover
Two to whom ‘tis given
To guide my steps to heaven

Sleep softly, then it seems
Heaven enters in my dreams;
Angels hover round me
Whisper’ring they have found me;
Two are sweetly singing,
Two are garlands bringing,
Strewing me with roses
As my soul reposes.
God will not forsake me
When dawn at last will wake me.

            

LORD’S PRAYER:

Abba with us,

hallowed be your name, 

your kingdom come, 

your will be done, 

on earth, as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread, 

And forgive us our trespasses, 

as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil: 

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

ANTHEM: The Eternal Gifts of Christ the King                                   -H. Ley

 

PRAYER OF CONFESSION & ASSURANCE OF PARDON:

In my heart's sequestered chambers 

lie truths stripped of poets gloss.
Words alone are vain and vacant, and my heart is mute.
In response to aching silence, 
memory summons half-heard voices, 
and my soul finds primal eloquence and wraps me in song.

All: 
If you would comfort me, sing me a lullaby.
If you would win my heart, sing me a love song.
If you would mourn me and bring me to God, sing me a requiem.
Sing me to heaven.

Touch in me all love and passion.
Pain and pleasure,
Touch in me grief and comfort, 

love and passion,

 pain and pleasure.
Sing me a lullaby, a love song, a requiem.

Love me.
Comfort me.
Bring me to God.
Sing me a love song.
Sing me to heaven. (-Jane Griner)

 

*CREED: 

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: VU #368 Holy Spirit, Truth Divine

 

            ♫1      Holy Spirit, truth divine, 

                        dawn upon this soul of mine.

                        Voice of God and inward light,

                        wake my Spirit, clear my sight.

 

            2         Holy Spirit, love divine,

                        glow within this heart of mine.

                        Kindle every high desire,

                        purify me with your fire.

 

            3         Holy Spirit, power divine,

                        fill and nerve this will of mine.

                        Boldly may I always live,

                        bravely serve, and gladly give.

 

            4         Holy Spirit, law divine,

                        reign within this soul of mine.

                        Be my law, and I shall be

                        firmly bound, forever free.

 

            5          Holy Spirit, peace divine,

                        still this restless heart of mine.

                        Speak to calm this tossing sea,

                        grant me your tranquility.

 

            6         Holy Spirit, joy divine,

                        gladden now this heart of mine.

                        In the desert ways I sing;

                        spring, O living water, spring!

 

                                    

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE:

However you pray, and to whomever you pray, whether you believe in God or higher power, or that this is all there is… if you are one of many who are left in doubt,

Can we join our hearts together? In trust of whatever we believe, prayer in all its forms is joining into a conversation of longing, protest, thanksgiving, anger, or sadness.

It moves us forward by acknowledging the innermost desires of our hearts and souls

Sharing with others what we hope for beyond hope…

 

When that time comes

For us all at

Some when- close or far

At the dusk of our final days

May we breathe easy

And be a good tired.

The pains we carry be lifted 

And the joys gifted

As we are enshrouded in the warm embrace

      of love.

Love that knows no ends or bounds

Love that knows us inside and out

Love that persists 

Through anything

Knowing the very depths of our hearts, and souls, and minds 

      Not in judgment,

      in trust and encouragement 

a love that sees and feels how we love. 

May we offer up our judgement of ourselves and others, 

letting go of our fear of an -imagined expectation- 

And in that giving in and giving over to love

Show the same in kind.

 

May you take time to weep, knowing God weeps with you.

May you take time to be angry at the unfairness of it all, 
but also let in peace and comfort, 

May you see those you miss in your dreams 
and speak and breathe their memory into cherished moments.

May you trust that grief does not move day-by-day but moment-by-moment,  

May the moments in between get longer and lighter with time,

May years pass in beautiful dreams, memories, and love celebrated together

Anchored in the pain of love that misses the body who received it, 

May you have the courage to nurture a tender heart

And never let it harden. 

In the deepest darkness of life, may the places where our hearts are broken open
let in the light of hope
and may we hold each other there. 

 

Candle Lighting-

 

The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God,

and the pain of death shall not touch them.

To the eyes of the foolish,

they seemed to perish,

but they are in peace.

Wisdom 3:1-3

 

OFFERING:

            INVITATION TO INVEST IN GOD’S MISSION:

“Called by God, as disciples of Jesus, The United Church of Canada seeks to be a bold, connected, evolving church of diverse, courageous, hope-filled communities united in deep spirituality, inspiring worship, and daring justice.”

 

            OFFERTORY: York Tune                                                            -C. Wood

 

            *DOXOLOGY: VU #540

 

                        ♫       Grant us, God, the grace of giving,

                                    with a spirit large and free,

                                    that ourselves and all our living

                                    we may offer faithfully.

 

            PRAYER

 

SCRIPTURE READING: Ruth 1:1-18

 

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

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.

 

Naomi and Her Moabite Daughters-in-Law

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.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

 

MESSAGE: “Casserole Parades”

 

*CLOSING HYMN: VU #706 Give Thanks For Life

​

♫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!

            

*COMMISSIONING:

May the road rise to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back, 

May the sunshine warm upon your face,

May the rains fall soft upon your fields, 

And until we meet again, 

May God hold you in the palm of God’s hand.

 

 

*SUNG RESPONSE:

 

♫        The Lord bless you, and keep you:

The Lord make his face shine upon you, 

and be gracious unto you:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, 

and give you peace.  

 

POSTLUDE: Old 136th Psalm                                                      -C. Wood