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Feasts of All Saints and All Souls
Peace Prayer
Welcome: Today we remember and name the loved ones we have lost and have gone before us. We also remember and name those we live, work, and pray with every day. Together we are all part of the same great Community of Saints. We are united in the Source of our being, in unity and oneness. Let us pray together our opening song.
Opening Song: I See You by Chris Tomlin & Brandon Lake
https://youtu.be/Q85BGo-ipJU?si=I_OvaU-ItZCTVf2t
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Psalm 146 as Translated by Nan Merrill
Praise be to You!
Praise the Beloved. O my soul!
I will praise You with all my being;
I will sing joyfully and with thanksgiving to You, Heart of my heart!
Put not your trust in riches,
In illusionary things that fade away,
For when our day comes to depart this world,
At that very time, we carry only the love imprinted upon our soul.
Blessed are those whose strength is in the Beloved,
Whose trust is in You,
O Divine Lover,
Who gave birth to the universe – the heavens, earth and sea –
And all that is within them,
You are ever faithful, bringing balance and harmony to earth,
Nourishment to body and soul.
You free us from the bonds of fear;
You give us insight to those who would see.
You lift up the faint-hearted,
Giving succor to those who weep,
Sending guides and angels to lead the way;
O, that we might become beacons of light to those in darkness.
May You, who live forever in our hearts,
Loose the fetters of fear that bind us,
That we might praise You always with free and joyful song!
May it be so!
We affirm these words with, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker – MTVideo
Gospel: An adapted reading on the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew by Pastor Paul Carter
The Beatitudes are not a description of how to get saved, rather they are a description of how saved people live immediately and increasingly as they grow in grace. The Beatitudes describe the Kindom attitudes and actions that characterize its citizens living temporarily as ambassadors in our often-chaotic world.
Blessed are the poor in spirit is blessed are those who are lowly, beaten down and disadvantaged in this world.
Blessed are those who mourn is blessed are those who have no hope in this world and who see the brokenness of this world.
Blessed are the meek is blessed are those who don’t push back and who don’t strive, cheat and scheme to succeed in this world.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness is blessed are those who want more for this world, who want justice and mercy and kindness and truth in this world.
Blessed are the merciful is blessed are those who are not eager to condemn the people of this world, who assume the best, seek to understand and are quick to forgive.
Blessed are the pure in heart is blessed are the people who have not been corrupted by this world, who can still see beauty and whose hearts incline toward that which is right, loving and good.
Blessed are the peacemakers is blessed are those who seek reconciliation between God and man, and between friends and neighbors.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake is blessed are those who will push through some suffering and bear a little shame in order to pursue the Kingdom of God on earth – for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thanks be to God!
We affirm these words with, Amen.
Shared Homily
(Deven) Imagine as we often do with the stories of Jesus that we are there. We are part of the crowd come to hear this inspiring man who talks to us and sees us. We are searching for answers, for help, guidance, maybe a miracle to make us feel better or to take away some suffering. It was not unusual for all kinds of people to be among the crowd from wealthy to destitute, from healthy to ill, from privileged to not. But we are there and we are broken in some way. And what does Jesus do, He blesses us. Has anyone ever said God Bless you to you? How does it feel? If you are like me it makes me feel seen and causes me to be comforted that someone wishes wellness for us. The first Beatitude says Blessed are the Poor in Spirit. We are poor in spirit at different times in our lives. Perhaps we feel disconnected from the Divine Spirit. And what does Jesus say but I see you and further I bless you. As we absorb that blessing we are raised up and know that our spirit is connected to the Divine in Love. When we recognize our own brokenness, we are more able to see the brokenness in others, and we reach out to say I see you too and I bless you. We can relate and raise each other up in the Divine Compassionate Loving Spirit.
(Mary and Ann) I came across this quote from Iris Murdock, a novelist and philosopher who is said to be English but was born in Dublin. She said “The purpose of life is to become more virtuous”. And I believe that is the purpose of the beatitudes. They are the way to virtue. The beatitude that resonated with me is “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Justice.” I have spent my life in the criminal “justice” field. But there is little justice and even less mercy there. But the important words are “hunger and thirst and work for justice. Justice is not a verdict or a sentence. It is a process, a commitment to bring justice to an unjust world and to affirm justice for those we meet.
On this All Saints Day, let us remember the saints who embody this work: Bryan Stevenson and all those who work on behalf of those on death row, the anonymous ones who labor at our borders and detention centers on behalf of those yearning to be our neighbors and those whose commitment to justice compels them to ensure food, shelter and healthcare to the least among us. There are many nameless workers, and we here at the Upper Room are among them.
(Diane) In the beatutude “Blessed are those who are mericful” we read mercy comes when we do not condemn, assume the best, seek to understand and be quick to forgive. Mercy can be defined as active compassion. It moves from feeling to doing. It’s not just empathy or sympathy for another’s pain. It involves concrete steps to ease another’s suffering. It requires effort or some cost. It may mean speaking up when someone is being mistreated or working to change a policy that harms people. It could involve volunteering at a food pantry or organizing a meal train for a sick neighbor. We are called to stand together with compassion just as God stands with each of us with compassion and unconditional love.
(Terri and Jean) I see the Beatitudes as God’s lavish blessing…a blessing to a world, like ours, that didn’t seem to have much time for people in pain, people who work for peace instead of profit and in the case of the last beatitude; blessed are those who are persecuted, Jesus is calling us to exercise mercy instead of vengeance.
Each one of us has experienced moments of persecution, felt forgotten, abandoned, a loser, been unemployed, unimpressive. underrepresented. In these moments, I believe this beatitude is telling us to LIVE through it all, going deep within us, we know that we have been gifted with all that we need to walk this life's journey.
This Beatitude is telling us to keep on going, for we have joined the lineage of the holy prophets of old, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the rest. Now we have become holy prophets in our own time. We have joined the lineage of peacemakers including Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Oscar Romero, Franz Jagerstatter, and Cesar Chavez. This is our opportunity to make peace, love our enemies and trust God. Now we get to practice nonviolence and show everyone what it means to be a disciple. Through our commitment to nonviolence we have the ability to disarm others and help disarm the world.
I pray that we have the courage to be all that we can be in the infinite variety of humanity. Summed up in a Reflection by John Shelby Spong: Live fully, love wastefully, and be all that you can be.
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for the sacred meal, on this Feast of All Saints and All Souls lets us share the names of our Saints and Souls we wish to bring forward to our table. I bring to the table…..
We pray for these and all those we carry in our hearts. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer
Let us pray our Eucharistic prayer with open hearts and hands:
We are grateful for our brother Jesus teaching us the way of compassion through entering into the suffering of others. May we care for ourselves as Jesus cared for us, seeing humanity through the eyes of “Love”. Through his loving eyes we are healed and we open our hearts to the pain and suffering of others.
Because of your empowering unconditional loving Presence Beloved, we are aware of your presence in and among us. Your love radiates from our hearts, minds, and bodies. The nurturance of ourselves and one another empowers your embodied presence. “We are not the survival of the fittest but the survival of the nurtured.” (Cozolino)
With joy and gratefulness today and always, we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy Music by John Bacchus Dykes, Words by Peter Mayer video by Denise
Holy One, you speak to our hearts and say “I don’t need anything from you for me to love you - I don’t need you to evolve for me to love you - I don’t need you to grow for me to love you - I don’t need you to succeed for me to love you - I will stay with you in any circumstance. I was here at the beginning, I am here in the middle, I will be here in the end. There is nothing you can do to lose me.” “Just your being is love to me”.
We thank you for Jesus who heard the Divine voice of deep love for him as “this is my beloved son”. Jesus showed us a path to comforting ourselves as the Divine Beloved would comfort us and as we would nurture our own children, family and friends. May we hear God’s voice as Jesus did to love and forgive ourselves so that we may more fully love and forgive each other.
Please extend your hands in blessing
Your Spirit that is present in us at this Eucharistic table. We are grateful for the bread and wine that remind us of our call to be the light of Christ to the world.
All: On the night before he faced betrayal and death, Jesus shared supper with his friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
lifts plate
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, go and love with one another.
lift the cup
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
(pause)
Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace.
Please pass the bread with the words: Blessed are you.
Communion Song: All Saint’s Day by Carrie Newcomer (MT video)
Holy One, your love transforms us so we love and heal each other. We resolve to love as Jesus loved. Jesus loved the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the immigrants, the stranger. Amen.
Prayer of Jesus
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits, and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, Amen. Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Please extend your hands in blessing.
Let us strive to continue the work of Jesus.
May we remember we are blessed, valued and seen.
May the many blessings of the Holy One always comfort and inspire us.
Let each of us be a light in the world. AMEN!
Closing Song: Everyday People - Playing for Change
