Sunday School, November 1, 2015 All Saints' Sunday, Cycle B

Sunday School, November 1, 2015    All Saints’ Sunday, B

Themes

You might invite the children to wear their Halloween Costumes to Sunday School

The loss of community participation in three events, All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day means that Halloween is basically a secular ritual of costumes and candy, not an Eve or Vigil of preparation for All Saints’ Day.  All Souls’ Day is like an after thought for Halloween and All Saints’ Day except in cultures where the Dia de los Muertos is an important event to celebrate connections with departed loved ones. Hispanic cultures have a more active tradition of observing all three days.

Children tend to wear costumes of princesses or super heroes.  This is a perfect lead in to discuss the notion of heroes.  Use the notion of the Hall of Fame.  Nearly every sport and every area of life has a way of honoring people who excel in a certain field.

The Church has a tradition of having a Hall of Fame of important Christians.  The Christian Hall of Fame are the Saints of the Church.  Saints are the people who are remembered because they followed the life and teachings of Jesus Christ the best.  They did this in such excellent ways that people remembered them and continued to tell their stories about the good things which they did in their lives.  All Saints’ Day is a Feast Day when we celebrate all of the great people in our Christian Hall of Fame.

Some people who are heroes have become well known all around the world, but there are other people who have been important people in our own lives.  Teachers, coaches, grandparents have been local heroes for us.  All Souls’ Day is a day for the local heroes of our lives.  We remember them.  We express our faith in the resurrection by acknowledging that they are still alive with God. 

So teach the meaning of world wide saints but also local and personal saints, the people who have helped to teach us about Christ, but who are no longer with us.

The final message is each child is to understand their own baptismal calling to be a saint.  It does not mean that we have to be famous, it means that we have do our very best to follow Jesus Christ.

A Sermon for All Saints’ Day

Joe Montana, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, and Reggie Jackson?  What do these people have in common?  Yes, they were athletes, professional athletes, good professional athletes.  They were so good that they were put in a special place after they were too old to play their sports.  Do you know where we put them?  We put them in a place called the Hall of Fame.  Sports writers study all of the records and they vote on who goes into the Hall of Fame.

  Did you know that the church has its own Hall of Fame?  It is called the Communion of Saints.  The Communion of Saints is a big group of people who all share something in common.  They all love Jesus Christ, and some of them are alive and some of them have died.  Some of them are really famous good people and others are not very famous at all.  But they all share their love of Jesus Christ. 

  If you want everyone to be a good baseball player do you say, “Okay everyone, if you want to be really good at baseball, you need to play baseball like Father Phil?”  Is Father Phil a good baseball player?  Does he even play baseball?  I can play baseball but you don’t want to copy how I play baseball.  You want to copy a really good baseball player.  This is why we have the Hall of Fame so that we can have really high standards and models to learn how to be the best we can at baseball.

  In the church, we have some famous Christians called saints.  These famous people are Christians who have been really good at loving God and their neighbors and they were so good that people said we need to remember them because they have set a very good example for us.  And so we call these people saints and we celebrate them on All Saints’ Day.  This is why we have Halloween.  To remember that some very good people have died and they set a good example for us.  We want to keep their example alive and so we put them in the Christian Hall of Fame of Saints to remind us of how good we too need to be.

  Another reason we have All Saints’ Day is remember that the resurrection of Jesus reminds us that God preserves our lives after we die.  The lives of the saints and the lives of people who have died have been preserved by God, and ours will be preserved too when we die.

  So we have this Communion of Saints.  A group of people who are preserved by God in life and death and this gives us hope.  It means we don’t have to live with the fear of death, because we will always be a part of the Communion of Saints.

  Let us give thanks to God for the famous Christians called saints.  Let us give thanks too for the important saints in our lives, our grandparents, teachers and parents and the people who help us live our lives with love and kindness.

   And let us not forget this: Each one of us is a saint too, because we have been given a special relationship with Jesus Christ.  And we are saints, too, because we follow Jesus Christ.  So, turn to your neighbor and call your neighbor a saint.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

November 1, 2015: All Saints’ Sunday

Gathering Songs:

When the Saints Go Marching In; O, Come Let Us Adore Him, Onward Christian Soldiers

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: When the Saints Go Marching In

When the saints go marching in, when the saints go marching in.  Lord I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

When the girls go marching in…..

When the boys go marching in….

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, you have joined together your chosen people into one family of people who enjoy a special friendship as we are gathered as the body of Christ on earth today; Give us grace so to follow the great heroes in good living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A Reading from the Wisdom of Solomon

Those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones, and he watches over his elect.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People:  Thanks be to God

A Reading from Psalm 24

The earth is the LORD'S and all that is in it, * the world and all who dwell therein.

For it is he who founded it upon the seas * and made it firm upon the rivers of the deep.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

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 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 upward 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."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson – Fr. Cooke: 

                                        

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

 Song for the Offertory: O Come, Let Us Adore Him (Renew # 1)

O come, let us adore him; O come, let us adore him; O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

We’ll give him all the glory.  We’ll give him all the glory; we’ll give him all the glory, Christ the Lord.

For he alone is worthy.  For he alone is worthy.  For he alone is worthy, Christ the Lord.

We’ll praise his name forever.  We’ll praise his name forever.  We’ll praise his name forever, Christ the Lord.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:        Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Words of Administration

Communion Song:  Jesus Stand Among Us (Renew # 237)

1-Jesus, stand among us in your risen power; let this time of worship be a hallowed hour.

2-Breathe the Holy Spirit into every heart; bid the fears and sorrows from each soul depart.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Onward Christian Soldiers (Blue Hymnal # 562)

Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.  Christ the royal master, leads against the foe; forward into battle, see, his banners go.

   Refrain: Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with cross of Jesus going on before.

Onward, then ye people, join our happy throng; blend with ours your voices in the triumph song: glory, laud, and honor, unto Christ the King; this through countless ages we with angels sing.  Refrain

Dismissal

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God!