All Saints Day Remembrance for Home or Gathered Worship

Posted on October 22, 2021 by revlisad

all-saints

1 Corinthians 1:2-3, NRSV
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

The followers of Jesus in Corinth had some serious problems, infighting and immorality to name a couple, yet Paul calls them saints. A saint is not a perfect person. Saints are simply persons who know their deep need of God. The recognize their need of wholeness and forgiveness, yet they don’t set up house there. They keep trying and growing and trusting in the marvelous grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Let us remember who we are in Jesus-
Beloved, Wounded Healers,
Saints set apart by God and for God

Let us remember our purpose-
To lead a devoted life of compassion, generosity, justice, and hope
A life worthy of the calling to which we have been called
A life which inspires faith in others

Let us remember and recommit ourselves to this life,
by first honoring the lives of those who have inspired us
The heroic and humble who ran the race before us
The martyrs who sacrificed all for the sake of Jesus
And especially those who we have known and loved
who led us to Jesus and encouraged us to deeper faith and service

Name those persons out loud now… pause

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
You surround us with witness after witness to your transforming love
Inspire us and empower us to endure
Fill our hearts with courage

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
You weep with us in our personal heartbreak and loss
Name those you are grieving out loud now… pause
Comfort us and protect us in our mourning
Fill our souls with hope

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
You weep with us in our communal heartbreak and loss
COVID… Fires… Storms… Division… Injustice… Death
Comfort us and protect us in our mourning
Fill our souls with hope

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
You cry out in victory over sin and the grave
Raise us and release us to fulfill your calling to be saints
Fill our lives with faithfulness and good works
Honor and hope
In Jesus’ Name and for His Glory, who taught us to pray…

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer

Consider lighting candles or lumineria, tying ribbons to a branch or wreath, or placing flowers in a vase or stream following the prayer.

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All Saints Remembrance 2021 © 2021 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia (www.revlisad.com)
Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Prayer for Louisiana and Afghanistan

Posted on August 29, 2021 by revlisad

As we gather for worship, we recognize the deep pain of our world- Haiti, Cuba, the fires out west, Louisiana, Afghanistan, and so many other places.⁠
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We join those who mourn the tremendous loss of life and home ⁠
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ALL: Holy One, we trust you weep with us. ⁠Your healing, saving work continues. ⁠
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Hear our cry for those who continue to live in destruction, violence, and oppression. Those running to a new home in a new place. And all who are welcoming the refugees ⁠
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ALL: Holy One, we trust you welcome them. ⁠Your healing, saving work continues. ⁠
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Hear our cry for American and Afghan families as they cry for their loved ones who died in the terror attack on the Kabul airport, as they pray those who remain are safe, as they wonder about 20 years of war and the future of that land.⁠
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Hear our cry for those in the path of Hurricane Ida as they cry for the powerful storm to lessen, as they pray those who remain are safe, as they wonder about the destruction to come on the anniversary of Katrina.⁠
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ALL: Holy One, we trust you never abandon. Your healing, saving work continues. ⁠
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Hear our cry for your work of peace to be fulfilled.⁠
No more war⁠
No more storms⁠
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No more tears⁠
No more separation⁠
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No more evil⁠
No more devastation⁠
No more death⁠
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Jesus, save us from helplessness⁠
Strengthen our minds, our bodies, our resolve. ⁠
We trust we are part of your healing, saving work. ⁠
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Jesus, save us from overwhelm⁠
Strengthen our faith, our hope, our calling.⁠
We trust the triumph of your goodness and grace.⁠
For you are the Resurrection and the Life. ⁠
Amen. ⁠
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You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Prayer for the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th Attacks

Posted on August 27, 2021 by revlisad

Image by David Mark via Pixabay

We come together with persons all over the world to remember the day our world changed. We come together in faith, in hope, in God’s infinite love.

Heavenly Father, we commend to your mercy and grace all who died in the September eleventh attacks and all who have died in the past twenty years while laboring to end terrorism.

In New York City: 2,342 persons
In Arlington, Virginia: 184 persons
In Shanksville, Pennsylvania: 40 persons
411 New York City rescue workers that day plus so many more from the aftereffects
Thousands of military personnel and civilians in the following years of war

Over 70 countries lost loved ones that day: family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, heroes. In the face of all this loss we claim your grace, your faithfulness, and your power to bring good out of evil.

Compassionate One, it’s been twenty years, yet the pain is fresh and the need is great. Comfort all who continue to mourn the loss of loved ones. Come with assurance and peace for all who remain traumatized, anxious, or fearful for the future. Come with protection and freedom for all who continue to live in the midst of hostility and oppression.

Bring wholeness and hope to every broken place- to broken bodies, broken hearts, and broken spirits. To broken relationships, broken systems, and broken faith.

Draw together leaders of every nation. Give them ears to hear your wisdom and the courage to respond. Inspire them to work together for peace, justice, and freedom. Inspire us, too.

Strengthen all who risk their lives to protect others. Guard and favor all who work to make your world a place of peace. Guard and guide us, too.

God of the Nations, hear our prayer for our enemies and for ourselves. Help us love and pray for those who hate us. We claim your abiding, your humility, and your strength as we strive to fulfill this call.

Save us from revenge, false teaching, and blind suspicion. Help us recognize our contributions to conflict. Help us understand the hurt that feeds the hate.

Change the hearts of all who seek their way by evil and violent means, by coercion and corruption and privilege, including our own. Create in us clean hearts that beat with your unconditional compassion.

Leave no one in the shadows of evil and death, O God.
Fill us all with your light and make us all instruments of your peace.

Our world remains a dangerous place, O God, but with you there is shalom and hope. With you there is persevering and purpose. You are our Rock, our Shield, our Defender forever.
Amen.
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9/11 Anniversary Prayer © 2011, Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia and Nicole Sallee
Updated 2021

You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me- Prayers based on Isaiah 61 and Luke 4

Posted on December 9, 2020 by revlisad

Holy Spirit Outpouring by Deborah Brown

Prayer: Long-awaited Messiah
Long-awaited Messiah
Lord of Hope
Have mercy

Long-awaited Messiah
Defender of Compassion
Have mercy

Long-awaited Messiah
Provider, Protector, Liberator
Have mercy

Release us from
the chains of this moment, born of imprisoned years
the distractions and false calls of those who cannot help

Release us from
the blindness to our complicity, frailty, and poverty
the apathy keeping us from seeing, speaking and caring

Release us from
the weight of needs stealing our courage to try
the slowness of change chipping away at our enduring

Have mercy on us
Finish your good and generous work

Prayer: Comfort Us
Comfort us
Comfort us who mourn
When one suffers, we all suffer
You suffer

Hear our lament
for the ways we hurt one another and in turn hurt you
Our words weapons instead of life

Hear our wails
for all shattered by sin and fear and shame

Hear our groans
for all bent low beneath watching and waiting for another in pain
or their own

Hear our tears for all captive to
their poverty
their addiction
their loneliness
their otherness

Hear our grieving
for the powerful misusing their influence
The Forgotten… forgotten

Comfort us
Comfort us who mourn
Comfort us in your coming
Your freeing
Your healing

In your deliverance, there is a crown for our ashes
The oil of gladness pouring across tender brows till it pools in our clavicles

In the nakedness of our need you clothe us
Garments of Salvation
Robes of Righteousness
Jewels of our Belovedness
You dress us in your Victory
Wrapping us in your Joy and Delight
Swaddling us in your Promises made real

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Long-awaited Messiah © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Comfort Us © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. (by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, http://www.revlisad.com) Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Worship Resources for All Saints Day

Posted on October 23, 2020 by revlisad

all-saints SERMONS AND SERMON STARTERS
How Jesus Grieves, a Sermon for All Saints Day
Scripture: Matthew 14:1-21

There’s No Place Like Home, a message on the now and note yet of heaven
From the sermon series Finding God in Oz
Scriptures: Revelation 21:1-5, 22-26; 1 Peter 2:9-12

Church as Communion of Saints, Cloud of Witnesses
Quotes and Sermon Illustrations

PRAYERS, POEMS AND LITURGIES
All Saints Remembrance
This liturgy includes quotes from Nelson Mandela and James C. Howell, a reading of 1 Corinithians 1:2-3, a brief explanation of what it means to be a saint, a prayer, naming saints who have strengthened our faith, and flowering the cross. Feel free to use only parts of this liturgy and to assign multiple persons to lead it.

Run Beloved, Run- a poem for All Saints Day

All Saints Day– a poem by Steve Garnaas Holmes based on 1 John 3:1, “See what love God has given us, that we should be called children of God.”

All Saints Remembrance 2020
Let us remember who we are in Jesus-
Beloved, Wounded Healers,
Saints set apart by God and for God

Let us remember our purpose-
To lead a devoted life of compassion, generosity, justice, and hope
A life worthy of the calling to which we have been called
A life which inspires faith in others

Name those persons out loud now… pause

From wherever you are worshiping, repeat after me.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God
ALL: Blessed are you, O Lord our God

You surround us with witness after witness to your transforming love
Inspire us and empower us to endure
Fill our hearts with courage

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
ALL: Blessed are you, O Lord our God

You weep with us in our personal heartbreak and loss
Name those you are grieving out loud now… pause
Comfort us and protect us in our mourning
Fill our souls with hope

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
ALL: Blessed are you, O Lord our God

You weep with us in our communal heartbreak and loss
COVID… Fires… Storms… Division… Injustice… Death
Comfort us and protect us in our mourning
Fill our souls with hope

Blessed are you, O Lord our God
ALL: Blessed are you, O Lord our God

You cry out in victory over sin and the grave
Raise us and release us to fulfill your calling
To be saints
Fill our lives with faithfulness and good works
Honor and hope
In Jesus’ Name and for His Glory. Amen.

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How Jesus Grieves, a sermon for All Saints Day © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
There’s No Place Like Home… © 2016 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
All Saints Remembrance © 2016 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Run Beloved, Run © 2014 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
All Saints Remembrance 2020 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia (www.revlisad.com)
Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Revlisad.com

Christian Practices with Rev. Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

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