Call to worship & Prayer
All: Holy God, Holy Son, Holy Spirit. Before all that is, outside all we know and after all is finished, You are God.
Pastor: We are thankful for Your presence that abides in every corner of our living. In the loneliest places of our heart, our devastations, our losses and our fear, You are.
All: Holy God, Holy Son, Holy Spirit. Before all that is, outside all we know, and after all is finished, You are God.
Pastor: Speak to us so we may find comfort in Your Word and let Your Hand catch us when the shadow of death enfolds us in grief, loss and hopelessness. Remind us never to lose heart as You are with us.
All: Holy God, Holy Son, Holy Spirit. Before all that is, outside all we know and after all is finished, You are God.
Pastor: We give thanks for all the saints in our lives: those who are living and those of blessed memory. Be with us today as we remember with love and faith.
All: Holy God, Holy Son, Holy Spirit. Before all that is, outside all we know and after all is finished, You are God. Amen.
GOSPEL MATTEHEW 5
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Sermon: Hope, Speak to Us
Blessed are you, Jesus said.
Blessed are you, we hear this morning as we gather for All Saints Sunday. A solemn day to remember. The ones we have loved. The ones we lost. The ones we grieve. The ones we carry with us every minute of our day. The ones who made our lives a blessing.
The Beatitudes frame All Saints’ remembrance as a journey where grief, hope, and communion with our beloved dead become signs of God’s blessing breaking into our lives.
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
All Saints’ Day begins with honesty: we feel our sadness and small and poor and low in spirit, when we miss those, we love. Their absence creates a hollow space within us.
Yet Jesus calls this poverty, this hollow space of grief, to be blessed—not because loss is good, but because God meets us precisely where we feel empty.
In our longing, God draws near.
In our weakness, God sustains.
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
This Beatitude speaks directly to us today. Our mourning is not a failure of faith; it is an expression of love. Jesus does not say, “Blessed are those who never cry,” but “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” All Saints’ Day proclaims that this comfort is not abstract. It is the comfort of Christ who himself wept at Lazarus’s tomb, who knows grief from the inside, and who promises that death does not have the final word.
Blessed Are the Meek
Meekness is not weakness—it is trust. The saints, our beloved ones, we remember today often lived with quiet faithfulness, steady love, and humble courage.
Their meekness shaped us. Their gentleness steadied us. Their lives remind us of the hope that Christ gave to us: a promise that death is not the last word.
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
Our beloved dead leave us with unfinished hopes—dreams they carried, prayers they offered, justice they longed for. All Saints’ Day invites us to carry their hunger forward, to let their longing for goodness become our own. In this way, their lives continue to bear fruit. Their witness becomes our calling. So, in a world where we can be so many things, choose to be kind.
Blessed Are the Merciful
Mercy is the bridge between the living and the dead. When we remember our beloved dead with gratitude rather than bitterness, with forgiveness rather than regret, we practice and live with mercy.
And mercy opens us to God’s mercy—healing old wounds, softening grief, and reminding us that love endures because God endures.
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
Purity of heart is clarity of love. The saints we remember today—famous or unknown, ordinary or spectacular, complicated or compassionate —loved us with a purity that still shapes us. Their love was not perfect, but it was real. And real love leaves a mark that death cannot erase.
In remembering them, our hearts are purified too, clarified by gratitude, hope, and the promise of resurrection.
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
Grief can unsettle us, but Christ calls us to be peacemakers—people who trust that God is still writing the story. A story of goodness, peace and love.
The saints we remember today now rest in God’s peace. And we, still on the journey, are called to live that peace: to reconcile, to forgive, to build, to bless.
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake
Some of the saints we remember suffered greatly—through illness, hardship, injustice, or sorrow. Their endurance becomes part of the “great cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us. Their faith and persistent hope can strengthen us.
Blessed Are You
Jesus ends the Beatitudes by turning directly to us: “Blessed are you.”
Listen again and take it in. Jesus is saying to each and one of us: Blessed are you!
On All Saints’ Day, this blessing is personal.
Blessed are you who remember.
Blessed are you who grieve with hope.
Blessed are you who carry forward the love of those who have died.
Blessed are you who trust in a gracious Gd and hope for an eternal love.
Today we remember our beloved dead in the light of Christ’s insistent hope.
We honor their lives. We acknowledge our longing.
And we trust that the blessings Christ names in the Beatitudes are already at work—binding us to the saints, healing our grief, and leading us toward the day when God will wipe every tear from every eye.
Blessed are you, Jesus said.
Imagine Jesus coming to our church this morning.
Before he would speak, however, he would tell everyone to turn off their electronic devices. I am sure there would be people snapping pictures, posting to social media, and tweeting. But he would encourage people to unplug from those devices for just a little while.
I would not be surprised if he would also lead the group in a guided meditation to clear thoughts of the day, to be fully present and breathe deeply. He would then probably pray “Dear Heavenly Father, help us to open our hearts, our minds, and our imagination to these words.”
Then he blesses us with words of wisdom and truth and ends his sermon saying:
Now, go! Be blessed and be a blessing!
Let your light shine! Let hope speak to you. We experience loss. WE grieve. But we grieve with hope. Hope insists. Hope persists. Hope refuses to let death define our story.
With the beatitudes and with the blessing spoken back then and today, Jesus told us that the boundary between we belong to one Holy Communion, one fellowship, stretching across time and eternity.
When we gather for worship, we join the praise of saints and angels.
When we pray, we join the chorus of voices that began long before us.
When we love, we participate in the same love that shaped the lives of those we miss.
Remembering the saints today, remembering our beloved ones, is living as people of Hope. It calls us to live with courage. To carry forward the love they gave us. To let their lives inspire us.
Hope is never passive. It is active. It is a way of living. It is choosing love over fear, compassion over indifference, and faith over despair.
Today we remember. Our beloved ones, we hold both sorrow and gratitude in our hearts. We honor their lives. We acknowledge our own grief and longing.
And we believe and hope that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God. AMEN.
Prayer:
Almighty God,
We come with our sorrows and worries and lay them on you: we pray for strength to live and cope.
Make us strong when we are weak.
Give us light when there is darkness.
Give us faith when we doubt.
Give us hope when we despair.
Tell us that the ones we love are with you: loved, blessed and comforted.
We pray for all without hope, all weak, vulnerable, sick and dying. We pray for all who mourn and cry.
Give strength and wisdom to those who have power, position and privilege in the world. Let them rule with love as the Golden Rule.
Be with your church and your people.
Bless us to live, hope and believe. Bless us to be. Amen