The Death and Raising of Lazarus
Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series II, Cycle B
Celebrating God's Presence And Power
Pastoral and Congregational Invitation (Pastors and Ministers)
(See how many remember from last year's All Saints' Day.) In the name of the Author of Life and New Life, I invite all of the saints to stand. (If some remain seated, invite them again, and again, and again, until all are standing.) That was easy, or difficult, to get you to recognize your vocation. Perhaps we continue to believe that sainthood is something we earn, rather than a gift from God. Either we receive it as God's gift to us, or, we will never experience it in the first place. (Pause.) Would anyone like to respond? (Pause.) If not, or if so, let's keep going.
P: Just who are you saints, anyway?
M: A mixture -- of joy and sorrow, of high and low moods, of hypocrisy and honesty, of hope and despair, of sadness and gladness, of hate and love.
P: Saints, you are right. We are all of those and more.
M: More? What do you mean, more?
P: I mean that whatever we are, in whatever situation, in whatever mood we find ourselves, God is there first. God beat us to the draw; and because of that, we can know for a fact that God cares, that God has compassion, that God has concern for every one of us saints, for all of us saints.
M: Great News! What a relief that we need not earn our status of sainthood.
All: (Spoken-to-be-heard congregational) "Amen!"
Hymn of Praise
"In Christ There Is No East or West," John Oxenham, 1908; alt. Use the tune, African-American spiritual; Jubilee Songs, 1884; adapt. Harry T. Burleigh, 1940.
Prayer of Praise
Center on the reality that God creates saints, and that we receive our sainthood as a gift, free to us, expensive to God.
Celebrating Our Forgiveness
Call to Confession
One idea about the unpardonable sin is this: always saying "no" to God, especially when we think we have said "yes." Our "yeses" are often conditional. "I'll do this for you, God, if you will do that for me." How many times have we said, or recited, from the Apostles'ÊCreed, "I believe in the Communion of the Saints"? What were we thinking when we said the words? (Pause.) Anyone care to respond? If we were embarrassed to say it, either (1) why say it, or, (2) why not find out what it means? Some will say that we become saints by "working for the goal." We say that we become saints by "receiving the gift." If we take the first approach, we have completely discounted God's act in history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. (Two minutes of silence.) Now, what have you been thinking the last two minutes? Whenever we think that what we do is more important than what God has done, is doing, and will do, Jesus weeps again.
Response
"When Jesus Wept," William Billings, 1770, as in New England Psalm Singer, 1770.
Call to Pardon (Pastor and Ministers)
Now that we know who we are, let's get on with worship, in the name of the Saint-Creator.
P: We saints have received Christ's Spirit. We saints are a new creation, not because of our good works, but because of God's Good Word. The old has passed away. The new has come. We saints are forgiven!
M: Yes, we are! Thank God for that! Amen.
P: O, Lord, point out our resources,
M: And our lives shall show forth your praise.
Response
"Let the Spirit In," words and music by Richard Blank. At the beginning of each, "Let the Spirit in ..." have someone from the congregation speak the words, "We have."
Celebrating The Word
Message with the Children of All Ages
We celebrate Halloween at the same time we celebrate All Saints' Day. As a matter of fact, All Saints' Day came first. So, I invite all of you to put on one of these masks that I will give you. Everyone have a mask on? Ask them to suggest times when even adults wear masks. (Wait.) Prime the pump with initiation rites, as actors, at parties, in the hospital. Sometimes we wear masks to hide some things; other times, to reveal something. Ask, "What does your mask hide?" After your discussion, let them know that God knows all about us if we are wearing a mask, or not wearing one. God asks us to take off our masks and be real.
Dramatize the Gospel
Your drama group will need to plan carefully because of the variety of people involved in this event. Yes, you can even have Lazarus come out of the tomb.
Proclamation of the Good News
Christ continually calls us from death to life, from the tomb to life in the world. The style of life for the saints described by Gandhi: "The self-sacrifice of one innocent person is a million times more potent than the sacrifice of a million men who died in the act of killing others ... The willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful retort to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God or man."
Celebrating Our Obedience
Stewardship Challenge
Ask the congregation to repeat each line after you, using their first name. "Lord, make me (name) an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me (name) sow love; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. I, (name), promise to do this; when I, (name) fail, forgive me, (name), and give me, (name), courage to begin again" (Saint Francis of Assisi and WHK).
Hymn of Commitment
"In Christ There Is No East or West." If your hymnbook has two tunes, use the one you use the least often. In stanza 4, change "all Christly souls," to "all Christly saints."
Charge to the Congregation
"In God's holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops handkerchiefs. These handkerchiefs are called saints" (Author unknown).
Meditation
"This is the true joy in life -- being used for a purpose you recognize as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrapheap; being a force of nature (or God) instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy" (George Bernard Shaw).
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation: "A Psalm Prelude," Howells.
Hymn of Praise: "This Is My Father's World," Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1901; Franklin L. Sheppard, 1915; harm. 1953 for The Hymnbook; alt. 1988.
Response to the Confession: Contemporary version of "You Are the Lord, Giver of Mercy."
Response to the Message with Children: "The Joy of the Lord," source unknown, from Folk Encounter, Hope Publishing Co. (See Appendix I for address.)
Scripture Presentation: If you also use the Beatitudes, use Richard Avery and Don Marsh's song, "The Beatitudes," from The Avery and Marsh Songbook. (See Appendix I for address.)
Response to the Proclamation: (Adult choir or congregation) "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go," George Matheson, 1882; Albert Lister Peace, 1884.
Response to the Prayer following the Proclamation: "Prayer of Supplication and Thanksgiving," Locklair. (Always print words if hard to understand; or because we learn our theology from music. This gives people an opportunity to read them during the week.)
Hymn of Commitment: "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God," Lesbia Scott, 1929; adapted; John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1940, as in Hymnal 1940.
Music for Dismissal: "For All the Saints," William Walsham How, 1864; Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Ask the people to remain to sing, and to remember all the saints who have died. Name those who died this present year.
Pastoral and Congregational Invitation (Pastors and Ministers)
(See how many remember from last year's All Saints' Day.) In the name of the Author of Life and New Life, I invite all of the saints to stand. (If some remain seated, invite them again, and again, and again, until all are standing.) That was easy, or difficult, to get you to recognize your vocation. Perhaps we continue to believe that sainthood is something we earn, rather than a gift from God. Either we receive it as God's gift to us, or, we will never experience it in the first place. (Pause.) Would anyone like to respond? (Pause.) If not, or if so, let's keep going.
P: Just who are you saints, anyway?
M: A mixture -- of joy and sorrow, of high and low moods, of hypocrisy and honesty, of hope and despair, of sadness and gladness, of hate and love.
P: Saints, you are right. We are all of those and more.
M: More? What do you mean, more?
P: I mean that whatever we are, in whatever situation, in whatever mood we find ourselves, God is there first. God beat us to the draw; and because of that, we can know for a fact that God cares, that God has compassion, that God has concern for every one of us saints, for all of us saints.
M: Great News! What a relief that we need not earn our status of sainthood.
All: (Spoken-to-be-heard congregational) "Amen!"
Hymn of Praise
"In Christ There Is No East or West," John Oxenham, 1908; alt. Use the tune, African-American spiritual; Jubilee Songs, 1884; adapt. Harry T. Burleigh, 1940.
Prayer of Praise
Center on the reality that God creates saints, and that we receive our sainthood as a gift, free to us, expensive to God.
Celebrating Our Forgiveness
Call to Confession
One idea about the unpardonable sin is this: always saying "no" to God, especially when we think we have said "yes." Our "yeses" are often conditional. "I'll do this for you, God, if you will do that for me." How many times have we said, or recited, from the Apostles'ÊCreed, "I believe in the Communion of the Saints"? What were we thinking when we said the words? (Pause.) Anyone care to respond? If we were embarrassed to say it, either (1) why say it, or, (2) why not find out what it means? Some will say that we become saints by "working for the goal." We say that we become saints by "receiving the gift." If we take the first approach, we have completely discounted God's act in history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. (Two minutes of silence.) Now, what have you been thinking the last two minutes? Whenever we think that what we do is more important than what God has done, is doing, and will do, Jesus weeps again.
Response
"When Jesus Wept," William Billings, 1770, as in New England Psalm Singer, 1770.
Call to Pardon (Pastor and Ministers)
Now that we know who we are, let's get on with worship, in the name of the Saint-Creator.
P: We saints have received Christ's Spirit. We saints are a new creation, not because of our good works, but because of God's Good Word. The old has passed away. The new has come. We saints are forgiven!
M: Yes, we are! Thank God for that! Amen.
P: O, Lord, point out our resources,
M: And our lives shall show forth your praise.
Response
"Let the Spirit In," words and music by Richard Blank. At the beginning of each, "Let the Spirit in ..." have someone from the congregation speak the words, "We have."
Celebrating The Word
Message with the Children of All Ages
We celebrate Halloween at the same time we celebrate All Saints' Day. As a matter of fact, All Saints' Day came first. So, I invite all of you to put on one of these masks that I will give you. Everyone have a mask on? Ask them to suggest times when even adults wear masks. (Wait.) Prime the pump with initiation rites, as actors, at parties, in the hospital. Sometimes we wear masks to hide some things; other times, to reveal something. Ask, "What does your mask hide?" After your discussion, let them know that God knows all about us if we are wearing a mask, or not wearing one. God asks us to take off our masks and be real.
Dramatize the Gospel
Your drama group will need to plan carefully because of the variety of people involved in this event. Yes, you can even have Lazarus come out of the tomb.
Proclamation of the Good News
Christ continually calls us from death to life, from the tomb to life in the world. The style of life for the saints described by Gandhi: "The self-sacrifice of one innocent person is a million times more potent than the sacrifice of a million men who died in the act of killing others ... The willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful retort to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God or man."
Celebrating Our Obedience
Stewardship Challenge
Ask the congregation to repeat each line after you, using their first name. "Lord, make me (name) an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me (name) sow love; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. I, (name), promise to do this; when I, (name) fail, forgive me, (name), and give me, (name), courage to begin again" (Saint Francis of Assisi and WHK).
Hymn of Commitment
"In Christ There Is No East or West." If your hymnbook has two tunes, use the one you use the least often. In stanza 4, change "all Christly souls," to "all Christly saints."
Charge to the Congregation
"In God's holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops handkerchiefs. These handkerchiefs are called saints" (Author unknown).
Meditation
"This is the true joy in life -- being used for a purpose you recognize as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrapheap; being a force of nature (or God) instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy" (George Bernard Shaw).
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation: "A Psalm Prelude," Howells.
Hymn of Praise: "This Is My Father's World," Maltbie Davenport Babcock, 1901; Franklin L. Sheppard, 1915; harm. 1953 for The Hymnbook; alt. 1988.
Response to the Confession: Contemporary version of "You Are the Lord, Giver of Mercy."
Response to the Message with Children: "The Joy of the Lord," source unknown, from Folk Encounter, Hope Publishing Co. (See Appendix I for address.)
Scripture Presentation: If you also use the Beatitudes, use Richard Avery and Don Marsh's song, "The Beatitudes," from The Avery and Marsh Songbook. (See Appendix I for address.)
Response to the Proclamation: (Adult choir or congregation) "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go," George Matheson, 1882; Albert Lister Peace, 1884.
Response to the Prayer following the Proclamation: "Prayer of Supplication and Thanksgiving," Locklair. (Always print words if hard to understand; or because we learn our theology from music. This gives people an opportunity to read them during the week.)
Hymn of Commitment: "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God," Lesbia Scott, 1929; adapted; John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1940, as in Hymnal 1940.
Music for Dismissal: "For All the Saints," William Walsham How, 1864; Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Ask the people to remain to sing, and to remember all the saints who have died. Name those who died this present year.
