GLOSSOP PARISH CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS All Saints

GLOSSOP PARISH CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS All Saints Day 1 st November 2020

Gathering to worship God Let us worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Lord, direct our thoughts, teach us to pray, lift our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ.

Saying sorry to God our Father, we come to you in sorrow: For the mean thoughts we have had, forgive us and help us. For the hurtful words we have said, forgive us and help us. For the wrong things we have done, forgive us and help us.

Hearing the Word of God This Sunday is called All Saints Day. I wonder what the word ‘saint’ means. Do you know any stories about saints? We sometimes call people who have done something brave or amazing for God ‘saints’.

But it seems that in the Bible there is a different idea about saints. At the beginning of his letter to the Christians in Ephesus the Apostle Paul writes: ‘To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 1. 1). And in his letter to the Christians in Rome when he writes to the church in Rome he writes: ‘I write to all of you in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his own people’ (Romans 1. 7).

I wonder if the Apostle Paul was writing his letters to just a few extra special Christians in Ephesus and in Rome. I wonder if the Apostle Paul was writing his letters to all the Christians in Ephesus and in Rome.

In the last book in the Bible (‘Revelation’), the writer describes heaven: ‘… there was an enormous crowd—no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands’ (Revelation 7. 9). These people are the saints! Everyone who loves God is a saint! We are saints!

Responding to the Word of God In many pictures saints have a HALO around their heads. The halo shows God’s amazing love shining out of them: ‘God [has] made his light shine in our hearts’ (2 Corinthians 4. 6). Sometimes what we think, say or do is wrong. We know we let God down. Does that mean we’re not saints? God knows that we get things wrong. But God still loves us. We’re still saints! God’s light still shines out of us!

Song This Little Light of Mine

Praying to God We pray for God’s grace, saying: Lord, receive our praise and hear our prayer. God of holiness, your glory is proclaimed in every age: as we rejoice in the faith of your saints, inspire us to follow their example with boldness and joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Give us a sense of humour, Lord, and also things to laugh about. Give us the grace to take a joke against ourselves and to see the funny side of life. Save us from annoyance, bad temper, or resentfulness against our friends. Help us to laugh even in the face of trouble, and fill our minds with the love of Jesus, for his name’s sake.

The Lord’s Prayer Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come, your will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen.

The Grace May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and evermore.

GLOSSOP PARISH CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS