Welcome & Announcements

One: Good morning and welcome to Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ, where no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey . . .

All: You are welcome here!

[We offer you a warm welcome, and as is our practice, we remember that the land on which we meet is, was, and always will be native land. We acknowledge those indigenous tribes to Oklahoma: the Wichitas, Caddos, Plains Apaches, and the Quapaws, as the original custodians of the land in this place. We grieve the violence done to native language, culture, and personhood, and seek to honor the sovereignty and dignity of native peoples.]

We are so glad to worship together!

Call to Worship

One: On this All Saints Sunday, we gather to remember. We are here to light a candle, say a prayer, and comfort one another as we grieve and honor those who are no longer physically with us.

All: On this day, we cling to all that is worth remembering. It is a day that becomes a “thin place,” where heaven and earth meet, and time falls away.

One: Today we remember the sinners and saints who sang hymns in these pews, spoke of their joy and their pain in this sanctuary, and used their hearts and hands to shape this beloved community.

All: Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us to hold fast to the hope we have been given! We rise now in body or in spirit to sing together.

Hymn

God Be the Love to Search and Keep Me, insert
Click here for hymn notation

God, be the love to search and keep me;
God, be the prayer to move my voice;
God, be the strength to now uphold me:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.

Bind to myself the Name of Holy,
great cloud of witnesses enfold;
prophets, apostles, angles witness:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.

Brightness of sun and glow of moonlight,
flashing of lightning, strength of wind,
depth of the sea to soil of planet:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.

Walking behind to hem my journey,
going ahead to light my way,
and from beneath, above, and al all ways:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.

Christ in the eyes of all who see me,
Christ in the ears that hear my voice,
Christ in the hearts of all who know me:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.

[Please rise in body or in spirit.]

Passing the Peace of Christ

One: "May the peace of Christ be with you."
All: "And also with you!"

[Please rise in body or in spirit to enact the ancient practice of passing the peace.]

Anthem

I Love You, O My God Most High
traditional Irish melody
arr. David Hogan
Mayflower Module Choir

I love you, O my God most high,
for first your love has captured me;
I seek no other liberty:
Bound by your love, I shall be free.

All mine is yours: say but the word,
Say what you will it shall be done;
I know your love, most holy one,
I know you seek my good alone.

May memory no thought suggest
But shall to your pure glory tend,
May understanding find no rest,
Except in you, its only end.

Apart from you, nothing can be,
So grant me this, my only wish,
To love you, Christ, eternally,
You give me all in giving this.

Joys & Concerns

For the joys of this congregation, let the people say: Thanks be to God.

The Lord's Prayer, a translation by this congregation:

Our Creator, who is in heaven, holy is your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For you reign in the power that is love, now and always. Amen.

Anthem

Set Me as a Seal
Rene Clausen
Riordan Banks, Gabrielle Gore, Kelly Holst, and Clint Williams

Set me as a seal upon your heart
as a seal upon your arm
for love is strong as death
set me as a seal upon you heart
as a seal upon your arm
for love is strong as death

Many waters cannot quench love
neither can the floods drown it
set me as a seal upon your heart
as a seal upon your arm
for love is strong as death

Pastoral Prayer

Rev. Lori Walke

Reading

Our reading morning comes is an adaptation of Barbara Brown Taylor’s “A Great Cloud of Witnesses":

What makes a saint?
Extravagance.
Excessive love, flagrant mercy, radical affection,
exorbitant charity, immoderate faith, intemperate hope,
inordinate love.

None of which is an achievement, a badge to be earned or a trophy to be sought;
all are secondary by-products of the one thing that truly makes a saint,
which is the love of God,
which is membership in the body of Christ,
which is what all of us, living and dead, remembered and forgotten,
great souls and small, have in common.

Some of us may do more with that love than others
and may find ourselves able to reflect it in a way
that causes others to call us saints,
but the title is one that has been given to us all by virtue of our baptisms.

The moment we rose dripping from the holy water, we joined the communion of saints, and we cannot go back
any more than we can give back our names or the blood in our veins.

(The great cloud of witnesses includes us all),
clan made kin . . .

There are heroes and scoundrels at the party, beloved aunts and estranged cousins, relatives we adore and those who plainly baffle us.

They are all ours, and we are all included.
... we worship amidst a great fluttering of wings,
with the whole host of heaven crowding the air above our heads.

Call their names and hear them answer “Present.”
... they belong to us and we to them,
and as their ranks swell so do the possibilities that open up in our own lives.

Because of them
and because of one another.
and because of the God who binds us all together,
we can do more than any of us had dreamed to do alone.

Sermon: In Remembrance

Rev. Lori Walke

Candle Lighting

[Beloveds, we have all lost Saints in our lives.  You are invited to come light a candle for those you are grieving and still hold dear, and want to honor. Hold one end of a lighting stick to an already lit candle so that it catches flame, and then use it to light. Return it flame down into the sand. Feel free to come around to the backside of the Table, and there are also candles at the lectern and pulpit. I’ll be standing to the side if you need a hug or a prayer. For those of you at home, take a moment to find a candle or settle in for a time of reflection. Come now, for those who mourn shall be comforted.]

Balm In Gilead
arr. Benjamin Harlan
Mayflower Module Choir

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work's in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again.

If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
you can tell the love of Jesus
and say he died for all.

There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.

Hymn

Jerusalem, My Happy Home, Hymn 378
New Century Hymnal

[Please rise in body or in spirit.]

Benediction

One: May God grant to us the grace to never sell ourselves short, the courage to risk something big for something good, and the wisdom to know that the world is too small for anything but love. Let us go in peace, pray for peace, wage a little peace, and love one another . . .

ALL: Every single other.

Benediction Response

What Does the Lord Require?
Jim Strathdee

Part 1: What does the Lord require of you? What does the Lord require of you?
Part 2: Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God. Justice, kindness, walk humbly with your God.
Part 3: To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God. To do justice, and love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

[Sung in a round, Part 1 begins the response, joined the second time by Part 2, then by Part 3, and then a fourth time through. For those in-person, it is our tradition for the congregation to stand and turn towards the center aisle during the benediction response so that we might "send each other forth" to embody what we sing.]