Blog

November 2, 2025
All Saints’ Sunday
Communion Service
Union-Congregational Church

Gathering Music                                          

Welcome and Announcements                   
•    OCWM needs your help! This fund is in need of approximately $4,000 to meet the 2025 obligation. Please consider directing some of your giving toward this wider mission.
•    Decorating the Church for Christmas – Saturday, November 29

Sharing the Peace of Christ

Choral Introit             All You Works of God, Bless the Lord

Call to Worship             
Leader: God of all the saints, you surround us with a cloud of witnesses.
All: We give you thanks. May your Holy Spirit sanctify us and perfect us in love.
 

Leader: Risen Christ, you come to us in the humble and the rejected.
All: We give you thanks. May your Holy Spirit sanctify us and perfect us in love.
 

Leader: Holy Spirit, you live and breathe in us, so that we too may be your saints for the sake of the world.
All: We give you thanks. Holy Spirit, sanctify us and perfect us in love, in the spirit of Christ. Amen.

Opening Prayer (unison)                  
Eternal God, we give thanks for those you have guided by your Spirit, who have been teachers, lovers, and healers in our lives. We open our hearts and minds to your Spirit, that we too may be perfected in love by your Word of grace, the presence of Christ, and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening Hymn: #72 Great Is Thy Faithfulness (1,3)

Prayer for Transformation and New Life (led by liturgist)
Christ, who abides as our Holy Guest, we rush to find you as if you are our favorite celebrity. We look for you in the pretty people with seemingly uncomplicated lives. And yet, you are hanging with folks who many consider quirky, unique, and holy messes. You seek companions with our neighbors who are scattered and whose lives seem like fountains of chaos. We neglect noticing you as you like to dwell with the ones who abide in corners, shadows, and hidden in trees. May we seek you in the hearts of our neighbors instead of being distracted by shallow charmers and earthly glamour. Amen.

Words of Grace (led by liturgist)           
Even when we are drawn into spaces of glitz and glamour, God shares grace. May we each continue to be transformed by Divine Radical Love.
All: We are forgiven. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Choral Anthem                    Gather by the River to Pray

Reading of Scripture                       
Luke 6: 20-31
20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. 27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

After reading, please say, “Here end the readings for today. May God bless us as we learn from these holy words. Amen.”

Media: “Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills & Nash (Deb)

Message: Faith of Our Grandmothers

Remembering the Saints of Our Faith Community
Sharon Peters (September 13, 1947 — December 10, 2024)
Warren Mecklenberg (June 28, 1943 — January 22, 2025)
Debbie Scheller (January 11, 1955 — May 10, 2025)
James Smith (December 30, 1946—June 9, 2025)
Linda Rather (February 18, 1957 — August 31, 2025)

Song: “Heaven and Earth Are Filled” by Christopher Grundy (Jacob leads) (OneLicense #CGHEaEAF2015)

Heaven and earth are filled
With the light of the saints who have gone on before us
Shining around us still
We are running this race
Grateful our path is lit for us

Prayers of the People
Time for Silent Prayer
Joys and Concerns 
After each prayer petition, Jacob will say, “God in your mercy”, and the congregation is invited to respond: “Receive our prayer.” 
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer (unison)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy 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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

We Offer Our Gifts

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication (unison)
God of love, you create us in your image, claim us as your beloved, sanctify us as your witnesses, and include us in the great communion of saints. Send us into the world as agents of your love, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the spirit and the company of Christ. Amen.

Sharing Holy Communion
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your heart.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

We thank you, God, for you create us in your image,
make covenant to be our God, and set us free from all that oppresses.
You give us a world, an empire of grace,
to which we belong, that this world can’t take from us.
You call us as your saints, and show us the way in Jesus.
You have given us saints, young and old, women and men, who shine for us with the way of love, who in your Spirit gather with us now.
Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He taught and healed, he fed people and set them free.
He gathered a community of those who desire to live by your grace, who would sanctify themselves for the work of love.
He sought justice, and for that he was crucified, but you raised him from the dead, that he might continually embody for us
your Covenant to be with us in love eternally.

Words of Institution
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us.
Pour out your holy Spirit on these gifts of food,
that those who receive them may experience your love and grace.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ, 
though poor in spirit, blessed by your grace;
though ordinary people, sanctified for lives of love,
for the sake of the wholeness of the world,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

Sharing the Elements

Prayer After Communion (unison)
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. In your Spirit you have bound us together with all your saints as one body in Christ. You have sanctified us, set us apart for the sacred work of the healing of the world. Send us out in love, for the sake of the world, in the name of Christ and the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Closing Hymn: #529 For All the Saints (1,2,5)

Sharing Our Mission and Vision Statement (unison)
We go now to Love God's Creation, Share in Fellowship, and Live Christ's Example, while seeking God's blessing on our lives and on our communities. Living our Core Values, We the family of Union-Congregational Church seek to deepen our own spirituality with acceptance of all through love and a commitment to Christ.

Benediction
May the Spirit of Strength sustain us on our journeys.
May the Christ of Grace fill our hearts with understanding.
May the God of Presence lead us from the depths of shadows into the light. May we know we are never alone in treetops, in corners, or on roads. The steadfast love of God travels with us wherever we go!

Sending Music                                    

Call to Worship, Opening Prayer, Prayer of Dedication, Communion Liturgy: Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Prayer of Transformation and New Life, Words of Grace, Benediction: Rev. Michelle Torigian, UCC Worship Ways