Announcements
Maggie: Good morning. So good to be together this morning. Are we hyped up on Halloween candy or what's going on? Hey, third, fourth and fifth graders, I want to invite you to go with Brielle and Marta right now. We'll see you back for communion. Have so much fun.
My name is Maggie. I'm part of the table team and this morning I want to share some of the stories and examples of what we have coming up. That's all around our community. We tried a new experiment this fall. We called it connection circle. And it was an opportunity for people to gather and get to know each other a little bit better. I think we had some nights we had 15 and some nights we had 20 and it was so much fun.
Two weeks ago there was this moment where we were playing the game this or that. Do you know this game? You put a tape line down the middle of the room and then you stand on one side or the other. So it was like introvert or extrovert, night owl or morning person. And we just had so much fun. And part of it was that we were kind of ribbing each other a little bit. Like, oh, I can't believe that you're that extroverted. And that was me. I was all the way on the extrovert side of the room. But there was this moment where we were all laughing together and I just realized that this is exactly what community feels like.
And so if you would like to experience that, boy, do I have some events for you coming up in the coming weeks. First things first though, it is election week. And for some of us that may feel heavy or hard to hold or maybe we're not sure the way forward. And you will hear us say here at the table that we are always political, never partisan. So we are encouraging you all to go out and vote this week. But if you would like a resource to be prayerful about what election week means, what it holds, Justin has written this beautiful reflection. It's available on our website under resources. You can also scan that QR code right there. Go right to it. And it's kind of a prayer guide to take you through different things to pray about in this election season. So we want to let you know about that.
And then a week from Wednesday, we have our next Women at the Table gathering. So we'll be in a local home. We'll be hearing somebody's story. Again, experiencing that community together. And if you need that address, you can RSVP here and I will send it to you because we'd love to see you there.
Next Sunday after church is a gathering that we like to call New at the Table. We do it about quarterly. And it's a good opportunity for folks who are newer to the community to learn kind of what the table is all about and ways that you can get involved and connected. So we encourage you to stay after next Sunday. It's going to be a tight 45 minutes. 11:15 to noon. Childcare is provided if you need it. But let us know at that QR code right there so that we can provide that child care for you.
One of the ways that we do like to get connected with each other is either through a paper card or through this digital version called we call it the connect card. And this is your way to let us know if you need prayer, if you need to speak with a pastor, how we can help get you connected into the community. You can find us at the table in the back or you can do the digital version right here.
All right. We are starting a new series today. We're calling it Everything Hallelujah. Ushering us into this season of gratitude. And the reason for that is God has been so generous to us. And so generosity is our response. Giving at the table looks a couple of ways. There is a donation box in the back, but the majority of our giving is done online. So guess what? You can scan that QR code and learn even more. And if you have any questions, we would love to talk to you about giving at the table. And now Justin's going to kick off this new series.
Sermon
Justin: Good morning. Well, as Maggie said, my name is Justin. I am one of the pastors on staff here at the table. And I hope you had a great Halloween. We have made it to November. And so we are kicking off a series today called everything hallelujah. And yes, we did steal that from Justin Bieber. But I love that phrase, everything hallelujah. I think it has something deeply meaningful attached to it because we're taking the time this month to say thank you and to say hallelujah for all the ways that God has shown up. From the really mundane quiet mornings where you just feel at peace and it's just you and a cup of coffee to all of the big ways that you felt God present in your life this year. Maybe it's the birth of a child or that provision that you desperately needed. But we're also taking the time to thank God for all of the ways that God has shown up in the hard stuff too. The death of a loved one. That unexpected diagnosis.
We're finding ways this month to say hallelujah. And I'm excited about that because there's a tangible way that we are going to celebrate those hallelujahs together. We are asking you to submit photos of all of the hallelujahs in your life. And this is only going to work if you submit photos. So we need you to make those submissions. But whether that is your grandmother's 90th birthday party, that trip that you finally took, the engagement photos, the new house that you moved into, anything and everything from the mundane to the grand, we want to celebrate all of the hallelujahs as a community. So if you will submit your photos at the end of the series, we're going to have a slideshow and we're going to celebrate all of those together. And we're really excited about that.
But today is also special because as Ben said when he was singing earlier, today is all saints. And this morning, Christians all across the globe are taking the time to stop and remember the saints, those who have come and gone before us. I think it's so important that we slow down and honor the saints every year for a couple of reasons. One is that it creates space for grief. I think that as a culture, we're not that great with death and grief. We try to avoid it if we can. But it's so important to create that space. Grief is an important part of the life that we live. And acknowledging that there is hurt in the loss and being able to freely process that is so healing.
Two weeks ago, I lost my cousin who was like a sister to me. She tragically passed at the age of 30 from carbon monoxide poisoning. And that phone call was one that I never expected to receive. And when I got off the phone with my dad, I just sat on the floor and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. And it hurts, you know? I don't know that it ever won't hurt a little bit knowing that she's gone. But I do know that I have to make space for that grief. And you have to make space for your grief, too. The ones that you love will always occupy an important space in your heart. And it is okay to grieve that loss. Because when I'm willing to do it, and you're willing to do it, and you're willing to do it, there is something so healing in knowing that we're not in this alone and that we understand each other's pain.
So that alone makes today extremely special and extremely important. But the other reason why All Saints is so important, and we need to slow down and honor those saints, is because it's an opportunity to remember their faithfulness and to allow their stories to shape our lives. And to challenge us to look more like Jesus, just as they did throughout their lives. The word "saint" actually comes from the Latin word "sanctus." And it means "holy" or "set apart." And when we look back at those stories of the saints in our lives, we can clearly see examples of the ways that they have been set apart. The purpose that they lived into. And so that's where we're going to focus our time and our energy this morning.
Our scripture passage comes from Psalm 107, verses 1 through 9, and verse 43. Now, this Psalm was actually written, likely, as a prayer of thanksgiving for worship in the temple. And so before we even get into the passage, there's a little bit of relevance for us. Because these were not just words for private prayer or reflection. They were words for the community. Words for the community to speak to one another, to encourage each other, to give thanks for who God is and what God has done. And since we're gathered in worship together today, I thought that we could read this scripture together in a way that the original audience probably heard it for themselves. And so you'll see the passage of scripture on the screen.
Maybe. There we go. I'm going to read the bold where it says leader. I'll read that. And I want you to respond in the bold print when it speaks to the congregation. We're going to do a responsive reading. Okay:
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.[a]4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
9 for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
Great job. So this psalm starts out with a call to give thanks. Why? Because it says that God is good and God's steadfast love endures forever. That word steadfast is key here because that word is hesed. And it's kind of tricky to pin down in English. It gets translated as all sorts of different things. Favor, devotion, steadfast love, goodness, mercy, all sorts of things. But what it comes back to each time is the idea that hesed is God's faithful relationship with God's people. It is a love that endures and lasts forever. And so out of gratitude for this kind of unfailing love, God's people are encouraged to tell their story.
Those who have come before us have a story to tell that is filled with gratitude. And if we take the time to listen and to remember, we too will be filled with gratitude. I think of a story that Corrie Ten Boom tells when she reflects on her time in Germany. Corrie and her family got caught because they were harboring Jews and making sure that they had enough food to eat. Long story short, Corrie's family gets arrested and she is shipped off to a labor camp with her sister Betsy in Germany. And when they get to this labor camp, the conditions were just absolutely horrible. Girls were crammed in these barracks, fleas infested the area. It was just really, really harsh conditions. And somehow they managed to smuggle a Bible into the labor camp. And so Betsy was reading one day in 1 Thessalonians where it says, "In all things give thanks." And so she decided that she would go around and give thanks for everything that she saw in the room around her. And when she got to the fleas, she thanked God for the fleas. And Corrie stopped her and said, "I understand what you're doing here. I appreciate this, but there is no way I'm going to give thanks to God for the fleas."
Well, it turns out that as Corrie tells this story, the Nazi guards didn't want to be infested with fleas. And so they avoided the barracks for weeks and weeks. They avoided assault. And Corrie and her sister were able to lead these worship services uninterrupted because the barracks were filled with fleas. And so as Corrie tells this story, she stops and she says, "Thank God for the fleas."
I don't know about you, but my faith does not look like that very often. Ask Manuel. And yet, in the midst of some of the most horrifying circumstances that a person could face, these saints had the eyes to see the enduring love of God even in the fleas. That's the kind of example that we have of those who came before us, teaching us with their lives what a lived faith looks like, what it looks like to trust in the enduring love of God. And so I think where our hope can rest today is in the fact that if this is who God always is, then just as God was faithful to the saints who came before us, God will also be faithful to us. And sometimes that love is going to manifest itself in miraculous ways, and sometimes it's going to look extremely, extremely ordinary. We may not always understand it, but nevertheless, it is there and it is enduring. The saints teach us to always be on the lookout for the faithfulness of God so that we can in turn be faithful.
So we remember the saints this morning because their stories train our eyes to see. Lately, as I've been processing my own grief, there are days when I just am grasping at straws for faith and trying to understand. And I know many of you feel that way, too. It could be the death of a loved one, but it certainly doesn't have to be. There are so many circumstances we go through that we don't understand, and we're looking for how God is being faithful and what God is doing in our lives.
And that's why we need the witness of the saints. We need their stories because sometimes they have to see clearly for us when we can't. Psalm 107, our scripture passage for this morning, likely comes about after the Babylonian exile.
King Nebuchadnezzar was leading the charge against the kingdom of Judah, and he comes in and incrementally takes over the kingdom of Judah to the point where the majority of the people were exiled and then the temple is burned down. And this psalm reflects on the hardships of that time as the people wandered through the wasteland and they were hungry and they were thirsty and they cried out to God for help. And there were prophets during this time that popped up like Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel who promised a coming restoration for the people. But it takes 70 years for that to happen. I mean, think about that. 70 years is a lifetime, and in such harsh conditions, every single person doesn't see this promise fulfilled. So many people don't make it to see this deliverance. And yet deliverance does come in the form of a Persian king named King Cyrus who allows the Israelites to return home and rebuild. And in 516 BCE, the temple is finally completed once more. And so finally, after all this time and all this hardship, the people can gather again for worship. But the people needed liturgies. They needed stories. They needed practices to ground them. And so Ezra steps up into leadership and gives them a spirituality that they had long since lost.
So what we have here is a regathered people who have come together for worship again. They remember the stories of their people. And with one voice, they're able to proclaim, "The Lord is good, and His steadfast love endures forever." You see, the saints don't just give us eyes to see. They offer us a story to live by that is grounded in the goodness of God.
And as we're talking about these Psalms and these stories, it makes me think of the way that spirituals came about in the early days of American slavery. And how those songs of sorrow and hope still speak a fresh word into the church today. See, music was central to everyday life in African culture, and that didn't change when African people were brought to North America as slaves. They continued to play a central role. And as the enslaved began to embrace Christianity and learn the story, they began to see their own plight in the pages of Scripture, in the Exodus, in the exiles, in this freedom that could be found in Christ.
But many of the colonists didn't like it. They felt suspect about the dancing and the singing, and they banned it in so many places. But that did not stop them from singing. They sang of their sorrow, and they sang of their hope. And one of those songs, which you may know, is called "There is a Balm in Gilead."
And this idea of a balm in Gilead comes from the prophet Jeremiah, who in the final years of the kingdom of Judah, asked the question, "Is there a balm in Gilead?" In other words, is there a medicine that can heal the wounds of our people? And as the enslaved in the American South wondered the same thing about their wounds and their oppression, they turned that question into a statement of hope, a statement that they could sing about. I'm not going to sing it, but I do want you to see the words and take those in. The song says, "Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my works 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."
The slaves in the American South found hope through the story of Israel. They found a friend and a savior in the crucified and risen Jesus, and that song carried hope for them all the way into the Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, the KKK planted dynamite under the steps of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and when it exploded, four precious little girls lost their lives. At the funeral for three of those girls, Coretta Scott King sang, "There is a Balm in Gilead."
We actually have some rare footage of her singing this song, and I just wanted to share that with you. I want you to take in these words from her voice. [Coretta Scott King sings]
A few years ago, I went to a Juneteenth worship service, and it was at a local historic black church, just steeped in history. And as the choir stood up to sing, what song do you think they sang? "There is a Balm in Gilead." Now, I'm not too woo-woo about stuff, but the Holy Spirit was just so present in that space. You could feel it. These old songs from the saints who came before us, who created their songs from the saints who came before them, have a fresh word to speak to us. They're still telling a story today that we are all a part of.
And so today on All Saints, we remember. We remember because the saints have a story of faithfulness to tell, and those stories are filled with hope and pain and loss and sorrow. And love, they're stories of perseverance and faith, triumph and failure. They are stories of the goodness of God. And we must remember those stories because those stories are our stories too. So much of who we are and the faith that we have is because of their faith and their stories.
The practice of honoring saints goes all the way back to the early centuries of the church. When Christians decided to venerate those that they saw faithful. And over the years, we've recognized people outside the Catholic tradition who have made an impact in the world. And over time, we've also incorporated and included those who have personally been saints to us. People who have made an impact in our lives. And that's what matters today. It's not denot variety, it's the faithfulness. There are so many saints who most of us will never know. And yet they were set apart. They had eyes to see and a story to tell.
And so in just a moment, we're going to take time to remember. The past few Sundays, we've asked you to submit photos of loved ones that you love and have lost this year. And just like every year, we're going to show a slideshow.
And this year, as each person crosses the screen, whether you know them or not, remember that they have a story to tell, a story that we are blessed to be a part of. And so my prayer for us today is that the saints we love who have gone before us will continue to give us eyes to see clearly when we can't. And a story to carry on when our way is uncertain so that we can all gather in one voice and declare together, the Lord is good and his steadfast love endures forever. Let's pray.
God, you are so good. And in everything, we say hallelujah. And this day, we say hallelujah for the lives of the saints that we love so deeply. Even though they're no longer with us physically, their stories live on in us and we will carry that forward and tell of your goodness. Give us the faith to see the way that they saw. In Jesus' name, amen.
Words of Institution
Debbie: The saints that have gone before us, those we've loved and those we've lost. The importance of remembering and telling the stories. As Justin was speaking, I was thinking about how the stories of the saints, those that have gone before us, we tell those stories and we're reminded not only of God's faithfulness but God's love. And I think those stories change who we are.
Because I'm thinking of many of you out here that have lost loved ones and I've watched you become the saints. And I've watched you become those people that have changed, have been transformed, who love differently, who love bigger and broader, who show the love of God to those around you. And it's a powerful thing.
It matters. It's good to remember. It's good to grieve. It's good to be reminded of how even in the midst of the hardest things, God is faithful and he shows up through all of us. We've all witnessed it. It's such a gift. But maybe the biggest part for me is that all of these beautiful stories are grounded in the big story. And that's the love of God, the love of God that we know best and the word that became flesh and dwelt among us.
And that's what we remember every week when we take part in communion together. We share the bread and the cup and we're reminded of the love of God. We're reminded of Jesus. And that's who we remember. We'll invite you forward during the music. You can take the gluten-free bread and you can dip it into the cup. That's juice and we can remember those we loved and love. And remember the love of God. We can be reminded on the call on our heart and our lives to love others like Jesus loved us.
The night before Jesus died, the night before he was crucified, he sat at a table with his disciples and he took bread and he broke that bread. And he said, "This is my body, broken for you. When you eat this, remember me."
He took the cup and after pouring wine into the cup, he said, "This is my blood for you, the new covenant. Drink from this cup and remember me." So on this day of remembrance, guess what? We don't have to do that alone. We do that together in community.
So we invite you, if you're able to stand as together we pray the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Oh, and I forgot one thing. If you're standing in front of the orange line, you'll come forward and you'll cycle through here. If you're behind the orange line, you'll go to the back.
With that, together let's pray.