Prayers of the People, Saints Preserve Us!, All Saints' Sunday

for November 2, 2014, All Saints’ Sunday, Readings: Revelation 7:9-17, Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3, Mt 5:1-12

     For centuries the church has confronted the human community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when what we really often mean to say is "icon," "star," "hero," ones so possessed by an internal vision of divine goodness that they give us a glimpse of the face of God in the center of the human. They give us a taste of the possibilities of greatness in ourselves. What qualities will be necessary to live a life of integrity, of holiness, in the twenty-first century? What models of those values, if any, have been raised up to show us the way to God in a world that is more preoccupied with the material than with the spiritual, more self-centered than selfless, more concerned with the mundane than with the divine, more parochial than cosmic? (They) are male and female, Christian and non-Christian, married and unmarried, religious and lay, pragmatists and artists, named saint by a process or proclaimed saint by the people who lived in the shadow of their lives. They are people like you and me. With one exception, perhaps. In their eyes burn the eyes of a God who sees injustice and decries it, sees poverty and condemns it, sees inequality and refuses it, sees wrong and demands that it be set right. These are people for whom the Law above the law is first in their lives. These are people who did not temporize with the evil in one system just because another system could have been worse. These are people who saw themselves clearly as the others' keepers. These are people who gave themselves entirely to the impulses of God for the sake of the world. ~ Sister Joan Chittister  [from: A Passion for Life: Fragments of the Face of God, Orbis, Maryknoll, NY, 1996]

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, You have created all of us with unique gifts and we have each developed our own unique flaws. Today we celebrate those who have gone before, and those among us, who have given themselves entirely to You for the sake of us all.  Whenever we struggle, or forget, to find a single moment for You in a day, grant us the wisdom to look to the examples of saints and Saints to guide us to a glimpse of the Lamb, and act accordingly, from the center of our souls.

  Universal, Omnipotent, Boundless God

RESPONSE:  Help us to be dauntless in our faith that
                             we may live as You have called

           

~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, grant us the courage to decry injustice, condemn poverty, and refuse inequality as we raise strong voices, for those who have none, to the leaders of the World, our Country, and our Community, most particularly in these critical times. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

    Universal, Omnipotent, Boundless God

    Help us to be dauntless in our faith that
                  we may live as You have called

~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, deliver from their great ordeal those whose spirits languish in the pain of illness, anxiety, or addiction, and endow those who give them care with patience, gentleness, and love. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

    Universal, Omnipotent, Boundless God

    Help us to be dauntless in our faith that
                  we may live as You have called

~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, as You wipe away the tears of those who mourn, shepherd those who have made their way to You and guide them to springs of the water of eternal life. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

    Universal, Omnipotent, Boundless God

    Help us to be dauntless in our faith that
                  we may live as You have called

~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, silently or aloud…

    Universal, Omnipotent, Boundless God

    Help us to be dauntless in our faith that
                  we may live as You have called

~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, we offer our praise and thanksgiving for all who have humbly accepted Your call to help us navigate our path to redemption. Help them remain faithful and with purity of heart to proclaim to us the greatness of our LORD. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

    Universal, Omnipotent, Boundless God

    Help us to be dauntless in our faith that
                  we may live as You have called

The Celebrant adds: Just, Merciful, Gracious God, in all humility we bow our heads and pray for Your blessing even as we often fail, but still continue to try, to embody those qualities of saintliness that will bring us to Your eternal life. We ask through Jesus, our Lamb, and in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, who with You live and reign in the glory of One God now and for ever and ever.  Amen.

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