All Saints & Remembrance day 2018Set up: Flowers, candles.

Welcome – Slide 1

Image ‘Christmas bush’

The traditional people of this land, the Kulin (Koolin) people, call this season in November ‘Buath Gurru’ or grass flowering season.The weather is warm and traditionally it is often raining.The kangaroo grass is flowering, attracting the butterflies and providing seeds that can be ground up and thrown into the damper. The Christmas bush begins to blossom in a mass of white flowers.

Intro – slide 2

Last weekend was All Saints day (Nov 1) and All Souls day (Nov 2) are ancient celebrations. A time when when we remember we are part of an ancient family. A day when we remember and give thanks for the lives of all the Christians who have gone before us and celebrate that we are one family with them, in all our diversity. The bible the word Saint is used to describe everyone in the Christian community. From early times however All Saints day was a time to remember particular, inspiring heroes of the faith who had died and all All Souls day was an extension of this celebration to remember everyone, particularly family and friends who have died and are equally part of God’s family.

Poem - Laurie

Below is a beautiful poem written by Ana Lisa De Jong –

THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS

He who sits outside timewraps us in light.

We, a globe suspended in the sky,are circled by the saints.

We circle the centreof our solar systems place,

in an ancient universegrowing every day.

Yet we are still firmly and tenderly held.

Secured by laws of gravity, and grace.

We, who sit inside timelive tied yet to the ground

He, outside us where all is clear,reigns in community.

We cannot know, but sometimes have the strangest view

of a world beyond our grasp.We sense a smile, we feel the robes

of ones gone long before.It does not matter if we are yet to know,

enough we feel their presence.The love of those who hold us close

in the communion of heaven.

Opening Prayer - Tim

Gracious and holy FatherGive us wisdom to perceive you,Diligence to seek you,Patience to wait for you,Eyes to behold you,A heart to meditate upon you,And a life to proclaim you;Through the power of the SpiritOf Jesus Christ our LordSt Benedict

Almighty God,You have built up your ChurchThrough the love and the devotion of your saints.We give thanks for them.Inspire us to follow their example,That we in our generation may rejoice with themIn the wisdom of your glory;Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

How blest are those whose hearts are pure; they shall see God.

Greeting and reading from Romans 16 and a whole-church activity – Slide 3

We are going to read part of a letter from the bible now. From Paul to a church in Rome. I need volunteers to take a name each and stand up when I say the name on your card and remain standing until I finish the reading.

1. Phoebe (female)2. Priscilla and Aquila (husband and wife)3. Rufus and his mother4. Andronicus (male) and Junia (female) probably related somehow5. Epenetus (male)6. Mary7. Ampilatus 8. Urbanus9. Stachys10. Apelles (male)11. Aristobulus. 12. Herodion,13. Narcissus14. Tryphena (female)15. Tryphosa (female)16. Persis17. Asyncritus18. Phlegon19. Hermes20. Patrobas21. Hermas22. Philologus, 23. Julia, 24. Nereus and his sister, 25. Olympas

The service leader reads the passage.

Paul Greets His Friends

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. 2 Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.

3 Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. 4 In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. 5 Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.

Greet my dear friend Epenetus. He was the first person from the province of Asia to become a follower of Christ. 6 Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your

benefit. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia,[a] my fellow Jews,[b] who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

10 Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves. And give my greetings to the believers from the household of Aristobulus. 11 Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.[c] Greet the Lord’s people from the household of Narcissus. 12 Give my greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa, the Lord’s workers, and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own; and also his dear mother, who has been a mother to me.

14 Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters[d] who meet with them. 15 Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believers[e] who meet with them. 16 Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.

Look everyone. Here are just some of the saints of the church in Rome. I bet not one of them thought of themselves as saints. I bet they never imagined that their names would be remembered and read out in the province of Croydon 2000 years in their future! I bet they thought that they hadn't got much to offer the church of God in Rome but they had - they were friends, examples of faith, hard workers, fellow prisoners, relatives, faithful servants, caring mothers and much more besides!

If Paul were writing to our church today, he would want to greet all the saints here in the same way. Yes, the saints at Eastern Hills because everyone is important; everyone is needed to make it church; and everyone is part of God's mission in the world. Paul wrote at the beginning of this letter about these very Romans: First, I thank God in the name of Jesus Christ for all of you. I do this because people everywhere in the world are talking about your faith' (Romans 1:8, CEV).

Let's all turn to each other and greet each other with a holy handshake or high five!

Listen to what Jesus says: 'Be happy that your names are written in heaven!' (Luke 10:20b, CEV) This is what makes us saints alive!

Let’s now sing together as God’s people have always done.

Idea from:https://www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk/saints-alive/?utm_source=bicenews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bicoct11

Worship – Cin

Offering & Announcements - Slide 4

Men’s bible study, soccer, Kids Big hearted gift stall, Blessing of kids service Sunday, Rsvp xmas dinner & roster. Letters to kids.

Poppies story – Remembrance day – slide 5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25269805

Today is remembrance day. World War One ended at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918. Germany signed an armistice (an agreement for peace and no more fighting) that had been prepared by Britain and France.Despite the jubilation, many people felt it was wrong to celebrate because so many people had died during the war.

On 11 November 1919, one year after the war ended, a newspaper announced that it was "Peace Day". People wore black as they would at a funeral. The king decided there should also be a period of silence to remember those who died.

When the church bells struck 11, people all over the country stood up and bowed their heads. Buses and trains stopped moving. People stopped working. Shopkeepers stopped serving. The electricity was cut off to stop the trams from running. Everyone just stayed silent to think about the soldiers who had died.

When the Cenotaph in London was built in 1920, people laid flowers there in memory of loved ones who had died in the war.

Ever since the first Remembrance Day, people have followed the same tradition: every year on 11 November they stop for a short moment of silence and reflection.

Poppies became used as a way to remember soldiers who died in battle, because of how the flowers sprung up and grew on the barren battlefields of World War One.

We are going to watch a story about that now.

Slide 6 - http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4913740.htm

Memory gardenWooden skewers, paper flowers, tape, markers

Slide 7- http://archive.wf-f.org/AllSouls.html

We are going to make paper flowers too now.All Saints/All Souls day is a special time for the Christian family. Traditionally families/churches come together and honor not only the famous saints but also the saints/the people of faith from their own families who have died. On this day in all different countries people bring flowers or light candles at the graves of their loved ones. In Latin America, this day is known as “Day of the Dead” and is an occasion of great festivity. Bakeries sell sweets and cakes in the shapes of skulls, skeletons, and coffins. In

Mediterranean cultures, children receive gifts of candy. It is also common to set up shrines to remember those who have died.

Now we have a moment to offer our thanks to God for those people special to us who have died.

These may be family, friends, heroes of faith or people from our community who have touched our lives. They may have been old, they may have been young. We remember today that death does not release us from being in community with them. Together we treasure all they have given us.

Who do you want to remember in thankfulness today? Who stirs your memories this season?

You may like to write or draw their name or a prayer or a special memory or sentence about them on a paper flower and stick it to the skewer and we will place them as a memory garden on each side of the path outside.We will then call you inside to close in prayer.

Slide 8 - Track I Giorni played by Lavinia Meijer

For all the saints who went before uswho have spoken to our hearts and touched us with your fire,we praise you, O God.

For all the saints who live beside uswhose weaknesses and strengths are woven with our own,we praise you, O God.

For all the saints who live beyond uswho challenge us to change the world with them,we praise you, O God.

~ Janet Morley. Posted on the RevGalBlogPal’s A Place for Prayer.http://revgalprayerpals.blogspot.ca/2012/04/thursday-prayer_26.html

For printing

1. Phoebe (female)2. Priscilla and Aquila (husband and wife)3. Rufus and his mother4. Andronicus (male) and Junia (female) probably related somehow5. Epenetus (male)6. Mary

7. Ampilatus 8. Urbanus9. Stachys10. Apelles (male)11. Aristobulus. 12. Herodion,13. Narcissus14. Tryphena (female)15. Tryphosa (female)16. Persis17. Asyncritus18. Phlegon19. Hermes20. Patrobas21. Hermas22. Philologus, 23. Julia, 24. Nereus and his sister, 25. Olympas