Service Sunday October 26, 2025
HIGHLAND HILLS UNITED CHURCH
Minden, Ontario
All are Welcome!
All Saints Day
Worship Leader: Rev. Diane Bennett-Jones
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
Watch a recording of the whole service using Youtube Below.
(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)
The Gathering
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FOCUSING ON THE LIGHT OF CHRIST:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF LAND:
ALL: As a community of faith, we seek to rebuild right relations with the Indigenous peoples who have occupied this territory since time immemorial. We respectfully acknowledge their care and stewardship of this sacred ground. We are grateful for the opportunity to gather here and worship our Creator.
THE APPROACH
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: We come remembering those who lived in faith in their day
and served God in their generation.
ALL: We are heirs to their story and faith.
One: We come to hear God's Word for us and for our generation.
ALL: We seek the Spirit's inspiration, that we may serve Christ faithfully in our day.
One: We come to give God our thanks and praise.
ALL: Let us worship God.
(Written by Douglas Flint. Gathering Pentecost Used with permission.)
HYMN: “For All the Saints” VU #705
1 For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
all who by faith before the world confessed,
your name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
2 You were their rock, their fortress, and their might:
you were their captain in the well-fought fight;
you, in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
3 O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one within your great design.
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
4 The golden evening brightens in the west;
soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
sweet is the calm of paradise the blest.
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
5 But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day
the saints triumphant rise in bright array:
as God to glory calls them all away.
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
6 From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison
ALL: Today, ancient God, we remember those who have gone before us.
We remember those who were transformed by your power. Your Spirit made timid folks bold, and fearful people courageous.
Speak to those parts of our hearts and lives that long for something to renew and strengthen them. Fill us with your Spirit's power, as we worship you this day. Amen
(Written by Beth W. Johnston. Gathering Pentecost. Used with permission.)
A SONG OF FAITH:
ALL: We sing of a church seeking to continue the story of Jesus by embodying Christ’s presence in the world.
We are called together by Christ as a community of broken but hopeful believers, loving what he loved, living what he taught, striving to be faithful servants of God in our time and place.
Our ancestors in faith bequeath to us experiences of their faithful living; upon their lives our lives are built.
Our living of the gospel makes us a part of this communion of saints, experiencing the fulfillment of God’s reign even as we actively anticipate a new heaven and a new earth.
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
LEARNING TOGETHER
HYMN: “Open My Eyes, That I May See” VU #371
1 Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
2 Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear. Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!
3 Open my mouth, and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!
THE WORD
Scripture: Luke 18:9-14
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE:
“All the Saints”
Read the message at the bottom of this page.
OUR RESPONSE
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and A Contemporary Interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer
ALL: Our God in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation but rescue us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours. Now and forever. Amen
HYMN: “For the Faithful Who Have Answered” VU #707
1 For the faithful who have answered
when they heard your call to serve,
for the many ways you led them
testing will and stretching nerve,
for their work and for their witness
as they strove against the odds,
for their courage and obedience
we give thanks and praise, O God.
2 Many eyes have glimpsed the promise,
many hearts have yearned to see.
Many ears have heard you calling
us to greater liberty.
Some have fallen in the struggle,
others still are fighting on.
You are not ashamed to own us.
We give thanks and praise, O God.
3 For this cloud of faithful witness,
for the common life we share,
for the work of peace and justice,
for the gospel that we bear,
for the vision that our homeland
is your love - deep, high, and broad -
for the different roads we travel
we give thanks and praise, O God.
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER: In Unison
ALL: We offer these gifts to you, God, in the hope that, like the saints who have gone before us, we have been faithful in the giving, and will be discerning and bold in their use. Help us to hear your voice above the din; teach us to serve you in all things, and empower us to offer our very lives so that Christ might be known and your love made manifest throughout the world. Amen
SUNG BLESSING “To Abraham and Sarah” VU #634 (verse 3)
3 We of this generation
on whom God's hand is laid,
can journey to the future
secure and unafraid,
rejoicing in God's goodness
and trusting in this word:
'that you shall be my people
and I will be your God.'
SENDING FORTH:
A Time of Fellowship
© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2024 - 25/10/2025; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches
Scripture: Luke 18:9-14 “All the Saints”
Let us pray,
May the Words of my mouth,
and the meditations of all of our hearts,
be acceptable to you, O God,
our rock and our redeemer.
Amen
Today is All Saints Sunday – a day to remember the saints who have gone before us. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is a day to pay tribute to the capital "S" Saints who have been officially recognized by the church as people of outstanding faith.
So, can you tell me the names of some capital ‘S’ Saints?
So here are a few of the capital “S” Saints that you may or may not have heard of…
St. Francis, the patron saint of Animals & the Environment.
St. Anne – The mother of Mary – the patron saint of Housewives.
St. Christopher - the patron saint of Travelers.
St. Gertrude – The patron saint of Gardeners and Cats.
St. Nicholas – patron saint of Children and Sailors.
St. Catherine of Siena – patron saint of Firefighters and Nurses.
St. Patrick – patron saint of Ireland and Excluded people.
St. Valentine – patron saint of Lovers and Grandparents.
And St. Joseph – the patron saint of Fathers, Carpenters, & Canada!
Now, Protestant churches identify all Christians as saints, and so today, on ‘All Saints Sunday’, we also recognize Christians, past and present, living and dead, who have given us a glimpse of God's kin-dom; Those who have helped to nurture our faith and provided us with an example of what it means to follow Jesus; Those who have shown us what it means to humbly love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.
In today’s scripture reading we hear Jesus speaking to some people who are not humble and consider themselves to be better than everyone else.
And Jesus tells them a parable about two people who come to the Temple to pray: The first is a Pharisee.
The Pharisees were members of a religious sect who dedicated themselves to strictly following the religious laws, and they were especially concerned with prayer.
Typically, they prayed 2 or 3 times a day – in the morning, sometimes at noon, and in the evening.
And to see a Pharisee praying in the Temple was not unusual, because prayers offered at the Temple were believed to be more effective.
The Pharisees also fasted.
And although the Jewish Law required fasting only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, those who wanted to gain special merit with God, fasted two days a week - on Mondays and Thursdays, which were busy market days in Jerusalem.
They would whiten their faces, put on disheveled clothes and walk through the crowded streets to display their piety to the largest possible audience.
The Pharisees also tithed a portion of their income and tried to separate themselves from everything and everyone they considered to be unclean.
No doubt this is why the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable is standing by himself in the Temple, and he prays, “Thank you God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else – for I don’t cheat, and I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I am certainly not like that Tax Collector over there. I fast twice a week; and I give you a tenth of all my income.”
Now there is no doubt that this Pharisee does go ‘above and beyond’ the requirements of the religious law of his day.
He fasts twice a week, not just once a year.
He tithes a portion of all that he has to the Temple, not just a part of it.
He considers himself to be a paragon of virtue and beyond reproach.
And, no doubt, Jesus’ listeners would agree and be suitably impressed. To them, this Pharisee is ‘as good as it gets’ when it comes to being devoted to God.
But this Pharisee has not come to the Temple to humbly pray to God.
His prayer is boastful and arrogant.
It focuses on himself and his outstanding behavior.
He is convinced that his actions have put him in God’s “Good Graces.”
But he is, in fact, bragging about himself to God, and thanking God that he is superior to everyone else.
And we live in a world that fosters ideas like this – that promotes competition and applauds superiority. And so it is part of our human nature to compare ourselves to others and to want to know how we ‘measure up.’
And most of us like to feel important, so, from time to time, we may find ourselves feeling superior about our own accomplishments, even if its only because we go above and beyond when it comes to things like…
Reducing, Reusing and Recycling,
Or Shopping locally & Buying Canadian
Eating right & Exercising
Getting 8 hour of sleep and walking 10 thousand steps a day
Donating to charity & giving to the food bank,
or even going to church & helping our neighbour.
And it IS important to do all of these things and to take pride in our accomplishments, as long as we don’t start thinking, like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, that it makes us better than someone else.
Well, there is a second character in Jesus’ parable who comes to the temple to pray – a Tax Collector.
Tax collectors at that time were known to be notoriously unscrupulous and dishonest.
They paid the Roman Empire for the privilege of collecting taxes on the Empire’s behalf. In return, Tax Collectors were free to collect whatever amount of money they could, any way they wanted, and keep anything they collected above what was owed to Rome.
So they routinely overtaxed people and accepted bribes,
And they were despised because of their greed and dishonesty.
And if this wasn’t bad enough, because they frequently came into contact with Gentiles, Tax Collectors were considered ritually unclean and were unable to participate in worship.
They were considered to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Pharisees.
And it appears that the Tax Collector in Jesus’ parable is no different.
In fact, he is well aware of this and does not dispute it.
He calls himself a sinner.
Unlike the Pharisee, he has nothing to boast or brag about.
But he has come to the Temple to pray.
He stands far off with his eyes downcast, ashamed of what he has done.
He offers no excuses.
Instead, he beats his chest (as a sign of repentance) and prays, “God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.”
No there is no doubt about which one of these two men in Jesus’ parable has been living a righteous life and which one has not.
Yet Jesus says, “I tell you, the Tax Collector, the sinner, not the Pharisee, returns home justified (and accepted) by God.”
And, with that, Jesus turns our understanding of God upside down telling us what we never would have expected and reminding, us that God’s ways are not our ways.
Even though the Pharisee has been going above and beyond following the religious laws, Jesus says that God is not impressed by his self-righteous prayer.
And even though the Tax Collector has been dishonest, God is merciful to him because he has humbly repented.
And to drive his point home, Jesus says, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The New Testament repeatedly uses the term 'saints' to refer to all Christians collectively.
This doesn't mean that we are perfect – we all know that we are not.
But stop and think for a moment about the people you have known throughout your life who you would consider to be modern-day saints. - those who were humble in their faith, who gave you a glimpse of God’s kingdom and made a positive impact on you, your life, and your belief (in God and in yourself).
Chances are, it is because they were people who,
helped you and cared for you;
saw the good in you and inspired you;
made time for you and listened to you;
believed in you and trusted you;
treated you with respect and showed you kindness;
and were there for you in good times and in bad.
And now think about the current days saints that are all around us, right here, right now.
Think about St. Max, St. Melissa, St. Thomas, and St. Pat.
Think about the saint sitting beside you right now, - Think about saint ‘you’ and saint ‘me.”
It is true that none of us is perfect, but we are the saints of our day, so let us trust in God, and follow Jesus, and humbly live out our faith loving God and our neighbours as ourselves.
Our God is a God of rebirth and resurrection - a God who rolls away stones and sets captives free.
Our God is a God of love and compassion - And we are God's people.
Believe it or not, we are the saints of our day - of this time and this place, so this week, I invite you to consider, what your legacy will be.
To God be the glory.
Amen
Sources
The Gospel of Luke: The New Daily Study Bible, by William Barclay, page 264.
Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, Year C, Volume 3, page 422
Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 4, page 212f.
