PRAYERS: ALL SAINTS SUNDAY

And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his
riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Thanks to you, Lord, for the word “continue”, that I may have the
assurance that your mercies will never end. I need you, Lord, and
you have filled my need. I will continually praise your holy name.
Amen

FROM LUTHER’S SMALL CATECHISM:

The Sacrament of Holy Baptism:

How can water do such great things?

Clearly the water does not do it, but the Word of God, which is with,
in, and among the water, and faith, which trusts this Word of God in
the water. For without the Word of God the water is plain water and
not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is, a
grace-filled water of life and a "bath of the new birth in the Holy
Spirit.” As St. Paul says to Titus in 3:5-8, “He saved us, not because
of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his
mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure.”*
*In Luther’s translation of Titus, the last line reads, “This is most certainly true,” as
in the explanations to the Apostles’ Creed and the meaning of Amen in the Lord’s
Prayer.
Almighty God, whose people are knit together in
one holy Church, the body of Christ our Lord:
Grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives
of faith and commitment, and to know the inexpressible joys you
have prepared for those who love you; through your Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
GOSPEL: John 11:32-44
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet
and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not
have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews with her
were also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply
moved. 34 He said, "“here have you laid him?"” They said to him,
“Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said,
“See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he
who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from
dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It
was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away
the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord,
already there is stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus
said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the
glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked
upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of
the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come
out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips
of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind
him, and let him go.”
Second Reading: Revelations 21:1-6a
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth has passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals,
He will dwell with them,
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes,
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See. I am making
all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are
trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ?
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
Revelations xxi. 1.
This is the brightness and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ
here on earth He is despised and rejected, but He will come again
and will appear in glory. He will bring brightness so wonderful that
all creatures will be made more beautiful than they are now. The
light of the sun will be seven times brighter than it is now, the light
of the moon will be like the present light of the sun. Trees, leaves,
grass, fruit, and all things will be seven times as lovely as they are
now.
The Christians will then come forth from their graves
shining like the loveliest and most radiant stars. A holy martyr who
now for the sake of Christ and His Gospel is persecuted and burnt to
ashes like a black dull star, will then hover in the air and be drawn
through the clouds towards the Lord and will go to heaven like a
bright, light, and glorious star. In short, all the elect of God will be
assembled in great and wonderful glory. And He Himself, the Lord
Jesus, will be seated in the clouds ‘upon the throne of his glory, and
before him shall be gathered all nations’ (Matthew xxv. 31,32).
The whole world will be transfigured and will be a thousand times
more glorious than it is now.
Sermons for the year, 1531. W.A. 34. 126.
Taken from the book:
Day by Day We Magnify Thee by Martin Luther
Page 427