November 2, 2025

MORNING PRAYER (MATINS)

ALL SAINTS DAY

God grants the status of “saint” (which means “holy one”) to every believer. It might appear that status is of little practical value. If you achieve the status “billionaire” or “celebrity” or “senator” your life is going to be vastly different than most other people, most likely better. But if God calls you a saint, just like everyone else, you will struggle with trials, temptations, and sin. Being a saint does not make life easier. In some ways it makes life more difficult as we struggle against a world that is hostile toward Christ. This might lead us to ask, “Is it really that big a deal that God calls us saints?”

For centuries, the Church has answered that question by celebrating the Festival of All Saints. This week we get a peek at the saints who have died and now live in the glory of Christ’s light. Through eyes of faith, we see the saints enjoying glory in the place where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:1-6). We realize what a precious gift this status of saint actually is. We understand that soon enough we shall join all the saints in that glorious heavenly city. And that gives us amazing stamina to face the challenges of this world with the strength Christ gives to all his saints.

OPENING HYMN 847 Be Still, My Soul

1 Be still, my soul; the Lord is on your side;
bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to your God to order and provide;
in ev’ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; your best, your heav’nly friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2 Be still, my soul; your God will undertake
to guide the future as he has the past;
your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
his voice who ruled them while he lived below.

3        Be still, my soul; when dearest friends depart
    and all is darkened in the vale of tears,
then you will better know his love, his heart,
    who comes to soothe your sorrows and your fears.
Be still, my soul; your Jesus can repay
from his own fullness all he takes away.

4       Be still, my soul; the hour is hast’ning on
    when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
    sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Text: Catharina A. von Schlegel, 1697–1752, abr.; tr. Jane L Borthwick, 1813–1897, alt.
Text: Public domain

Please stand

OPENING SENTENCES

♫ O Lord, open my lips.
♫ And my mouth shall declare your praise.

♫ Hasten to save me, O God.
♫ Lord, come quickly to help me.

♫ Give glory to God, our light and our life.
♫ Come, O come, let us worship.

VENITE Come, O Come, Let Us Sing to the Lord (Psalm 95)

Ref Come, O come, let us sing to the Lord,
let us shout with joy to our saving Rock;
come, enter in with our songs of praise,
come, enter in with thanksgiving.

1 You are a great and a wondrous God,
cupping in your hands all the depths of earth.
You made the hills and the mountains high,
you made the seas and the dry land. (Refrain)

2 Come, let us worship and, bowing low,
kneel before the One who has made us all.
You are the God whom we call our own,
we are the flock that you shepherd. (Refrain)

Text: Marty Haugen
Text: © 1995, 1996 GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission: Onelicense no. 717826

Be seated

READING Psalm 149

1Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

2Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
4For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
5Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.

6May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
9to carry out the sentence written against them—
this is the glory of all his faithful people.

Praise the Lord.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

FIRST READING Revelation 21:1–6

St. John is allowed to see the home of the saints, the new Jerusalem.

1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

SECOND READING Hebrews 11:32–40

For many Christians, their faith was the cause of pain and even death. They faced these troubles with amazing courage and stamina because they knew God has planned something better for his saints.

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Please stand

GOSPEL (in English and Karen) Luke 6:20–23

Jesus teaches that the blessedness of being God’s saint is currently hidden from sight. Yet, one day, that blessedness shall be revealed.

20Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

23“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise be to you, O Christ!

Be seated

CHILDREN'S MESSAGE

HYMN OF THE DAY 885 There Is a Higher Throne

1 There is a higher throne
than all this world has known,
    where faithful ones from ev’ry tongue
    will one day come.
Before the Son we’ll stand,
made faultless through the Lamb;
    believing hearts find promised grace;
    salvation comes. (Refrain)

Ref   Hear heaven’s voices sing;
their thund’rous anthem rings
    through em’rald courts and sapphire skies;
    their praises rise.
All glory, wisdom, pow’r,
strength, thanks, and honor are
    to God our King who reigns on high
    forevermore.

2 And there we’ll find our home,
our life before the throne;
    we’ll honor him in perfect song
    where we belong.
He’ll wipe each tear-stained eye
as thirst and hunger die;
    the Lamb becomes our Shepherd-King;
    we’ll reign with him. (Refrain)

Text: Keith Getty, b. 1974; Kristyn Getty, b. 1980
Text: © 2003 Thankyou Music, admin. CapitolCMGPublishing,com. Used by permission: OneLicense no. 717826

SERMON Philippians 3:4b–14

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Please stand

TE DEUM You Are God; We Praise You

Ref You are God; we praise you. You are Lord; we acclaim you.
To you, O Father holy, all creation offers praise.
(Last time) all creation offers praise, all creation offers praise.

1 With the angels in heaven, we praise you, we praise you!
With the cherubim and seraphim, we praise you, we praise you!
With apostles and prophets, we praise you, we praise you!
With the martyrs and your holy Church, we sing in endless praise! (Refrain)

2 Creator of all things, we praise you, we praise you!
O Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we praise you, we praise you!
O Spirit, most holy, we praise you, we praise you!
To the Trinity most blessèd, we sing in endless praise! (Refrain)

3 O Christ, King of glory, we praise you, we praise you!
You became a man to set us free; we praise you, we praise you!
You have risen to free us; we praise you, we praise you!
And with all your saints in glory, we sing in endless praise! (Refrain)

Text: Marty Haugen
Text: © 1995, 1996 GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission: Onelicense no. 717826

Be seated

OFFERING PRESENTED BEFORE THE ALTAR

Please stand

KYRIE Lord, Have Mercy

♫ In the morning, O Lord, I call to you;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

♫ Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Alpha and Omega, you are the Beginning and End of all things. You have given hope to your people who are poor, hungry, and outcast, that they have a great reward in heaven.