For All Your Saints, O Lord (ELW 427)
1 For all your saints, O Lord,
who strove in you to live,
who followed you, obeyed, adored,
our grateful hymn receive.
2 For all your saints, O Lord,
who strove in you to die,
who counted you their great reward,
accept our thankful cry.
3 They all in life and death,
with you, their Lord, in view,
learned from your Holy Spirit’s breath
to suffer and to do.
4 For this, your name we bless
and humbly pray anew
that we like them in holiness
may live and die in you.
5 To God, the Father, Son,
and Spirit, ever blest,
the One in Three, the Three in One,
be endless praise addressed.
Devotion
Ten-year-old Michael had the good fortune to accompany his parents on a trip to Europe. He was excited. The little boy got to see London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben. Later while in Paris, France, the family took a tour of Notre Dame Cathedral, where Michael was taken in by the beauty of the stained glass. Brilliant sunlight shone through. Multicolored images of men and women were depicted in the windows high above. The boy asked his mother who those men and women were in the stained glass. His mother replied, “Those are the saints of the church.” A few weeks later in his Sunday School class, the teacher asked if anyone knew what a saint was. Having just been to Europe and witnessed firsthand the stained-glass saints of Notre Dame Cathedral, Michael said, “A saint is someone who lets the light shine through.” For all your saints, Oh Lord, we give you thanks. And blessings to Michael!
Prayer
Lord, help us shine the light of your love to brighten the life of someone we meet today. Amen.