Trinity United Methodist Church - Austin, Texas

Welcome    (Please mark your attendance and pass the registration pad to your neighbor.)

Opportunities for Fellowship and Service




*Call to Worship        written by Christine Kraemer

One:     Holy One, today we give thanks for this gathering of friends,
All:      For the companionship and love that we share,
One:     And for the divinity we see in each other and the world.
You who call us always to justice and compassion:
All:    In cherishing community, we also cherish you. Amen.

God has given us the power to change our ways.
God has given us the power to change our ways.
Feed the hungry, loose the bound.
Walk humbly with our God.
--Mechtild of Magdeburg

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Welcome

Opportunities for Fellowship and Service



*Calling of the Directions: Day of the Dead    written by Christine Kraemer

Bless us, O Air, as we remember our dead.
We who feel you rush into our lungs
Recall the thoughts and words of those who came before.
Inspire now our minds, as you also inspired our loved ones’.
We welcome you. Blessed be.

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All Saints Ritual of Remembrance

Naming of the Saints (Departed Loved Ones)

Song for Remembering     “In My Life”     by Lennon/McCartney

There are places I’ll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
 All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I’ve loved them all
 
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
 
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

In my life I love you more

Prayers of the People    (silent prayer)                               





Readings        Deuteronomy 32:48-50; 34:1-9 & “Stones in the Road” by Mary Chapin Carpenter

Witness in Word      “Paving the Path: A Commitment to Legacy”     Sid Hall

A Service of Communion

One:    The Spirit of God be with you all.
All:    And also with you.
One:    Open your hearts;
All:    We open them to God.
One:    Give thanks to our God!
All:    All our thanks, all our praise!

All:    Holy, Holy, Holy God,
    Our Life, our Beauty, our Hope,
    Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
    Grace us, we pray, You beyond, yet within all.
    Blest is the One who comes in your name.
    Grace us, we pray, You beyond, yet within all.

One:    Holy God, Holy One!

    You beyond the galaxies,
        You under the oceans,
            You inside the leaves,
    You pouring down rain,
        You opening the flowers,
            You feeding the insects,
    You giving us your image,
        You carrying us through the waters,
            You holding us in the night,

    Your smile on Sarah and Abraham,
        Your hand with Moses and Miriam,
            Your delight through St. Hildegard and St. Francis,
    You lived as Jesus among us,
        Healing, teaching, dying, rising,
            Inviting all to your feast.
    You live among us now in all that is good and beautiful, all that is compassionate and just, all that is hopeful and liberating—and in every face we see.

One:    On the night in which Jesus was betrayed, He took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his beloved friends, saying:  Take eat, this is my body, given for you.  Do this for the remembrance of me.  Again, after supper he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying:  This cup is the new covenant poured out for you and for many.  Do this for the remembrance of me.

Holy God, we remember Jesus,

His life with the brokenhearted and broken down,
    His death among the discarded,
        His resurrection in us now:
Your wisdom our guide,
    Your justice our conviction,
        Your grace our path to rebirth.

One:    Holy God, we invite your Spirit to:

All:    Enliven this bread,
        Awaken this body,
            Pour us out for each other.
    Transfigure our minds,
        Ignite our congregation,
            Nourish the life of the Earth.
    Make us, while many, united,
        Make us, though broken, whole,
            Make us, despite death, alive!

Sharing the Bread and Cup

Prayer After Receiving

One:    Holy God, Holy One,

All:    Our Life, our Beauty, our Hope,
        Our Table, our Food, our Server,
            Our Rainbow, our Ark, our Dove,
    Our Sovereign, our Water, our Wine,
        Our Light, our Treasure, our Tree,
            Our Way, our Truth, our Life.
   
    Holy God, Holy One! 
        Beauty now before us,
        Beauty now behind us,
        Beauty now within us,
        Your Beauty surrounding us,
        And so we shout: Amen! Amen!

 

Stewardship Moment      “Celebrate Trinity ’08: Our Future”            Russell Duke

Offering of Our Gifts of Money for Nurture and Justice

Offertory             

Response to Offering (unison)    by Taize

Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God's holy name
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life.

Dedication of Pledges

Earth Prayer (unison)    by Nelson Mandela

The time for healing of the wounds has come,   
The time to build is upon us…
We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people
from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation,
suffering, gender, and other discrimination…
There is no easy road to freedom…
None of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people,
for reconciliation, for nation building,
for the birth of a new world.

*Song of Thanksgiving            “All Are Welcome”        (insert)

*A Playful Sending Forth     “Spirit of the Living God”

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us.
Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us.

*Exchanging Signs of Peace and Welcome   

You are invited to greet those around you by saying "Peace be with you"
or other words of welcome.


 


Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.

    Pablo Picasso



“Stones in the Road”

When we were young, we pledged allegiance every morning of our lives
The classroom rang with children's voices under teacher's watchful eye
We learned about the world around us at our desks and at dinnertime
Reminded of the starving children, we cleaned our plates with guilty minds
And the stones in the road shone like diamonds in the dust
And then a voice called to us to make our way back home

When I was ten, my father held me on his shoulders above the crowd
To see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our town
His widow kneeled with all their children at the sacred burial ground
And the TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down

And the stones in the road flew out beneath our bicycle tires
Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home

And now we drink our coffee on the run, we climb that ladder rung by rung
We are the daughters and the sons, and here's the line that's missing

The starving children have been replaced by souls out on the street
We give a dollar when we pass, and hope our eyes don't meet
We pencil in, we cancel out, we crave the corner suite
We kiss your ass, we make you hold, we doctor the receipt

And the stones in the road fly out from beneath our wheels
Another day, another deal, before we get back home

And the stones in the road leave a mark from whence they came
A thousand points of light or shame, baby, I don't know

    Mary Chapin Carpenter (1994)
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