Online Worship for October 31, 2021

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for October 31, 2021. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

During this service we will be lighting candles in memory of loved ones who have died in the past year and in the years before. Feel free to prepare candles in your home and to light them during that portion of the service for those whose memory you honor.

Online Worship October 31, 2021
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
All Saints Sunday

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome                                                                                     Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Announcements                                                                         Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: God of our Fathers—Hughes, tune: National Hymn by Warren
                                                                                                    Kayleen Yuda, piano
                                                                                                    Paul Arceo, trumpet

Call to Worship: based on Deuteronomy 6:1-9                          Woody Kita

Leader: Hear, O people: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
All: And we shall love the LORD our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our might.

Leader: Keep these words that God has commanded you in your heart.
All: We will tell them to the children and talk about them at home.

Leader: Speak of them as you travel, as you lie down to rest and as you rise with each day.
All: Our love of God will be a sign upon our hands, readable upon our faces. Let us open our doors and gates in celebration of God’s love.

Invocation: based on Hebrews 9:11-4 Woody Kita

Happy are those whose way you cannot judge, O God – but such happiness is vanishingly rare. We know that we seek you with a portion of our hearts, not our fullness; we know that we stray from your ways, and do not keep them diligently. Do not forsake us for our errors and our faults, but steady us as we stumble and raise us as we falter, for we would rejoice in your love and grace in company with all the saints in light, those you have gathered to you in the halls of peace. Accept our worship today and comfort us in our sorrows according to the love with which you sent us Jesus as the firstborn to new life. Amen.

Hymn #299: For All the Saints                                                    Eric Anderson
                                                                                                    Doug Albertson
                                                                                                   Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scriptures                                                                                   Woody Kita

Ruth 1:1-18
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said,

“Do not press me to leave you
    or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
    where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
    and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
    there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
    and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

Mark 12:28-34
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Story/Sermon: Not Far                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson        

Pastoral Prayer                                                                          Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen

Instrumental Anthem: A Trumpet Gavotte—Tambling             Kayleen Yuda, piano
                                                                                                    Paul Arceo, trumpet

Call to Offering:                                                                         Woody Kita

We have heard God’s commands to love our Creator and to love our neighbor. The time of offerings is a time to do both at the same time. Honor your love of God with your gift, and know that these gifts also serve our neighbors’ needs for sustenance of spirit and building up the body. Please send your offering through the mail in an envelope to 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i, 96720, or give online at holycrosshilo.com/donate. Let us pray together:

Offertory Prayer:

Gracious God, accept the gifts we present to you as a sign of our love. Though these offerings are a part of our lives and our resources, we will work to see that our love for you is reflected in all of our living: our work, our play, our prayer, and our giving. Bless our neighbors through these gifts according to the abundance of your love, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

All Saints Day Candle Lighting

As we enter this part of the service, make sure you have your candle or candles nearby at home along with some means to light them.

Pastor: We remember those Members and Friends of the Church of the Holy Cross who have gone from our care to God’s in the twelve months gone by.

Chair of Deacons:                                                                        Janet Fujioka

           Frank C. Chen
           John F. S. Chin
           Rev. Harriet Daog
           Robert “Bob” Fox
           Alice Goto
           Stu Hall
           Jasmine Lei Isara
           Kay Seiko Kawachika
           Yasue Kawasaki
           Craig Kimura
           Rev. Kekapa Pauole Kealakala`i Lee
           Latai “Nuu” Loa
           Yoshiaki “Tom” Ogawa
           Dr. Roy Ohata
           Verne Schumaker
           Noboru “Jack” Tanita

As each name is read, the church bell will be tolled and a candle lit in remembrance of each person’s life, and in thanks for their new life in Christ.

Pastor: On this day, we remember others who have earlier gone from this life to the company of the saints. We light candle after candle as a reflection of the gifts they gave to us of love and joy and compassion. Across the screen you will see names appear, names we have received to share. As the light of the candles grows, we invite you to name in your home those whom you remember and honor. If you have a candle or candles available, light it or them now as well. Let these flickering flames be signs of our thanks to these saints and to God.

The worship leaders light the additional candles.

Pastor: Let us pray

Holy One, the lives of all people are yours, the ones we have known and called saints, and the many more whom we have not known but you have welcomed as your own. May you rejoice in all your people, the living and the dead, for the love we and they bear for you and for one another. May we all be lights of inspiration that this world may be aglow with compassion, alight with inspiration, and warm with aloha. Embrace us, one and all, with mercy and with love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.                                                               

Benediction                                                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Faith of Our Fathers—Henry arr: Whitworth              Kayleen Yuda

Permissions:
God of our Fathers
Tune: NATIONAL HYMN by George William Warren, 1892
Arr. Robert J. Hughes
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

For All the Saints
Text: William W. How, 1864
Tune: SINE NOMINE by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) from The English Hymnal. Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

A Trumpet Gavotte
by Christopher Tambling
Streamed by permission CCS License #: 13303

Faith of Our Fathers—Henry arr:Whitworth
© 1981 Lorenz Publishing Company, a division of The Lorenz Corporation
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

                                                         Dates to Remember
Today, October 31— Stewardship and Mission meeting via Zoom

Pastor                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator                                          Woody Kita
Lay Reader                                         Woody Kita
Chapel Decorations                           Doreen Lucas
Choir Accompanist                            Kanako Okita
Choir Director                                   Doug Albertson
Organist                                             Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director                            Anna Kennedy
Childcare Coordinator                      Evonne Shioshita
Movement Leader                              Genie Phillips
Projected Imagery                             Sue Smith
Web Master                                       Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Videographers                                    Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith

This week at the Church of the Holy Cross

• Bible Study with Pastor Eric: Tuesdays, 3:00 p.m. via Zoom.
• Pickleball: Mondays, 12 noon, Tuesdays, 8:30 a.m., Wednesdays, 2:00 p.m., Thursdays, 8:30 a.m., Saturdays 12:00 p.m., Sundays 1:30 p.m. Building of Faith—limited to 10 attendees
• Online Song – Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. online.
• Community Concert – 2^nd and 4th Fridays, 6:00 p.m. online.