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For Those Who Walked with Us

by Vicar Lisa

Jan L. Richardson is an artist, writer, and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. She serves as director of The Wellspring Studio, LLC, and has traveled widely as a retreat leader and conference speaker. With work described by the Chicago Tribune as “breathtaking,” she has attracted an international audience drawn to the spaces of welcome, imagination, and solace that she creates with her words and her art.

She describes this season, the trinity of days of Halloween, the Feast of All Saints, and the Feast of All Souls, as a thin place.

She says that they offer an occasion to remember, to reflect, and to offer thanks for those who have shaped our paths by the path that they walked. These days remind us that in the body of Christ, death does not release us from being in community with one another.

She asks that as we move through this week, to consider those who linger close in our memory. We are to ask ourselves, “Who walked with me in a way that inspired and made possible the path that I travel?” She says that as we remember, know that the veil thins, not only toward the past, but also toward the future. She asks of us “how are we walking through this life in a way that will help make possible the paths of those who follow?”

Below I share a poem she wrote for this occasion.

For Those Who Walked with Us

For those
who walked with us,
this is a prayer.

For those
who have gone ahead,
this is a blessing.

For those
who touched and tended us,
who lingered with us
while they lived,
this is a thanksgiving.

For those
who journey still with us
in the shadows of awareness,
in the crevices of memory,
in the landscape of our dreams,
this is a benediction.

© Jan L. Richardson -- janrichardson.com.

24th Sunday After Pentecost -- All Saints Sunday

10 a.m. Worship with Communion

Announcements

Favorite Scripture of the Week: “Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” --Luke 23:34

  • All Saints Sunday: This Sunday is All Saints Sunday, where we remember those who have walked before us. Please bring photos and memorabilia for those individuals you wish to respect and place them on the table near the piano in the sanctuary when you arrive.
  • Welcome, Welcome, Welcome: We are welcoming three new members on Sunday. Please come and share the joy in welcoming Stephen and Caron Hanson and Ena Sroat!
  • First Sunday Potluck: Join us this Sunday for our First Sunday Potluck followed by another session on Stewardship from Dr. Mark Allan Powell.
  • Weekly Bible Studies Continue Next Week, 6 and 9, the Rev. Dr. Becky McNeil continues the weekly Bible Study entitled, The Bible from Scratch, The Old Testament for Beginners by Donald L. Griggs. The sessions are presented on two different days of the week, Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m., which gives participants more flexibility. Even if you missed the first few sessions, please consider joining us now.
  • November Newsletter: Zion’s monthly newsletter Connections will be sent via email on Nov. 1. Paper copies are available in the back of the Sanctuary and in the Fellowship Hall.
  • Community Thanksgiving Dinner: Preparations are underway for Zion’s 31st annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Sign-up sheets for food donations and to volunteer time on Thanksgiving Day are in the Fellowship Hall. In addition, our annual “Turkey Fry Day”, will be Saturday, Nov. 16. If you can help cook or carve, please let Norine Hazen know. Also, we welcome donations of thawed turkeys for frying on Nov. 16.

A Special Congregational Meeting

A special congregational meeting is being called for Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, to vote to affirm the church council's decision to be recognized as a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) church partner. The meeting will be held in the fellowship hall beginning at 11:30 a.m. During discussion, all points of view, whether for, against or neutral, will be provided an opportunity to be heard.

As defined in our constitution (Chapter 8), "Voting members are confirmed members who, during the current or preceding calendar year, shall have communed in this congregation and shall have made a contribution of record

To attend the meeting via Zoom, use the following link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81217188171?pwd=8RRdHUSgnU51Gpmjbx03a56xt3umvh.1

Meeting ID: 812 1718 8171 -- Passcode: 328353

E-formation – 24th Sunday after Pentecost -- All Saints Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024

God has made into saints all who have been baptized into Christ, and we honor especially those who have died in the faith by referring to them as saints of God. Our assembly joins with countless other Christians to praise God for the life of all the saints.

John 11:32-44

In the last of the seven signs presented by the fourth evangelist in the late first century as demonstrations of Jesus’ divinity, the long narrative of the raising of Lazarus includes Jesus’ sorrow over the death of his friend. The miracle is a sign from God that Jesus is sent by God to show God’s glory and to give life, which in John is seen most fully on the cross. The man laid in a cave with a stone at its entrance prefigures Christ’s resurrection. The resuscitation of Lazarus is a symbol of the resurrection at the end of time. The word of Jesus is seen as powerful over death.

Isaiah 25:6-9

From First Isaiah in the eighth century BCE comes one of the Bible’s loveliest descriptions of the full and final messianic banquet. The sacred mountain no longer inspires terror but welcomes all peoples to a feast. Verses 8-9 exemplify the Bible’s eschatological vision: in the end, disgrace will be erased, and death will be defeated, for God will save the world. Eschatological hopes especially mark a people who see no way out of their current dilemma.

Revelation 21:1-6a

The Revelation of John, written in the late first or early second century, uses traditional Jewish apocalyptic imagery both to express the terrifying situation of the early churches at the time when the Roman Empire required that the emperors be worshiped as gods, and to convey the faith that ultimately God would save them. The visionary employs multiple metaphors to describe the final victorious presence of God. The sea, the frightful domain of the monster, is thus no more. A primordial garden is replaced with a city. God is no longer distant on a mountain but lives in the city. God is like a husband, like a mother drying our tears, like a monarch on a throne, like the beginning and end of human knowledge.

Zion's Lutheran Church

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785