About Worship
Worship at All Saints might look and feel a little different. We carefully and prayerfully select a worship theme each season, and we choose songs and liturgical elements that help communicate that theme and bring us closer to God and to one another.
All Saints Lutheran Church is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and participates in the Synod Authorized Ministry (SAM) program offered by the Southeastern Iowa Synod. Bishop Amy Current has authorized Wanda Barber, Matthew Reece, and Julie Schoville to be Synod Authorized Ministers able to preside over all worship services and offer pastoral care. The Synod provides training and instruction throughout the year and fully supports this program.
Colors for the season of Pentecost: Autumn/November (09.06.2026 – 11.22.2026)
Time after Pentecost (09.06.2026 – 11.22.2026): Green is used, to indicate our growth in faith as we follow the teachings and ministry of Christ. Some assemblies use differing shades of green throughout the Sundays after Pentecost, a lighter green in summer and a darker green in fall.
Reformation Sunday (10.25.2026): The liturgical color for Reformation Sunday in the ELCA is red, symbolizing the Holy Spirit’s fire, courage, and the ongoing reform of the church. Red paraments and vestments on this day visually proclaim God’s radical grace and the call to be a continually reforming, Spirit-led community.
All Saints Sunday (11.01.2026): For All Saints Sunday, the liturgical color in the ELCA is white. White symbolizes joy, light, resurrection hope, and the communion of all the saints in Christ, both living and departed.
Christ the King (11.22.2026): The final day of the church year uses white, a festive color suggesting light, joy, and the celebration of our Lord.
Worship Information
The Sunday morning Worship Service will be offered at 10 am in the sanctuary and on Facebook Live. This link will open the congregational text for the Sunday morning worship service for the month of October. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zd4-Z2T-B3ktMtjQfAB3mTw5zHIzJ297/view?usp=sharing
Pentecost: Autumn/November Season (09.06.2026 – 11.22.2026)
Theme & Write-up
Written by the Director of Music Ministries
We are all saints: Teach us to love and serve all of God’s children
At All Saints Lutheran Church, our name reminds us of something important: all of us are saints. Not because we are perfect, or because we have somehow earned a special status, but because in baptism God has called each of us beloved, claimed us as God’s own, and joined us to the body of Christ. Throughout this season, we will reflect on what it means to live as saints in the ordinary places of our lives. The saints are not only the people whose names we remember or whose stories fill the pages of church history. Saints are people like us—people who laugh and grieve, stumble and begin again, care for one another, and seek to follow Jesus. To be a saint is to recognize that God is at work in our lives and then to allow that grace to shape how we live with one another.
As All Saints, we are called to see all people as children of God and to practice the love and service that Jesus places at the heart of faithful living. This means widening our circle of compassion, welcoming those who may feel like outsiders, caring for those who are hurting, and recognizing the dignity and sacred worth of every person we encounter. It means discovering that serving God’s children is not simply something we do for others; it is one of the ways God forms us into the people we are created to be. During this season, we will ask God to teach us how to love more deeply, serve more generously, forgive more freely, and walk more faithfully alongside our neighbors. All of these ideas are encompassed by our worship theme for the rest of Pentecost: “We are all saints: Teach us to love and serve all of God’s children.”
Altarscape
Sunday, October 11th – 20th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 28
Ardor (Worship Musicians)
The musicians rehearse from 9:00 to 9:45 am every Sunday morning. You are invited to join us in leading music during the worship service. The musicians for worship can find the service orders and music in the crate on the back pew in the sanctuary for each week. Contact the Director of Music Ministries or the church office if you plan to help lead worship.
Introduction
In Isaiah we are given a vision of the great feast to come, when God will wipe away death forever. In Jesus’ parable about a great banquet, those invited do not come, so the invitation is extended to others. In our liturgy God spreads a table before us. Even amid anxiety and hardship we rejoice in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. With great joy we feast at the table of the Lord, and we go forth to share the wonderful invitation with others hungering and thirsting for the abundant life of God.
Prayer of the Day
Lord of the feast, you have prepared a table before all peoples and poured out your life with abundance. Call us again to your banquet. Strengthen us by what is honorable, just, and pure, and transform us into a people of righteousness and peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Scripture
Isaiah 25:1-9 The feast of victory
After a hymn of praise acknowledging God as a shelter for the poor, the prophet portrays a wonderful victory banquet at which death—which in ancient Canaan was depicted as a monster swallowing up everyone—will be swallowed up forever. The prophet urges celebration of this victory of salvation.
Psalm 23 You prepare a table before me, and my cup is running over. (Ps. 23:5)
Philippians 4:1-9 Rejoice in the Lord always
Though writing from prison and facing an uncertain future, Paul calls on the Philippians to rejoice and give thanks to God no matter what the circumstance. God’s peace is with us and binds together our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ, especially when things around us do not seem peaceful.
Matthew 22:1-14 The parable of the unwelcome guest at the wedding feast
Jesus tells a parable indicating that the blessings of God’s kingdom are available to all, but the invitation is not to be taken lightly.
Fellowship Time
After worship there is time for refreshments and fellowship in the gathering space.