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 November 1st – 22nd.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZYcrgBl7wIG2gdZWe1SP43lMCJDsEQlg/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, November 1st – All Saints Day
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
All Saints celebrates the baptized people of God, living and dead, who are the body of Christ. As November heralds the dying of the landscape in many northern regions, the readings and liturgy call us to remember all who have died in Christ and whose baptism is complete. At the Lord’s table we gather with the faithful of every time and place, trusting that the promises of God will be fulfilled and that all tears will be wiped away in the new Jerusalem.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, you have knit your people together in one communion in the mystical body of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment, and to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture
Revelation 7:9-17 The multitudes of heaven worship the Lamb
The book of Revelation is written to seven churches in western Asia Minor during a time of great oppression. Today’s reading is a response to the question asked in 6:17: “Who is able to stand?” The writer gives the faithful the assurance of God’s protection and a vision of victory.
Psalm 34:1-10, 22 Fear the Lord, you saints of the Lord; for those who fear the Lord lack nothing. (Ps. 34:9)
1 John 3:1-3 We are God’s children
A saint is one who has been set apart by God for God’s purposes. God, out of divine love, set us apart to be the children of God. Our holy hope is that we shall see God as God really is.
Matthew 5:1-12 Blessed are the poor in spirit
In the Beatitudes, Jesus provides a unique description of those who are blessed with God’s favor. His teaching is surprising and shocking to those who seek wealth, fame, and control over others.
Fellowship Time
After worship there is time for refreshments and fellowship in the gathering space.