All Saints Day Devotion
This devotion is designed to be used by boards, committees, or small groups in your congregation. Any seating arrangement will work, but the best atmosphere is created by having the group sit in a circle or semicircle.
Initial dialogue:
Each of us sitting here tonight didn't end up here by chance. Our parents, grandparents, friends, pastors, spouses, and others have helped to shape our understanding of who God is and what our callings are in response to the love God has shown us in Christ. (Read Hebrews 12:1-2)
I know that in my own life, I'm usually so busy, I never take time to thank God for working through those "saints of the church" to create and maintain faith in me.
Tonight, I invite you to do just that!
Part 1:
Imagine that there are a number of these saints standing behind us. Close your eyes for a moment, and put faces on those saints. Remember the ones who "dragged you to church and Sunday School." The ones who first opened your eyes to the beauty of the Scriptures. The ones who took time to listen to you, even when what you had to say wasn't all that interesting. The ones who were there when tragedy struck your life or family.
I'll begin a prayer of thanks for these people, and during the silence please name these saints. When all have had a chance to name the saints standing behind them, I'll close the prayer.
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
We thank you for coming among us both on the cross in Galilee, and in the people we are remembering tonight in prayer. Tonight, we thank you in particular for those people who have shaped our own faith in you...(Allow time for each to share at least one name)...
May each of these saints and the many others we silently lifted up in prayer, rest in your eternal loving arms, now and forever.
Amen.
Part 2:
Just as the people we remembered in prayer have shaped our lives, each of us is the instrument God is using to shape the lives of people around us. People come to know our loving savior, through us. (Read 1 Peter 5:1-4)
Imagine that standing in front of us are children. They could be our own, relatives, neighbors, or congregational members' children.
As we pray once more, let's ask that God would work through us to shape the faith of the young people we name in this prayer.
 
Prayer:
Dear God,
Just as you have worked through others to create and sustain faith in us, please give me the wisdom, courage, patience and strength to be your agent of grace for the children we remember in prayer tonight...(allow time for them to each name at least one child)...
May each of these children continue to sense the support they have in our congregation - and may we be the ones through whom you work.
In your sons name we pray,
Amen.
Closing
Read 1 - Corinthians 10:31-11:1
This devotion was created by Pastor Greg Kaufmann for his father's Board of Elders' meeting in Watertown Wisconsin, Nov. 1, 2000.