THIRSTY 174 (Zarling / Klusmeyer)

Welcome to this week's THIRSTY podcast. I am Pastor Michael Zarling

And I'm Pastor Nathan Klusmeyer.

And Nathan, we're gonna be celebrating All Saints' Day at our respective churches. You wanna give our listeners a little background and history of All Saints' Day?

Um, so All Saints was a festival, uh, traditionally celebrated on November 1st. Um, in the Catholic Church, it was a day when they kind of would venerate all of the saints. Um, it was a special day for indulgences. I think that was part of the reason Luther picked October 31st as the day he posted his 95 Theses, because he knew that on the Festival of All Saints, there was going to be a big celebration at, um, the church in Wittenberg for all of the relics, um, that they had just... I forgot which of the leaders in Wittenberg had gone and brought back. Um, and so Luther, I think, saw this as an opportune time to talk about the abuse of relics and indulgences that were going on. Um, the Lutheran Church kept the festival. Um, it kind of got swallowed up, I think, a little bit by Reformation later on. I don't ever remember celebrating All Saints as a kid. Um, but now in recent years as we've had more of a liturgical revival in our synod, we've brought back the emphasis on the Festival of All Saints, and really it's kind of a celebration of, and a reminder of all of those who have, um, gone into eternal glo- glory, who have received their crown of victory. We remember the saints, um, of the Bible, the prophets and the apostles who laid the foundation, and then we also remember, um, those, our loved ones who have been called into eternal glory. And I think kind of with the old end times, um, festivals, um, part of the church year that's no longer in the new hymnal, there was kind of that Saints Triumphant Sunday, and I think that's kind of shifted its emphasis back over into All Saints, 'cause we really don't have that specific Sunday anymore.

Yeah, and I'm a little bit older than you are, and I don't remember All Saints either. No, I didn't really pay that much attention growing up as a kid or a teenager and so forth, but still I don't remember it. And yeah, it was something that, uh, I started celebrating at Epiphany and then Water of Life is, uh, that either on All Saints' Day or Saints Triumphant, that we would, uh, thank God specifically for the saints from our congregation that he had called home to heaven in that past year. Uh, so the hymns that I've got are all saints hymns, and as I was looking at these hymns, Nathan, I was thinking that when, when I go biking on a long bike ride and really struggling, these are the hymns that, uh, come to mind- ... and, and I start, uh, saying these, uh, phrases over and over again. Uh, but Around the Throne a Glorious Band, Behold a Host, Arrayed in White, For All the Saints. And then we'll only sing all... We'll only sing three verses, but we could sing all 22 verses of By Your Saints Still Striving.

Um, we are singing Afflicted Saint to Christ Draw Near. Um, we're singing Jerusalem the Golden.

Ah, good one.

And because I had a request, we are singing, um... Sorry, my phone just started ringing, and apparently it's connected to my computer and was blasting very loud in my headphones. Um, but we're singing Afflicted Saint to Christ Draw Near, Jerusalem the Golden. I did have a request from a member that we not sing the Gustav Holst melody, so we're singing the other melody for Jerusalem the Golden. Um, well, For All the Saints, Behold a Host Arrayed in White, and There is a Higher Throne.

Yeah. Those are all, those are all good ones. And then the Psalm is Psalm 149. Uh, praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praise in the congregation of his favored ones. Let Israel rejoice in its maker, let the people of Zion celebrate for their King. Let them praise his name with dancing, with hand, drum, and lyre, let them make music to him. For the Lord is pleased with his people, he adorns the humble with salvation. Let those he favors rejoice in honor, let them shout for joy on their beds. May high praise for God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron shackles, to carry out the judgment written against them. This is the glory of all his favorite people. Praise the Lord. And then the prayer of the day. Almighty God, you have knit your people together into one holy church, the body of Christ, our Lord. Grant us grace to follow the example of your blessed saints in lives of faith and willing service, and with them at last, inherit the in- inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who love you. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. And then, Nathan, you wanna read the first reading?

Yeah. From Revelation chapter 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And from the throne I heard a loud voice that said, "Look, God's dwelling is with his people. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and he will be their God." "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away." "The one who was seated on the throne said to me, 'Look, I am making everything new.' He also said, 'Write, for these words are trustworthy and true.' And he said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To anyone who is thirsty, I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.'"