All Saints Sunday November 5, 2017
Theme: “All Saints”
Mathew 5:1-12, 1John 3:1-3
(By Pastor Duncan Ibuuri)
May grace and peace be unto you, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today we celebrate the festival of “All Saints.” All Saints is a time to remember all of God’s faithful servants of time past, who, through their lives of faith, have humbly served God and their fellow human beings. It is a day in which we give thanks to God, that through the power of the Holy Spirit, working in the lives of his saints, both great and small, the faith of the church has been passed down from generation to generation.
This is a time also to remember and give thanks to God for those members of our congregation who have completed their journey of faith over the past year and all those people (love ones and others) from years past, continue to influence our lives as people of faith.
For example, there are not many days that go by in my life that I don’t think of my father and the ways that he has influenced my life. Probably, there are a few influences that I may have picked up from my Dad that are not positive but for the most part, I remember many positive ways that my Dad has influenced my life. And it is not just my Dad but many others like my grandmother, grandfather and my mother- in-law etc. What was once of great influence in my life, is now only in my memory. However, memories still influence our lives, and help us continue to grow as persons, and in
Memory is one of the most important things we have in our life because it involves in almost every part of our mind including problem solving, decision making, and our interest in life. We depend on it because it helps us make good decisions in life. Memory is the solution in learning and thinking and we use it in our everyday life. Think about the first time you kissed someone you loved or the time you learned how to tie your shoe for the first time. Those are all forms of memory whether they are short or long term. If you do not remember anything from the past then you are having a hard time managing your memory. Without memory you would be exposed to new and extraordinary things in life. Take for example, “Aliens, Love where are they?” by John Hodgman and “Jon” by George Saunders. John Hodgman and Jon both teach readers how without memories we would have a difficult time knowing who we are, who we love, and what we want in life.
Memories are important, they are a personal record of our past experiences, and could be called the history book for our life. In the poem "The Heroes You Had as a Girl", author Bronwen Wallace tells the story of a woman who meets her high school hero later in her life, reflects on her memories of him, and ultimately decides not to talk to him. The effect that this topic has on everyone is the knowledge that we can be captivated and let our memories control us, and by knowing that our memories hold that much power, it may make it more mentally efficient to make accurate, and personal decisions in a fraction of the time. The topic and overall meaning that this idea holds convey a message that resonates with the idea that memories are in fact the central hub of our decision making. People remembering memories can affect their perspective on their lives to such an extent, that they prefer to immerse their mind in their past memories rather than the current reality.
Inspired with this confidence, we fly unto thee, O Mary, ever Virgin Mother of the True God! Though grieving under the weight of our sins, we come to prostrate ourselves in thy august presence, certain that thou wilt deign to fulfill thy merciful promises. We are full of hope that, standing beneath thy shadow and protection, nothing will trouble or afflict us, nor need we fear illness, or misfortune, or any other sorrow.
Ultimately, Jesus’ resurrection on Easter is still the most important holiday for the Church and I would also include within the core of
At the beginning of the mass the priest spoke to the children casually and asked them questions such as what was so special about today. Children answered that
O? Lord Hear, Our Prayer, Come And Listen To Us, O?Lord You Are Just In All Your Ways, We Exalt Thee, Bless The Lord O? My Soul And Bless Your Holy Name, Holy! Holy! Holy! You Are Lord God Almighty, We Worship You O? Lord In Spirit And In Truth, Blessing To You The Creator Of All, O? Lord You Are So Wonderful, Mighty And All Powerful. We Love And Adore You. Thanks O?Lord For Blessing These Your People. To You O? Lord We Give All The Praises, Glory, and Honor For Ever. Amen! Amen!
Memory provides a sense of personal identity. Memories that were made from the past create the person that they have become today. It helps to ground judgments and with reasoning. As an illustration, one day a young girl was shopping at the mall with a group of friends and they deiced to steal a cute
Each person has to demonstrate what they are doing and have learned with the lessons and talent given to them by God. Each day is an opportunity to give and share this knowledge.
Everyday is a day to be thankful for because unimaginable events can happen at any given moment. Such unimaginable moment happened during the year of 1755 on All Saints Day. An earthquake, five-day fire, and three tsunamis occurred in one single day, which brought extreme destruction. The city of Lisbon was eliminated along with the community living in this city. With such extreme event, individuals question if this destruction had a meaning or reason. The impact of this disastrous day will be evaluated for greater meaning.
The purpose of the feast was a time to remember the 40 years spent in the wilderness, the journey and deliverance from slavery to the promised land, and to remind people that we are only pilgrims on the earth. The feast served also as a time to remember God’s direction in the wilderness wanderings. Finally, it served as a time to remember the protection God gave the
On Christmas Eve my parents and I go to church to attend the Candle Light Vigil. At the end of the service a flame is passed around till everyone’s candle is lit and we all sing “Silent Night”. It is a beautiful sight to see the warm glow from the candle light on peoples’ faces, while singing such a compelling and peaceful song. I love attending this service every year, for me it is a great reminder of the true meaning
Memory is one of our greatest assets. “It is how we know who we are. Memory gives us a sense of history, our origin, roots, and identity. By it we relive special events, birthdays, anniversaries and days of national significance. The Lord’s Supper is a call to remember Christ and the cross.” The relationships we have in our lives often become stronger as we take time to reflect on what that person has done for us in the past and continues to do for us. As adults we are able to look back and see the sacrifices our parents made for us and we realize just how much they
remembrance, and to feel close with the saint even if they are at a great distance to the
The idea that our memories change the way on which we see the world and ultimately change reality is a difficult one to understand. An answer to this question depends on the way we define reality. If we define reality as objective- then it can not be altered by memories. However if we define reality as subjective, then, yes, our memories can affect our reality. But what do we mean by memories? What do we mean by relationship? What follows is an attempt to answer some of these questions, and see whether and how our memories affect our reality.
Memory makes us. It is, to an extent, a collection of unique and personal experiences that we, as individuals, have amassed over our lifetime. It is what connects us to our past and what shapes our present and the future. If we are unable remember the what, when, where, and who of our everyday lives, our level of functioning would be greatly impacted. Memory is defined as or recognized as the “sum or total of what we remember.” Memory provides us the ability to learn and adjust to or from prior experiences. In addition, memory or our ability to remember plays an integral role in the building and sustaining of relationships. Additionally, memory is also a process; it is how we internalize and store our external environment and experiences. It entails the capacity to remember past experiences, and the process of recalling previous experiences, information, impressions, habits and skills to awareness. It is the storage of materials learned and/or retained from our experiences. This fact is demonstrated by the modification, adjustment and/or adaptation of structure or behavior. Furthermore, we as individuals, envision thoughts and ideas of the present through short-term memory, or in our working memory, we warehouse past experiences and learned values in long-term memory, also referred to as episodic or semantic memory. Most importantly, memory is malleable and it is intimately linked to our sense of identity and where we believe we belong in the world.