As we gather together there is some technical information that most of you already know, but just in case someone doesn't:
There is a copy of the service in the red book next to the door to the sanctuary.
The service will be in voice and text.
Worship music will be in the media player.
If the player isn't working in your viewer, please follow the YouTube link!
Frequently in my worship service, folk end up dancing right here in the aisles or in the back of the sanctuary, so if the mood strikes you—I say go for it!
GATHERING: 
Today I'm talking about death.  And joy.  Both of those things.
And, oddly enough, I happen to know this song from a scary video game that fits right in!
"Letter--from the Lost Days"
~Akira Yamaoka with vocals sung by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Lyrics:
https://silenthill.fandom.com/wiki/Letter_-_from_the_Lost_Days#Official_lyrics
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SBY_fUpmnQ

Please feel free to type any announcements you have for us into Local Chat.

I invite you to receive a Memorial Stone from the bulletin giver at the back of the sanctuary, if you haven't already.

WELCOME
Welcome to First United Church of Christ and Conference Center, Second Life.
We have official standing with the Eastern Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ as a Real Life church located in Second Life.
And I still think that's pretty cool, because I have sat in South Central Pennsylvania—I have sat in Northern Maine—
and I am currently sitting in Central Connecticut—
and I still think it's pretty cool that we can partner with my brothers and sisters and non-binary siblings all across the country 
and all of you wherever you are!
Speaking of wherever you are:
"No matter who you are, 
or where you are on life's journey, 
you are welcome here."
Most churches have a time of offering.
Making an offering, sharing what you can in God’s name, is a spiritual practice.
That offering can be one of prayer or of presence, 
of work on behalf of the church doing things like reading scripture or serving on the board of directors,
of helping with any of the many things that are needed for the church to function,
and/or, that offering can be one of money.
As a UCC church, we support the work of the wider church both with prayer and with donations. 
And it's true that we don't have a physical building, but there are monetary costs for this ministry to function.
So if you would like to make an offering by participating in leading worship or social events,
or if you would like to become a member of this church,
let any clergy or staff member know.
If you would like to make a financial offering to support this ministry there is a donation bowl by the door to the sanctuary, 
or if you prefer you can make a donation in RL currency on our website:
www.firstuccsl.org
And since we are a 501(c)(3) public charity, monetary donations are tax deductible in the U.S. 
We thank you for the blessing of your presence and your offering of support. 
SCRIPTURE
Psalm 139:7-18
Where can I go from your spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night’, even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.  For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.  In your book were written  all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. 

John 16:20-22
Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come.  But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 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 I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’  And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
SERMON      "Dancing In The Graveyard"
Last week we had some fun with All Hallow's Eve.  We played a game I call "Scripture or Scary Movie?" and made the point that sometimes scary stories--stories that horrify us--are important stories to tell.  We had fun, but I made the point that the Bible tells horrifying stories precisely because they are important.  
And I made the point that All Hallow's Eve is about more than just scary stories—I made the point that All Hallow's Eve is about turning fear into joy.
It's about joy.
That's All Hallow's Eve.  And if I simply left things there, it would be very much like preaching about Christmas Eve without ever actually getting to Christmas Day.
So, what about All Hallow's?
All Hallow's tends to be a rather somber holiday as we remember those friends and loved ones who have died.  
One popular ritual is to light a candle in honor of the people you are mourning—and I have seen that done well in Second Life.  
I didn't really have time to explore it this year, but last year's Fantasy Faire had a beautiful display of memorial candles.  
In a Real Life church I served I once watched this ritual become a little too dangerous for my comfort.  So much fire!  
Then I remembered a tradition that comes out of Judaism that involves the placing of stones on a grave.  So, I invited folk to take a memorial stone and place it instead.  
It was much safer, but there was also something about the cold clicking of stones in the silence of that holy place that was sober.
I invite you to receive a Memorial Stone from the bulletin giver at the back of the sanctuary, if you haven't already.
Loss is sobering.  It is sad.  It hurts.
But for Christians, it is not the final word!  As Jesus said, “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
Both as a pastor and as a chaplain, I work with people who are in mourning.  
And one of my favorite things to do with people in the midst of it is to ask them what the deceased was like—to invited them to tell stories about them.
Telling stories is always a sacred thing.  
For people in mourning, it is part of the holy transformation that turns mourning into joy.
Loss is still sobering.  It is sad.  It hurts.
But for Christians, it is not the final word.
When I speak at funerals, I talk about that mystery—the idea that we are sober and sad and hurting now—but later…  later we will rejoice!  We will feel joy.
I tell everyone that Jesus said to his disciples, “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; 
…you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
An Episcopal priest named Martin Bell once wrote that, “Human beings do not belong to one another.  We are God’s children.  
We belong to him.  
It is by sheer grace that we are together for a time—for a little while.  
We receive God’s gift of another person in our lives with thanksgiving.  
But we must realize that this person is a gift—we cannot hang on, or refuse to let go of one of God’s children when he calls.”
And then I point out that the person who died was a gift from God.  
And then I spend some time, just a little bit of time, telling the story of the person.
For example, if I were speaking at the funeral of my own grandfather, I would say that Walter was a gift from God.
He had a childlike and somewhat impish sense of humor—the kind of man who was not above poking you with his walking cane when you weren’t paying attention just to watch you react.
The kind of man who taught his grandkids how to tear one end off of a straw paper 
and then scoot the straw out just enough to put it in your mouth 
and BLOW, sending the paper streaking across the restaurant table.
My parents were so grateful for that!
Walter loved to work with his hands.  
He worked on the railroad.  
He was in the Army motor pool in WWII.  
He was a mechanic who worked on Peterbilt tractor trailer trucks.
But mostly I remember him working with wood in his basement, with its shelves absolutely full of the cigar boxes into which he so carefully sorted nails and screws.  
His work is all over the house I grew up in—napkin holders, and towel racks, and door signs…
Grandpa’s house was a place of love.  A place where family gathered from Connecticut and California.  It was a second home.
And then God took him back.  And that is painful.  
Jesus said that we will weep and mourn, that we will have pain.  Martin Bell says that “…we are not sorrowing because God is cruel or unjust.”  
And that is true; we are sorrowing because Walter is gone.  
It doesn’t matter when God calls, or what form our mourning takes—loss is never, ever easy.  Jesus said, “you have pain now.”
But Jesus also said, “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”  
We live in the promise of the Resurrection and the knowledge that Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for each of us.  
We know that for Walter all pain and illness has passed and that he is waiting for us in the place Jesus Christ has prepared.  
The psalmist says that there is no place that is not in the presence of God.  If I ascend to heaven, you are there; 
if I make my bed in Sheol—in the very land of the dead—you are there.  
Walter has not, can not be separated from the love of God, and neither can you.   
Martin Bell says that we must let go, but he also tells us that God has hold of Walter’s hand—and that God will never let go.  
And so we must say goodbye to Walter, child of God, and live in the promise that we will see him again, 
and that our hearts will rejoice, 
and no one will take our joy from us.
Look, I doubt if All Hallow’s is anybody’s favorite holiday.  As I wrote the words dedicated to my grandfather, I found myself tearing up.
I doubt if I got through saying them out loud without doing the same.  (Do I know myself, or what?)
But it is important.
The Rev. Frederick Buechner points out that we cannot get to comedy without first experiencing tragedy, and that seems right.  That seems just right.
We have pain now.  But we will have joy later.
Most of us would rather skip the pain part and go right to the joy.
Or in the case of All Hallow’s and its Eve, we would rather enjoy the dance than notice that we are in the graveyard.
But I say that both are important.
What do you say?  Amen?
PRAYER PREPARATION:
“Dance In The Graveyards“
~Delta Rae
Lyrics:
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deltarae/danceinthegraveyards.html
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPOM0IUsd_0&feature=youtu.be

We have come to our time in worship that I really do believe is the core of what we do here together, and that is where we uplift our joys and concerns with one another in prayer.
And so I would like to invite you to enter this time of prayer with a sense of reverence. 
We're about to enter into a conversation with God, and that shouldn't be done lightly,
but rather "... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 
making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"  (Ephesians 4:2-3) 
Please type your prayers into chat, or if you need to use voice simply emote raising your hand so everybody can have a voice.
And as we pray together, you may wish to respond to others with words like, "God hear our prayer," or with any other words the Spirit leads to you use.
COMMUNITY PRAYER
If there was a prayer inside of you that you couldn't quite get out, it's ok.
Because the Psalmist tells us that God knows what we are going to say before the words can even form on our tongues.
And so we know.
We _ know _ that God has heard our prayers.  Those spoken out loud, those typed into SL chat, and those spoken only in the silence of our hearts.
And that we pray them in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
LISTEN!
We have done a lot of talking.  Let us take a moment of silence to listen to what God might be saying.
Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening...
PASTORAL PRAYER
The writer of Hebrews, chapter eleven, begins by writing “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.” (Hebrews 11:1-2).
O Holy One, we give thanks for our ancestors of the faith: 
for Sarah and Hagar and Abraham, for Ishmael and Isaac and Rebekkah, for Leah and Rachel, Jacob and Esau, Bilhah and Zilpah, for Dinah and Tamar and Judah and his brothers. 
We pray we might grow and learn from them, from their blessings and mistakes, that have helped shape our faith stories passed down to us through today.
On this All Saints Day, we remember and give thanks for those who have guided us in our lives to You, who have been examples for us of Your love, mercy, and justice. 
We thank You for those for whom we learned from their mistakes, and those whose loss is still tender in our hearts. 
In many cultures and traditions, we celebrate and honor our ancestors. 
Today, we honor those who helped give birth to Your body here on earth, the church that binds us.
O God: may their memory bless us, and may we understand our tears to be holy. 
Until that day when every tear is wiped away and sorrow and death are no more, may we remember and give thanks, holding our hearts in gentleness. 
For we know that You will restore all things, bind all things, and carry us forward into eternity through the love of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.  (Rev-o-lution Resources by Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell  http://rev-o-lution.org, (c) 2021.  Used by permission.)
BENEDICTION:
And now it really is just this simple:
God loves you
So don't forget to love each other
Go with God
Go in Peace
And amen!
CLOSING:  
We have pain now.  Honoring those who have gone before us, it’s important and sobering.
So, I thought I’d send you out into the world with a more sober tone than usual tonight.
This video is from the very end of the film, _Schindler’s List_.  It depicts the execution of a Nazi officer, but that’s not the part I needed you to see.
The part I need you to see comes after.  It is the most powerful depiction of that Jewish tradition of laying stones on a grave that I have ever seen.
I invite you, if you haven’t already, to take a memorial stone while the video plays.
And then depart in silence.
“_Schindler's List_--Final Scene“
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z2Ignq93nE