CELEBRATING COMMUNITY: SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
Offerings
Our offerings for the work of ministry in this place and beyond,
and our gifts of bread and wine, shall now be received.
Presentation The people stand, as they are able as the gifts are presented
May these gifts be receive in all graciousness.
For it is in hope and thanksgiving that we offer them.
The people sit
Thanksgiving
God is the heart of life.
All And we are the heartbeat.
May your hearts be filled with thanks
and praise and songs of joy.
All We rejoice in the miracle of life
and delight in our participation. SWeinberg
We give thanks and praise for all that is good in the world.
For that mystery we name God
and call the creator of heaven and earth and all that is.
For the person we name Jesus
and his message of peace, justice and inclusiveness
that is the realm of God.
For the renewing strength and freedom of the Spirit
always present on the breath of life
All We give thanks for the love, peace and justice,
for prosperity, strength and freedom,
and for the presentness of God in the midst of life.
God of winter, the unpopular, slandered season, we praise you.
God of lightning, wind and storm, we praise you.
God of brisk winter mornings, frosted back lawns and stark hillsides;
of warm socks, coats and gloves,
raincoats, umbrellas and warm fires, we praise you.
So we join our celebration to all people, saying:
All Holy, holy, holy, re-creating God,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
All Hosanna in the highest.
Breaking of bread/Sharing of wine
We remember the time when Jesus faced
difficult decisions and destructive forces:
- in the days and nights of his searching,
- in finding ways to free others from images and ideas
that kept them captive and dependent and fearful of God,
- in breaking down social and religious barriers,
- in facing failure,
- in facing death (MMorwood/pns)
When we too experience the winter of our lives
may we find the courage to let go
and trust in your guiding, warming light.
And we remember
Jesus has shown us that life is stronger than death.
And as we eat together at this table
we remember the words and the actions of that meal...
He took bread, gave thanks, broke it,
and gave it to his friends.
He poured a cup of wine, offered thanks for it,
and shared it also with his friends.
Ancient symbols.
Common acts.
Response
Jesus, human like us,
All reveals to us our true identity, temples of God's spirit.
Jesus, human like us,
All reveals God present and active throughout human history.
Jesus, human like us,
All reveals God-always-with-us in our everyday loving.
Jesus, human like us,
All challenges us to let his story be our story also (J Nelson-Pallmeyer/wsj)
Communion
So we break and share bread and drink wine,
pledging ourselves to allow the spirit that moved in Jesus
to move freely in our lives.
The bread and wine is served
After Communion
God of amazing grace,
in the cold of the winter months
we are grateful for your presence, warming us.
We pray this presence will strengthen us
to follow in the way of Jesus, in this city.
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