GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
You can’t get to any of these truths by sitting in a field smiling beatifically, avoiding your anger and damage and grief. Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth. We don’t have much truth to express unless we have gone into those rooms and closets and woods and abysses that we were told not go in to. When we have gone in and looked around for a long while, just breathing and finally taking it in – then we will be able to speak in our own voice and to stay in the present moment.
And that moment is home. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, p. 200
LIGHTING THE ALTAR CANDLE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Come, let us join together
to worship the Holy One,
who is always with us.
People: We seek the One who meets us
in the places of deeper truth.
Leader: Let us breathe and take in the Spirit
who loves us in the dark
and closed-off parts of our soul.
People: We meet the Holy when we stand
in the messy reality of our lives,
in this moment.
Leader: Love embraces us
even in our anger
and damage and grief.
All: Held in Love,
we speak the truth
in our own voice
and come home.
OPENING PRAYER
HYMN
SILENCE
PRAYERS
CONFESSION
Leader: We long to be able
to speak in our own voice
and to stay in the present moment.
People: Instead, we spend time avoiding
our anger, damage, and grief.
Leader: We linger in places
of comfort and ease,
not going into spaces
we’ve been told to stay out of.
People: We may read and even dream
about courage and resilience,
but fear and resistance
motivate us much of the time.
Leader: Then we feel lost and abandoned,
lacking both desire and will to move.
All: Forgive us when these feelings of despair
block our awareness of you.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE
Leader: The Holy One forgives our resistance and our fears,
lifting our voices and grounding us in the present moment.
People: Amen.
THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE
INTERCESSION AND PETITION
COMMITMENT
All: O Holy One, we come today
to claim our relationship with you.
We pray for the commitment to grow together,
sharing the gifts you give us with others
here and in the wider world.
Forgive us for the hurt we have inflicted
and help us forgive those who have hurt us.
Give us strength and discipline
to nurture our relationship with you;
to care for every part of your creation;
to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need;
to work to end all war, and violence, and discord;
and to respond joyfully when you call,
freely giving our selves as you have shown the way.
We open our hearts to you and your creation
in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
SCRIPTURE
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
OFFERING
COMMUNION
PREPARATION
Leader 1: This is the table of the heavenly feast,
the joyful celebration of the people of God.
Leader 2: We gather now as one body, joined around the table.
Here we celebrate God’s presence among us,
united in Christ’s spirit, broken and whole all at once.
All: Nourished and hungry, loved and loving,
sinner and forgiven, we make one circle
of knowing, believing, rejoicing, being,
as God lights and rests among us.
GREAT THANKSGIVING
Leader 1: Beloved Source of all that is,
we give you thanks
for our eyes to see, ears to hear,
and hearts to cherish the beauty
and glory of our embodied lives
on a troubled planet.
People: We give you thanks for the life
of Jesus, the Human One,
who opened himself fully
to his own anger, suffering, and grief,
becoming one of us and guiding us
toward deeper truths.
Leader 2: We give you thanks for your Holy Spirit,
who walks with us
through the darkest woods,
and frees us to open the doors
of even our most fearful inner rooms.
All: We give you thanks for bringing us
into the family of your holy people
throughout the ages
and around the globe,
who are given to us so that
we can walk each other home.
BLESSING THE ELEMENTS
Leader 1: Christ invites everyone to eat the bread of life,
to drink the cup of the new covenant.
Leader 2: Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
You who come to me shall never hunger;
you who believe in me shall never thirst.
Leader 1: On the night he gave himself up, Jesus took bread,
and after giving thanks to God, broke it and said,
This is my body,
broken for the healing of the world.
Whenever you eat it, do so remembering me.
Leader 2: After supper, Jesus took the cup and said,
This is the cup of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for all.
Whenever you drink it, do so remembering me.
All: O Holy One, send down your Spirit
that these gifts of grain and grape,
and work of human hands
may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Unite us with Christ forever
and bring us with the whole creation
to your eternal realm.
SHARE THE ELEMENTS
Leader 1: The body of Christ, broken for all of us.
Feed on Christ in your hearts with thanksgiving.
Leader 2: The cup of the new covenant, poured out for the healing of the world.
Drink deeply of it.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND DEDICATION
All: God of abundance and mercy,
we give joyful thanks
for your eternal love and healing presence
in our celebration of bread and cup.
Bless this Body of Christ
that we may attend faithfully to our call to be your servants,
with each other and throughout the world. Amen.
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: Surrounded by God’s presence
and the support
of this beloved community,
we face into our difficult truths
and find home.
Now as we go out into the world,
may we speak with the strength
of our own voice,
savor each present moment,
and greet all we meet
with signs of peace. All: Amen
