Easter 2011 – Becoming the Body

GATHERING

 

ENTRANCE

 

REFLECTION

The story begins when God puts on flesh and comes to walk among us. It ends, or perhaps it just beginsagain, when God’s spirit is uncaged by death, when the one who walked among us dies an individual and is born again as a community..

 

Rob Eller-Isaacs (from a sermon)

Quoted in inward/outward, April 9, 2007

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: This morning, the story begins again.

 

People: Christ calls to us
             from beyond the empty tomb.

Leader: Today, the world is strangely different.

 

People: We begin to feel ourselves transformed,
             living in the Resurrection Body.

 

Leader: Christ is risen!

 

All:        Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

INVOCATION
 

 

HYMN
 

 

WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
 

 

SILENCE
 

 

PRAYERS
 

COMMON CONFESSION

Leader: Holy Source of Resurrection Power,
             how hard it is for us to believe the Easter story.

 

Voice 1: We want to believe
             that death is not the final word,
             that love drives out fear.

 

Voice 2: We long to know the story endures,
              to see ourselves
              as part of your Resurrection Body.

 

Leader: But we stay locked in our upper rooms
             of doubt and denial,
             waiting for certainty before we believe.

 

All: Forgive our unbelief.

 

INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

ASSURANCE
Leader: God knows how slow we are to believe
              and does not give up on us.
              The Risen Christ shows us the way again and again.
              We are forgiven.

 

All:          Amen.

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION

 

PRAYER OF 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
GREAT THANKSGIVING

Leader 1: Holy, Living God, we are thankful

                that your steadfast love for all creation

                endures forever.

 

All:          We offer our gratitude for the life, death
               and resurrection of Jesus your child,
               who calls us into a community of love and service.

 

Leader 2: We give thanks for your Holy Spirit,
                alive in, among and through us,
                leading us ever more deeply into you.

 

All:           We give thanks for your Holy Church,
                the living Body of Christ on earth,
                broken daily, life poured out.

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 of his arrest, 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.

 

SHARE THE ELEMENTS

 

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: Go out from this place remembering
            we are called to be part of Christ’s body,
            uncaged by death
            and born again as community
            to love and serve the world.

            Christ is risen!

 

All:       Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
            Amen!