GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
Whenever Jesus says come and follow him, he is saying: I’d like to invite you to join my community. I’d like you to pick up your life, to pack up your bags and come share your life with us. Come join us, come experience the new kind of security that we have found by trusting God together.
Jim Wallis,
The Call to Conversion: Why Faith is Always Personal but Never Private,1981, p.66
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader:
Holy One, you invite us to join your community.
People:
We gather here to be with one another
in belonging and caring.
Leader:
You summon us to pick up our lives
and to come to share your life.
People:
We come together here to enter into your new life,
to be the people that you have called us to be.
Leader:
You offer us a new security
and a new hope for our broken world.
All:
We join together in praise and thanksgiving
for the new reality we have found
by trusting God together.
INVOCATION
HYMN
WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
SILENCE
PRAYERS
COMMON CONFESSION
Leader:
Jesus invites us to join him,
to walk with him along the way.
People:
We would rather talk about Jesus
than learn to be like him.
Leader:
Jesus says, join my community!
Share what you have and receive what is offered.
People:
We are afraid that what is offered
will be less than what is already in our hands.
Leader:
Jesus says life is more than striving for material things,
we should not worry
about what we will eat or drink or wear.
All:
Forgive us, Holy One,
when we seek security on our own
instead of trusting you together.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE
Leader:
The Holy One knows us and forgives us,
pouring out grace and love even before we ask.
Thank God we are all in this together.
All:
Amen.
PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION
PRAYER OF DEDICATION AND 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:
Holy God of living community,
we give you thanks
for calling us together in this time and place.
People:
Holy God of loving community and all it touches,
we give you thanks
for helping each one of us find and claim our place,
as living cells in the body of the risen Christ.
Leader 2:
Holy God of constant new beginnings,
we give you thanks for your Spirit,
offering us the courage to trust your guiding presence,
even when do not understand what the future holds.
People:
Holy God of healing love,
we give you thanks for your church,
the place where we can be together,
sharing our trust in you.
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 a broken 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:
Let us go out into the world together,
praising God and trusting in love to bear us up.
For the Beloved One draws near to us,
guides us, and gives us courage to share.
All:
Amen
