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Call to Worship
Liturgist: Lent calls us to journey, this and every day, following Jesus wherever he leads us.
People: Lent calls us to journey: to the place where God covenants with us, to receive the new names we are given.
Liturgist: Lent calls us to worship together, to tell future generations the good news.
People: Lent calls us to practice justice, to bring God's hope to all people.
Liturgist: Lent calls us to faithful living, to trust the One who gives us life.
People: Lent calls each of us to take up our cross, to trust the One who bears it with us.
Liturgist: Lent calls us to journey with God.
People: Let us worship God, who walks with us, this and every day.
Opening Prayer
Spirit of help and hope, be with us this day. Breathe into our prayers and praise. Breathe into our spirits. Breathe into our worship with your promise of help, your promise of rebirth, and your promise of blessing. In faith and trust, we pray. Amen.
(The Abingdon Worship Annual 2017: Worship Planning Resources for Every Sunday of the Year).
Opening Hymn
"Come to the Table"
TFWS #2264
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Service of Holy Communion
Communion
"On Shalom"
Invitation to the Table "On Shalom"
“Shalom” means “peace,” But it means so much more as well: Wholeness, fullness, and completion; Integrity and perfection; Healing, health, and harmony; Utter tranquility, Loving and being loved; Consummation; Forgiveness and reconciliation; Totality of well-being. And even all of these together Do not spell out sufficiently The meanings of shalom. But even though we cannot accurately understand Or adequately define Shalom,We can experience it. We can readily taste The sweetness of its presence, The bitterness of its absence, And the double blessing of shalom restored.
Confessions together:
All-merciful, tender God, You created each one of us a treasure. We come to you aware that often we are careless– casting away that which is precious in your sight. We ask you to forgive us. Let your gentle waves of love gather us to your shores to live in true shalom and community with all.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Glory to God! Amen!
The Great Thanksgiving
God be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up as one.
Let us offer God our thanks and praise.
It is a good and joyful thing to praise the living God.
Come with open hearts to this table of resurrection! God of necessary endings and new beginnings, You who speak and shape new worlds, You who bless and multiply life, Receive our deep and joyful thanks for all your gifts.
Beloved Maker, In the beginning Your creative hands and heart Revealed your wondrous powers, And all of creation bowed in awe. Created female and male in your image, Your earth creatures delighted in Eden’s possibilities. All things seemed good, All things seemed holy.
And yet like so much in life It all seemed too much too soon. We quickly learned the price of freedom, The risk of reaching beyond our grasp, The meaning of sin.
You have made covenant to be our God But we so often turn away from you. Together or alone We hunger for your goodness, Your deep communion, Your lasting forgiveness, Your amazing grace.
Your sweetness lingers on our tongues, Holy One, Your faithfulness beckons us to start anew. As deep calls to deep with gratitude and grace, We join with all of creation to sing your praise:
“Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, Gloria, alleluia, alleluia!”
In word and story, In poem and prayer, In the rhythm of waves and time, Your hope comes.
Again and again Jesus reveals your loving ways, your righteous judgments, your tender mercies. He touches us with love, healing us, restoring us. Fully human, fully divine, beyond our reach, yet near at hand.
As he gathered his friends at table, He gathers us in one faith, one baptism, one hope.
We remember how he took bread, And having blessed and broken it, Gave it in the tenderest of manners, saying
This is my life, given for you. Do this faithfully in remembrance of me.
In the same manner, he took the cup, And having given thanks, gave it to them, saying
This cup is the new covenant Joining our life’s blood as one. May you find forgiveness here. In eating and drinking together we receive Jesus’ love, Transform our hearts, and imagine new futures.
Christ has died, Christ has risen, glory alleluia!
Christ will come once again, Alleluia, alleluia!
Come now, Holy Spirit; bless these prayers, this food and our lives That we might be a blessing to one another and to your greater glory.
Brooding Spirit, life-giving Truth, Send us forth to the places we have feared to go. Create in us the treasure of resurrected life. And dwell with us now and forever.
Amen! Amen! Glory alleluia!
Amen! Amen! Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord’s Prayer of Jesus
Our Father, who art in heaven; Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come, thy will be done; On earth as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses; As we forgive those who trespass against us; Lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil; For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Breaking and Pouring
My friends, the bread, which we break, symbolizes our communion in the body of Christ. In eating this bread you and I become whole. We become one.
The cup, which we pour, symbolizes our communion in the risen life. In drinking this cup our lives overflow with grace. Come, for all things are ready.
(Liturgy written by Marcia McFee, Ph.D.)
Sharing Bread and Cup
Prayer after Communion
God, your bread and your cup renew our spirits. No matter the times we have failed to show up to your call, or to our own needs, or to the cries of our neighbors, you receive us again. May your unending grace be our foundation as we journey with Christ towards justice. As we continue on this Lenten journey, let us find your peace surrounding us.
Amen.
Message in Music
"Beneath the Cross of Jesus"
by Men's Choir
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