Call to Worship
One: May the Holy One answer you when
you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
Many:
May God send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion; may
God remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.
One:
May God give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans
succeed. Many: We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up
our banners in the name of our God.
One: May the Holy One grant all your
requests.
Many:
Now I know that God saves God’s anointed; God answers the anointed one from
holy heaven with the saving power of God’s right hand.
One: Some trust in chariots and some in
horses, but we trust in the name of the Holy One our God.
Many: They are brought to their knees and fall, but
we rise up and stand firm.
Reconciliation/Assurance of Pardon
One: Reconciliation is truth-telling—our
faults and foibles, our stumbles and our falls. Let us go to God in prayer.
Many:
Holy One, we are not the people we want to be. We have failed you and
ourselves, through carelessness, thoughtlessness, laziness, inattention. We
have claimed to be your followers, and yet we have fallen short of the
standards we have set for ourselves as your people. Forgive us our
shortcomings, all our weakness and foolishness. Give us your grace and wisdom
that we may be encouraged to rise and try again.
One: Gracious and loving God, you from
whom no secrets may be withheld, you know when we have risen above those
faults, when we have recovered from our stumbles to do better. My sisters and
brothers, what can separate us from the love of God? Nothing at all. In the
name of Christ, we are forgiven.
Many:
In the name of Christ, we are forgiven!
Communion
One: God is with you!
Many:
And also with you!
One: God the Creator has made all things
good!
Many:
Thanks and praise to the Creator!
One: Holy One, from a great void your
creative powers formed the cosmos, from the largest stars to the smallest
creatures; and you declared all of them good. Yet we humans, placed just below
you, forgot this and have put all creation under our heel, declaring ourselves
to be in charge of creation. You sent your prophets to point out the errors of
our ways, but we did not listen. Your beloved child, Jesus the Christ, came to
us to show us a new way of life, of living, of love—and we still turned away.
Speak to us again in these gifts of creation, of grain from the hills, and the
fruit of the vine, that we may remember your love for all creation.
On the night before Jesus gave up his
life for us, he gathered with his closest friends and shared one last meal with
them. At that meal, he took the bread, blessed it after the manner of his
people, broke it, and shared it with his friends, saying:
Many:
This is my body, opened for you.
One: When the meal was over, Jesus took
the cup, and blessed it after the manner of his people, and passed it to his
friends, saying:
Many:
This is my love, poured out freely for you and for all nations.
One: And when we eat this bread and
drink from this cup
Many:
We remember Jesus’ promise and the mystery of our faith: Christ has died,
Christ is risen, Christ will come again! Go and tell.
One: Spirit of the living God, pour out
your grace and your presence on these gifts of grain and grape. Make them be
for us whatever we need them to be, that we may be reminded of your gracious
love for us, now and always. Amen.
Benediction:
God be in your head and in your
understanding, God be in your eyes and in your looking; God be in your mouth
and in your speaking, God be in your heart and in your thinking; God be in you
end and at your departing. Amen. (Traditioal Celtic; attributed to St. Patrick)
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