Bless the Lord

Psalm 113

God the Helper of the Needy

​Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord;

praise the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name of the Lord

from this time on and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to its setting

the name of the Lord is to be praised.

The Lord is high above all nations,

and his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,

who is seated on high,

who looks far down

on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust,

and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes,

with the princes of his people.

He gives the barren woman a home,

making her the joyous mother of children.

Praise the Lord!

Invitation

This is Christ's table where all are welcome

Those who are full of praise

Those who are full of woe 

Those for whom life brings joy

Those for whom life brings challenge

Whoever you are 

Whatever you face

Christ meets you here offering love and grace

Come to Christ's table knowing Christ welcomes you here.

Narrative

Christ walked with friends and strangers

along dusty roads and rocky shores

on beaches and hillsides

At bedsides and gravesides

He taught and healed, laughed and cried

Lifted people up or got down beside them

And, on the night he was betrayed,

he gathered some of those friends

around a table in an upper room. 

He washed their feet and taught them to serve

He fed their minds and bodies and taught them to share.

He took bread, blessed it and broke it, and told them:

This is my body broken for you.

And then he took a cup and told them:

This cup symbolises a new beginning with God 

made possible because of my death. 

Do this to remember me.

And so we take this bread and this cup 

and we give thanks to God for these symbols of grace.

Let us pray

Thanksgiving

God, like the Psalmist we praise you today

because you accept us just as we are.

The rejoicing and the grieving

Those who are content and those who are restless

Those who find life easy, those who find life hard

You know us and love us and hold out your arms in welcome.

And so we come, some with faltering steps, some at a run 

some in our own time, some dragged along by others.

We come and find you waiting on us.

As we bask in your welcome we bring with us

all who need to be fed today

Those hungry for love

Those hungry for knowledge

Those hungry for justice, those hungry for peace

Those hungry for shelter, those hungry for status

Those hungry for stability, those hungry for family.

At your table there is room for all and enough for all.

Those of this world- and the next.

And so we thank you that you call us sons and daughters.

You lift us from the places we have been and open up for us new horizons.

Send your Spirit on these symbols that we use here.

May our hearts and minds be open wide in wonder that such love and grace

And mercy and forgiveness is crammed into a sip of wine and a cube of bread.

And as we share together may we know at your table 

there is room for us and room for all.

And may we bless your name forevermore.

Amen

Fraction

In this bread, we know Christ's body broken for us

We share the feast together

In this cup we know a new relationship with God

We do this to remember him

Prayer after Communion

God we have been fed at this table

We have been nourished and encouraged

We have been cradled in caring and lifted in love

Help us now to go into all the world sharing the gifts we have been given

until all your world is fed.

Knowing your grace in simple things, may we simply live to hand on your love

as you have handed it to us.

May we carry your very self in us so that all may see you

 the God of the Universe making your home with us

Bless the Lord O my soul.

On a journey

Hopes and dreams for the journey

A Communion Liturgy written for a RevGals event in Scotland

Prayer

God of familiar paths and new discoveries

We greet you here

God of ancient texts and fresh insight

We open our hearts

God embraced by some, rejected by others

We make room for you this day

As you make room for us.

Remove all that would keep us from recognising you as we worship you here

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Luke 24:28-35

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Two women walked the road

And as they walked

they talked - 

of death and resurrection

of hope and promise

of faith and discernment

of love and discipleship

Sharing a vocation

that is costly and demanding

Sifting through the detritus

for the jewels that are buried.

And between them

was the risen Christ

listening and encouraging

consoling and affirming

making his presence known

in the breaking of the bread of life

- the sharing of stories

of joys and disappointments

of comfort and longings

Souls laid bare

not seeking answers

or solutions

not even congratulations

or commiserations

But simply the sacred gift

Of listening

in which the work of healing is begun.

(This week has been a week of revelations, of companionship, of listening and of healing and now, as we share Communion together, let's hear Christ's invitation to us.)

Invitation

We come from North and South, from East and West.

Christ invites us to sit at table, one with each other and with God.

Narrative

Christ walks alongside us opening our eyes to the things of the Spirit

Inviting us to enter into a deeper relationship, a new understanding, changing us one step at a time.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus shared super with his disciples, one who would betray him, one who would deny him and the others who would run away.

Knowing all that -  Jesus invited them into a new relationship made possible because of his death.

Today in the midst of our pilgrimage, Christ invites us to do the same.

To break bread and to share the cup in memory of him.

Let us give thanks;

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Walking and talking

Going ahead

Hanging back

Jesus meets us on the road

The road that is strewn with pebbles

The road that is full of pot holes

At times with strident steps

At times with faltering shuffle

Sometimes matching our pace

Sometimes slowing us down or moving us on

God we thank you for this time away from our daily routine

Sharing with strangers, now friends

We thank you for all the evidence of your presence as we have travelled

Breadcrumbs dropped along the way

For expectations met or exceeded

For hopes kindled or fulfilled

For challenges laid down or taken up

We bring to you those we have met on the way this week

Those physically present

Those we have carried in our hearts and minds

And those whose stories we have heard and shared

We thank you for causing our hearts to burn within us

as you have revealed to us new insight

as you have unlocked mystery

and upset our certainty,

uprooting, changing, bending and breaking

And now as we break bread together with you in our midst

send your Holy Spirit on these your gifts

May we be nourished and inspired to continue our pilgrimage

In the name of Christ our beginning and our ending

Amen

Sharing Peace

Gods peace is here, not to make us content, but to make us restless to find our way home.

Let us share the peace together.

RevGals Pheeto