Staying awake

Matthew 24:42-44
Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Invitation
Christ’s table is for all who are weary
Christ’s table is for all who feel unprepared
Christ’s table is for all who are woke
Christ’s table is for all who are ready
Christ’s table is for all
So come, you who feel overwhelmed
Come, you who feel way behind
Come, you who feel smug
Come, all of you
Christ invites us all to this table
To find rest
To find hope
To find peace
To find joy
All wrapped up in the gift of Christ - for all today.

Narrative
In Jesus, God was born among us
Born into a particular time and place
Sent to a special nation
In Jesus God is born among us
Born for every time and place
Sent to every nation
Jesus countered political unrest
with a message of hope
Jesus  met violence and resistance
with words and actions that spelled out Peace
Jesus waded through expectations
and showed the way to real life and relationship with God and one another
People didn’t get him then
We don’t get him now
Yet, the night before he died, he gathered with his friends
Friends who misunderstood
Friends who misinterpreted his words
Friends who would run away when the going got tough
He gathered them around and fed them bread and wine, symbols of love in action
And he asked them to do the same, in remembrance of him.
Today we share this bread and wine set before us at Christ’s table here and we give God thanks.

Prayer of thanksgiving
God we thank you today for gathering us around your table.
You know we often don’t get you, we often misinterpret you and, when things get tough, we run away.
Yet you invite us here and sit with us.
You make us part of your kingdom.
And you continue to reveal to us what it means to be your disciples today, in these times.
In these times of political turmoil.
In these times of violence and unrest.
In these times when we will pin our hopes on almost anything that promises false hope.
In these times, O Lord, you remind us that your kingdom is already here and you invite all who are weary,  all who are hurting, all who are fearful, all who are running away, the displaced, the dispossessed, the refugee, victims of violence and war and earthquake and famine. Those forced to abandon all that they know and find no love in their neighbour.
So God, as we share here, we bring with us all those who are overlooked or rejected, all who have been abandoned or exploited. We bring our neighbours and ask that you will show us how to be all
that you created us to be, your children who love God and share our freedom and abundance with all who do not look like us as well as those who do.
God, at this table, confront and challenge, comfort and cajole, convict and compel us to follow you into all the world sowing seeds of peace and joy and hope in this season and in every season.
God send your Holy Spirit on us and upon these gifts we now share so that we may be filled and we may go and feed the world.

Fraction
On the night before he died, Jesus took bread, he broke it and shared it saying- This is my body, broken for you
Do this to remember me

He took the cup, declaring a new relationship made possible with God, for all
For all
For all.

We share with those gathered here, with those who have gone before and with those who have yet to find their way to Christ’s table.
We do this to remember him.

Prayer after Communion
Lord you have fed us crumbs of hope
May we go and multiply your gifts bringing hope to the world.
Lord you have given us a taste of new life
May we go and quench the thirst of all those who long for justice
As you came to bring light into the worlds darkness may we shine brightly with that light that darkness can not overcome and with love that cannot be snuffed out.
May we be prepared to see your alternative kingdom come disrupting the world’s power and ushering in your peace and hope and joy in this place and this time for all your children throughout the world
Starting here today.
In Jesus name.
Amen

Reign of Christ

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Invitation

The crucified Christ invites us to dine with him

The reigning Christ invites us to take our place at this table

The forgiving Christ makes space for us here and now

So come

Know yourself welcomed

Know yourself included

Know yourself forgiven

Come and be fed by the one who gave all for us

Come and remember him

Narrative

The night before he died, Jesus gathered his friends around to celebrate Passover. As they ate together, they told stories by which they remembered the origins of their faith. 

They remembered how God had rescued the people from Egypt.

They remembered how God led them through the wilderness.

They remembered how God taught them how to be the people of God in a new land.

They remembered how, in every place and time, God’s faithfulness accompanied them and enabled them to live in love and in hope

And Jesus added a new story.

A story of betrayal and denial.

A story of love and death.

A story of forgiveness and redemption.

And, knowing that around that table were those who would betray him, those who would deny him, those who would run away, still Jesus invited them into that new story of renewed relationship with God.

Jesus took bread, gave thanks and blessed it. He broke the bread and said: Take, eat, this is my body broken for you.

And he took a cup of wine, saying, This is the new relationship with God made possible because of my death.

Do this to remember me.

We have gifts of bread and wine to share today.

Let’s first give thanks.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God we thank you that you journey with people in every age.

You journeyed with our mothers and fathers, our grandmothers and grandfathers.

You journeyed with all who showed us faith and helped us to make it our own.

You journeyed with those who worshipped here in the past, building a community of which we now call ourselves a part.

God we thank you for your faithfulness, for your inclusion, for your unconditional love.

And, as we gather at this table, where we know ourselves welcomed, we bring into this space that you make sacred all who feel abandoned today.

All who feel excluded.

All who feel unwelcome.

All who feel unloved.

In this place, O God, you - and we - make room for all.

God and lover of all creation, we pray for your world where it is hurting and for all whom you created in your likeness.

May we hold out light, love and justice wherever we go, the fruits of being known and loved by you.

May we be empowered to empower others.

May we be moved to make a difference in the world today, both near and far because of you O God, our hope and our Redeemer, reigning Christ.

And, as we feast on you here, may we share with these people, with this neighbourhood and with  this community the many blessings that you heap on us, feeding us that we may feed others.

God send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon this bread and this wine, symbols of your undying love and goodness for the renewal of all creation.

Transform these gifts and transform we who receive, for the sake of the whole world.

Amen

Fraction

Gathered around an inclusive table, Jesus took bread, broke it and said:

Take, eat, this is my body broken for you.

Do this to remember me

After feeding minds and bodies, Jesus took the cup and said:

This cup is the new relationship with God made possible because of my death.

Drink this all of you in remembrance of me.

These are the gifts of God for the people of God.

Prayer after Communion

Christ who reigns over all, you have invited us, welcomed us, you have forgiven us, you have fed us.

May we now go into the world, into our neighbourhood, into our community with the food of love that feeds all and excludes none.

May we live alongside our neighbour, sharing the abundance you provide until all are fed, all are loved and all have a place to call home.

May the food by which you have fed and blessed us feed and bless your whole creation as we are made one in your love.

One Lord 

One hope

One faith.

Amen.

Ascension

Acts 1:9-11

When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Invitation

The Risen Ascended Christ invites us to this table

Come

Find Jesus in the bread that is broken

Find Jesus in the wine that is poured

Find Jesus in each other

All are welcome

Come and eat with the Risen Ascended Christ

Narrative

In the days after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in different places, in different ways. As he had done throughout his ministry, he unpacked for them all that he taught.

He explained the love of God in the darkness  of death and in the light of the resurrection.

He forgave their betrayal and denial.

And he commissioned them to go into all the world and make disciples.

It is the Risen Ascended Christ who feeds us here today, who unpacks scripture for us and who send us into the world to be disciples today.

So as Christ taught, we take bread, symbol of his broken body.

We take wine, symbol of his blood poured out.

We feast together, remembering him.

Let us give thanks

Prayer of thanksgiving

Lord Jesus, as you gathered your disciples around the table on the night before you died, you knew they did not understand.

They did not understand your teaching.

They did not understand this memorial you set before them.

And, even in the light of all that has happened and all the ways you continue to teach us, often we do not understand.

But we thank you for the mystery of faith, that:

Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again.

Lord, in all our misunderstanding, help us to know that you are present with us.

Not just in this place but everywhere.

Not just in these people but in all people.

Not just in this meal but in every meal, be it at a table, on the street or in the dirt.

And so we bring to this table all those we have encountered this week, friends and strangers, near and far, those we acknowledged and those we walked on by and those in whom we failed to see your face.

Forgive our blindness and keep on confronting us with your love that knows no bounds, that makes no distinction, your love that meets us here.

As we remember you in bread and wine, may we remember that by your Ascension you commissioned us to reveal your presence in all the world.

Send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts. May they become for us your body and your blood and may we become for you your risen presence in the world.

Fraction

Christ’s body is broken for the life of the world

Christ’s blood is poured out for the healing of all.

We do this to remember him.

Prayer after communion

As you have welcomed us to this table, may we go and be a welcome for others.

As you have taught us again of your love, may we go and be love for others.

As you have nourished our souls, may we go and be nourishment for others.

As you breathe your peace into us, may we take your peace into all the world.

Risen, ascended Christ, keep on nudging us in our everyday with the demands of discipleship and keep on calling us to recognise you and honour you in all.