Liturgy: Communion Prayer based on the Song of Faith (United Church of Canada, 2007)

(Please feel free to use this liturgy.  Credits:  Song of Faith (2007), adapted by Rev. Murray Speer.)

(Portions of the liturgy in square brackets are to be filled in from other resources.)

Introduction
In the sacrament of communion the ordinary things of life
—water, bread, wine—
point beyond themselves to God and God’s love,
teaching us to be alert
to the sacred in the midst of life.

[Sursum Corda]

Preface
Let us pray,
Blessed are you, gracious God,
Creative and self-giving,
generously moving
in all the near and distant corners of the universe.
Nothing exists that does not find its source in you.
From the beginning your Spirit has swept
over the face of creation,
animating all energy and matter
and moving in the human heart.

Creator, Christ, and Spirit,
we praise you for your love expressed to us through Jesus,
a Jew,
born to a woman in poverty
in a time of social upheaval
and political oppression.
He knew human joy and sorrow.
So filled with the Holy Spirit was he
that in him people experienced the presence of God among them.
Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign—
a commonwealth not of domination
but of peace, justice, and reconciliation.
He tended to the sick and fed the hungry.
He forgave sins and freed those held captive
by all manner of demonic powers.
He crossed barriers of race, class, culture, and gender.
He preached and practised unconditional love—
love of God, love of neighbour,
love of friend, love of enemy—
and he commanded his followers to love one another
as he had loved them.

[Sanctus-Benedictus]
[Words of Institution]
[Anamnesis-Oblation]
[Memorial Acclamation]
[Epiclesis]

Intercessions
We pray that we will know your purpose for us,
that faith will be nurtured,
suffering hearts will be comforted,
gifts will be shared for the good of all,
forces that exploit and marginalize will come to an end,
fierce love will be known even in the face of violence,
human dignity will be defended,
and that we will remember the price that Jesus paid
for who he was,
for what he did and said,
and for the brokenness of the world.
Make us, who through this wine and bread
are renewed in faith and hope,
witnesses to your divine mission,
feeding as we have been fed,
forgiving as we have been forgiven,
and loving as we have been loved.

Doxology
Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration
with the common ground of all being.
As children of the Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find completion
in the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.

[Prayer of Jesus]
[Amen]

Prayer after Communion
Eternal and gracious God, we place our hope in you.
     We look to a life beyond life
     and a future good beyond imagining:
a new heaven and a new earth,
     the end of sorrow, pain, and tears,
Christ’s return and life with you,
     the making new of all things.
We yearn for the coming of that future,
     even while participating in your eternal life now.
     Amen.

Liturgy: Communion Prayer for Creation Time in the Season of Pentecost

(Please feel free to use this liturgy.)

(Credit:  Rev. Murray Speer, adapted from "Prayer D" and other resources in Celebrating God's Presence, and "A New Creed")

In the sacrament of communion the ordinary things of life
—water, bread, wine—
point beyond themselves to God and God’s love,
      teaching us to be alert
      to the sacred in the midst of life.

This is not the table of (local) Church, or (denomination), or the worldwide church.  It is Christ’s table, and all are welcome at the table of the Lord.  If you do not wish to partake, please stay and watch so that you can tell others what we do here.

Come, not because you are strong but because you are weak.  Not because you are blessed but because you are hungry.  Come because you know God a little and want to know God more.  God is present in the act of communion.

We are not alone.
      We live in God’s world.
Open up your hearts.
      We open our hearts in prayer.
Let us give thanks to God.
      It is good to give our thanks and praise.

Let us pray.
Loving God, Source of all,
we praise you with our lips and with our lives,
that, having created all things through your Word,
you enter into intimate closeness with us.
For the goodness of creation,
and the glory of your redeeming love,
we praise you.
For your holiness which calls us to follow you,
and your justice which calls us to repent,
we praise you.
That you have created and are creating,
that you have come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new,
that you work in us and others by the Spirit,
we praise you.
We trust in you.
Therefore, with all the faithful of every time and place,
we join the song of all creation
to proclaim your goodness:
                               
      Holy, holy, holy God,
      power of life and love!
      All of creation glows
      with your glorious light!    
      Hosanna through the ages!      
      Blessed is the one       
      who comes in the name of God.           
      Hosanna through the ages!    

On the night before he died,
Jesus took bread, gave you thanks,
broke it, and said: “Take, eat.
This is my body, given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way he took the cup, saying:
“This is the cup of a new covenant,
poured out for the sake of many.
Whenever you drink it,
do this in remembrance of me.”

Loving God, Creative Parent,
blessing your name, we seek your Spirit.
Come to us and bless these gifts of bread and wine,
fruit of the earth and of our labour,
that they may be for us the sacrament of Christ,
sign and seal of our participation in his ongoing life
and our adoption as children of One Parent.
You call us to be the church,
to celebrate your presence,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil.
As we eat and drink together,
make us one with Christ and with each other,
a sign of your eternal reign in all creation.

      We proclaim Jesus,
      Crucified and risen,
      Our judge and our hope.

This offering of praise and thanksgiving
we make to you, loving God
through Christ your Word made flesh,
and in the creative power of your life-giving Spirit,
now and forever.

      We are not alone
      Thanks be to God.

Now as Jesus taught, let us pray together, saying:

    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,
    and lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.
    For thine is the kingdom,
    and the power, and the glory,
    for ever and ever.
    Amen.

Come, for all are welcome at the table of our God.
Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.
      Amen.
Jesus Christ, the Cup of Blessing.
      Amen.

Gracious God, may your gifts of love move us
      to live lives of thankfulness.
May your presence among us move us
      to seek you in other times and places.
May your justice, your peace, and your love move us
      to live with respect in creation.
      Amen.