Copyright ©1999-2005 Cindi Knox
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We are all children adopted into God's Heavenly family, heirs to salvation. Here, and in gatherings worldwide, we celebrate with our brothers and sisters the fact that we belong to God and to one another.
This is an open communion. You need not be a member of this church, nor any other church to partake. Come and join your loving family, and be reconciled to one another at this sacred meal of forgiveness and grace.
Please join with me now in the responsive prayer found in your bulletin.
Celebrant: God is with you.
People: And also with you.
Celebrant: Let us lift up our hearts.
People: We lift them up to God.
Celebrant: Let us give God thanks and praise.
People: It is a good and joyful thing to give God thanks and praise.
Loving God, we gather here to remember Your Holy Child, born among us as one of us. We thank You for fulfilling Your promise to send a Savior for all peoples. We thank You for calling us to that salvation.
We are thankful, too, for the new covenant through the blood of that child, so that we may be reconciled with You, our parent.
We are grateful that we are called together as a family, to care for each other here and for those lost ones who are yet to find there way home.
And so, in awe of Your care and love for us, we sing Your praises, joining with all who love truth.
Please join with me in singing the Sanctus as found on page ___ of your bulletin.
Holy, Holy, Holy God
The source of pow'r and might,
Heaven and Earth are full of Your glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Precious God, Your ways are forgiving and full of grace. You did not cast us off, but instead sent us a Savior to reconcile us with You.
Dear God, Your ways are just and fair. When You sent Your child to redeem us, You caused that Child to be born among us, to experience all the trials and temptations we do.
Loving Parent, Your love has no limit. More than forgiving us, You have brought us to Your family, to be joint heirs with Christ.
We gather now to renew our understanding and relationship with Your family, and to remember the precious gift of Your Child.
We remember that Jesus reached out beyond His immediate family. Jesus brought many people together, to live, to love, to care for each other. On the night before He was betrayed, Jesus brought many of tht adopted family together for a meal, during which He gave us a way to understand and remember the sacrifice He was about to make.
Jesus took bread, gave thanks to God, blessed the bread, broke it, and shared it with all those present, saying: "Take this and eat it, all of you. This is my body, broken for you."
After the meal was finished, Jesus took a cup of the fruit of the vine, gave thanks to God, blessed it, and shared it with the loved ones there, saying: "Take this and drink from it, all of you. This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins, do this in memory of Me."
And so likewise we join with those we love, to be bound together in this meal of family, faith, and forgiveness.
Let us now proclaim the mystery of this gift, as we sing the Memorial Acclamation as found on page ___ of the bulletin.
Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!
Precious God, I pray that You would send Your Holy Spirit to these people, to fill their hearts and minds with the knowledge that we are all members of Your precious and Holy family: children to you, brothers and sisters to each other.
I pray that the same Holy Spirit would come to these Earthly elements, making them the essence of that firstborn of Yours, the one who was human and divine.
For it is through Christ,
With Christ,
In Christ,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
All glory and honor are Yours,
Almighty God,
Forever and ever,
Amen.
Please join with me now in saying the prayer that Jesus taught us, addressing God in the manner which most perfectly resonates with your relationship to the Divine.
Our Creator, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy dominion 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 dominion, and the power, and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
As the ushers come to you, please offer them your greeting cards.
Now let us join with each other, sharing this blessed meal. Come as the ushers direct, whether to wine on the pulpit side, or grape juice on the piano side. Come alone, in twos, or in whatever family you desire. We are all family here, brothers and sisters, joint heirs in Christ.
Please rise as you are able and join with me now in singing our Communion Hymn,
"__________________________________________"
found on page ___ of your bulletin.
We will be singing ___________ verses.
extemporaneous prayer
Please rise as you are able and join with me now in singing our Recessional Hymn,
"__________________________________________"
found on page ___ of your bulletin.
We will be singing ___________ verses.