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Christmas 05
Greenbelt 05
Communion
Welcome
OPENING SONG
Lead: We come together to celebrate a feast – the feast of Holy Communion. Let us pause for a moment to reflect on what this symbol means for us, for a symbol does not have one meaning but it enables the richness of the experience of each one of us to fill it with new meanings and new life
Pause
Lead: Now we bring to this feast seven symbols rich with meaning and life as a way to celebrate the diversity, creativity and hope which our community brings together, and to look forward to the great Feast in which the whole world will finally be consumed.
In response to each symbol let us join together in the reply:
All: From East and West
With Faith and Doubt
To this new Feast
We bring our tender Hopes
Apple
We bring apples to the feast. Symbol of sin and the fall but also of beauty and what is most desirable. Lord God we thank you for you have made us the apples of your eye and saved us from the consequences of our pride and thoughtlessness
Response
Honey
God of creation we bring you the sweetness of honey. Symbol of the promised land and the fulfilment of our dearest desires and longings. But also the food of the prophets Ezekiel and John. As we eat of your sweetness may we have the courage and wisdom to be your prophets
Response
Vinegar
We bring vinegar as a symbol of the crucifixion. Wine gone sour: bitter to our tongue and to our wounds. In the midst of our celebration we remember those for whom life has gone sour (let us pause quietly for a moment...) God of the Cross come close to us!
Response
Eggs
Eggs to remind us of the new life of the resurrection. May Feast be brooded on by your Holy Spirit that in due course it might bring forth new life, new hope and new children of its own
Response
Bread
We bring bread to represent the poor. Help us to respond to those in need in our community and the world beyond. May we strive to be a giving people recognising the needs of others before ourselves.
Grapes
God of the harvest we bring you grapes: symbol of festival and thanksgiving. Gathered, crushed and fermented they bring us the miracle of wine. May we learn to celebrate your goodness and look forward with longing to drinking the new wine in your kingdom!
Coca-Cola
God of the whole world we bring you Coca-Cola. This is a symbol of an unfair world of global dominance by the rich over the poor. A globalised world of unfair trade rules, of debt, conflict and of poverty. May we be a community of justice and peace recognising every human as equal in the eyes of God.
Response
So let us now be received by God's blessing...
SONG
Prayer of
Confession
Lead: Have mercy God on all our
speaking,
The smooth words which flatter to deceive,
The sharp
words which wound and scar,
The easy words which miss the pain of
others,
The false words which hide the truth about our lives
ALL: LORD HAVE MERCY
CHRIST
HAVE MERCY
LORD HAVE MERCY
Lead: Listen Lord, to our broken
words
Hear more than we say,
Mend what we mean,
Touch our
hearts with your love and mercy
O Lord, Open our lips
ALL: AND OUR MOUTHS SHALL
PROCLAIM YOUR PRAISE
Lead: Christ is our peace; let us offer one another a sign of peace by saying together
ALL: PEACE BE WITH YOU
SONG
Invitation to share in communion
Leader:
The table that we sit around, is not the table of the church, but the
table of the Lord. This ancient tradition that Christians all over
the world have celebrated for thousand of years has been passed on to
us. It’s a living tradition, an act of spiritual community, bound together
by our common humanity, and the unity that is brought to us through
Christ. So now let us hear the story of how this meal began.
On
the night that Jesus was betrayed, He sat at supper with his
disciples. While that were eating, he took a piece of bread, and said
a blessing, broke it, and gave it to them with the words, “This
is my body. It is broken for you. Do this to remember me.” Later
he took a cup of wine saying; “This cup is God’s new covenant,
sealed with my blood, drink from it all of you to remember me”. So
now, following Jesus’ command, we take this bread and this wine,
the ordinary things of this world which Christ will make special. And
as he said a prayer before sharing and eating, let us do so too. All:
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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and
ever. Amen. Sharing
the Bread and the Wine Leader:
Lord Jesus Christ you have put your life into our hands: now we put
our lives into yours. All:
Take us, renew us and remake us. What we have been is past: what
we shall be through you still awaits us. Lead
us on, take us with you.
Amen.