Lent Communion

L:    May the Lord of the journey be with you.
P:    And also with you.
L:    Pilgrims of God, lift up your hearts.
P:    We offer them to the One who denied himself
to carry us into life forever.
L:    Sing songs of thanksgiving to the God who
is faithful in keeping promises.
P:    We offer glad anthems of joy to the One
who calls us by name.

Out of that barrenness called chaos
you called into life all that is good and true,
Beneficent God:
your face shining in the starlight,
your voice echoing in the crashing waves,
your heart, your hopes, your love
poured into those created in your image.
Showering them with peace and mercy,
you began to teach them all they needed
in order to live in hope, and in joy, with you.
But setting their minds on all the desires
which temptation revealed to them,
they began to rebuke you,
denying your dreams for them,
as we thought only of ourselves.
You continued to speak of your promises,
sending the prophets into all the barren places
where we lived and worked and dreamed,
but we were ashamed of the words they spoke,
and would not listen to the love which formed them.
So, you asked the One called Blameless
to leave your side and walk before you,
coming to share your faith in us.

Therefore, we join our voices with those
from every time and in every place,
and with the choirs of heaven,
who forever sing your praises:

P:    Holy, holy, holy, God who calls life into being.
All the ends of the earth and far corners of the universe
sing your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes to take up his cross.
Hosanna in the highest.

You are holy, God of Abraham and Sarah,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is blessed forever.
When he could have stumbled over our distrust,
he called us to follow him into your promises;
when our rejection could have weakened his faith,
he grew strong in his commitment to deny himself;
when he could have remained silent,
he declared your salvation to all,
even to those not yet alive;
when he could have hidden his face in fear,
he turned towards Jerusalem,
going to his death and into the grave,
that you might give life to all
who had died to sin.

As we come to the Table he has prepared,
we declare that in his crucifixion and resurrection
we find that mystery we call faith:

P:    Christ died to bring forth life;
Christ has risen to declare ‘God has done it’;
Christ will come again in glory.

Here, at this Table,
where the gifts of the bread and the cup
are offered to your children gathered around,
pour out your Spirit of healing and hope.
Feed us with the food of heaven
which can make us whole once more,
so we can go to serve all
whom we have treated with contempt.
Nourish us with the cup of life
which can change us into your faithful people,
so we can go to bring healing
to those disabled by our prejudices.

And when we are brought home to you,
when we are gathered with our sisters and brothers
from all the ends of the earth,
we will sing your glory and grace forever,
God in Community, Holy in One.  Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, author of Lectionary Liturgies.