This communion liturgy was written for Palm Sunday, but it's pretty adaptable. It was written for three voices: a liturgist/presider and two voices [male and female] who do a kind of verbal counterpoint. The opening quote is from Bishop Oscar Romero. Images of urban realities [lovers, murders, urban warfare, etc.] could be the backdrop.
Male Voice: Brothers, you came from our own people. You are killing your own brothers and sisters. Any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God, which says, 'Thou shalt not kill.' It is time you obeyed your consciences rather than sinful orders. The church cannot remain silent before such an abomination... Reforms are of no use when they are steeped in all this blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each day, I beg you, I entreat you, I order you: stop the repression.
Female Voice: I beg you, I entreat you, I order you: stop the repression.
Presider: God is with you
All: And with you too
P: Lift your hearts
A: We lift them to God
P: Let us give thanks to God most holy
A: It is right to give God thanks and praise.P: It really is right and good and our great joy to be able to offer you thanks and praise on this wondrous day, a day when, for a moment, humanity seemed to recognize what really mattered, a day when we seemed to get it right. Yet soon those faces would transform again, grimacing with pain and shouting “Kill, kill”, the cry of the city. But that too would not be the end. When we had done all we could to spurn you, you came back with one more surprise, “Not here, but risen, he’s gone ahead – and will meet you in the city”
FV: In the city.
MV: In the city, where children weep and lovers dance. Here in this city, where pain is rampant, yet joy still finds a way, You promise to meet us in THIS city.
FV: It is our city. Your city. Cain’s city. Built on murder, shelter that barely hides the constant wandering of the spirits, the continuous unrest that lies beneath.
P: And so we join our voices with the ancients, who like us have tasted the joy of new life, praising you singing:
A: Holy, holy, holy are you, God of wonder, earth and heaven quake with your glory. Blessed is the one who comes in your name.Hosanna in the highest.
P: Hosanna indeed, wondrous God, Through your goodness we have bread and wine to offer,which earth has given and human hands have made, now reshaped by your Spirit.
MV: The bread becomes body.The body becomes bread.
FV: We are the body of Christ. A cup is before us. An offering, a decision. To drink it is to embrace the way of Christ. In drinking it we enter the mystery of doubt and obedience. We are the body of Christ in this city of joy and unrest, of violation and deep holiness. In sharing one cup, we embrace each other in joy, in grief, in suffering, in hope. Shall I take this cup from you?
All: Not our will, but yours.
FV: Christ was wounded, Christ has died. Death was wounded, Love did rise
P: Accept we pray these gifts of bread and wine as symbols of our lives. Touch them with your Spirit that they may become symbols of your life in us. That the bread may renew our spirits, and the wine restore our souls.
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