Easter Communion Liturgy: We who have been wandering

Here's the communion liturgy we used @ knox this morning [easter 07] - put together out of some spare parts [morph communion, jonny baker / grace, etc.], easter readings, plus some original bits.  2 voices & response. 

Because so many in our community have direct connections with family and friends in other lands, including many still in refugee camps in Africa, we began by imagining that the walls of the church weren't there, that the table extends far beyond this church, reaching to every land where people are gathering to celebrate communion this easter, and asking people to imagine this table specifically reaching the people they want to be connected with this morning. 

[1] Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they might go and anoint him.  Very early on the first day of the week, before the sun had risen they went to the tomb. As they walked, they asked each other, “Who is going to roll the stone away from the entrance”  Later that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus. . . And as they walked they talked about the things that had happened. Jesus himself caught up to them, and joined in their conversation, but they did not recognize him. . .

[2] Bewildered and heartbroken, we too know the experience of the women who stumbled toward the tomb.  We know the experience of great obstacles blocking our entrance to hope. We too know the experience of wandering, blinded by grief and self-absorption.

And on this most wondrous of mornings we are reminded that no rock, no obstacle, no impossibility can match the capacity of your astonishing love: “He’s not here, he’s risen.” the angel said.

We who are have been wandering find a place here, here where the smell of warm bread and the taste of new wine reveal our true host, a living Lord.  May those who are unsure find their place today.  May those who’ve forgotten, rediscover joy.

Wondrous God, today your people all over this earth gather in grand cathedrals and mud huts to celebrate the victory of life over death, of possibility over probability, of hope over despair.

[1] Different hues, different hair, yet lifted by the same love;
different tongues, different values yet lifted by the same love,

Original child, newcomer child, held by the same hands,
poor child, rich child, soldier-child, held by the same hands,

Women in rags and with designer tags drinking from the same cup,
woman with AIDS, woman with child, woman at the well drinking from the same cup,

Old men, young men, men without names, sharing one loaf,
on killing fields, and in respectable suits, sharing one loaf,
sons of the slaves, sons of the free, sons of the Wind, sharing one loaf.

[2]The Lord is here
   God’s Spirit is with us
Lift up your hearts
   We lift them up to God
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
   It is right to give God thanks and praise

[1] O Lord our God, sustainer of the universe, at your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of inter-stellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth our island home. By your will they were created and have their being.

Redeemer God, Word become flesh, we remember you in bread and wine, body and blood, broken so that we with all creation, may be made whole. Through your death the power of fear is destroyed, through your resurrection the power of hope is restored. Thank you.

And so with angels and animals, microbes and mountains, we join our hearts in praise. We join our voices with peasants and paleontologists, with the diplomatic and the desperate, with the lovers and the lonely and all your children, in joy saying:

Holy, holy, holy, holy, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest
   Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord
   Hosanna in the highest.    

[2] We recall with wonder, how Jesus, dusty from the walk to Emmaus took bread, thanked you, broke it, gave it to his companions, and their eyes were opened.  We remember with joy how he took the cup, thanked you, and offered it to his companions and their hearts were opened.

[1] In this place, heaven and earth meet under the rainbow of God’s promise. In this sharing of bread and wine, future hope becomes reality now. So bring your still frozen earth, bring your scorched land, your open sky, your restless, guilty waters, bring your swift unbending road and your anxious city streets to this table where your host says, “I make all things new.”

Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world
   Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world
   Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world
   Grant us your peace.

Word becomes flesh,
flesh becomes bread,
bread becomes body,
body becomes word.

God is bread,
bread is broken;
pain becomes wine
wine becomes joy.

Wine bursts the wineskins,
God bursts the tomb,
Stones roll away,
Bread breaks into song:
Alleluia, Alleluia

Comments

[jen walters]

this is beautiful. are you ok with others using this?

[Bill]

sure - tat's the intent. parts are from a jonny baker liturgy used at grace a number of years ago, but jonny's stuff is placed on his blog for the same reason - to be used. Please feel free, use, adapt, whatever you wish.

[Mary Sayer]

This is beautiful, thanks so much for sharing it. It will be perfect for the little service we hold at the Residential Care home that a small team of us visit.
Every blessing to you and shalom.

[David Keller]

thank you for these marvelously evocative images! I too am planning on using this liturgy, in a traditional UCC church. Please let me know how I may rightly attribute it.

[bill]

David
from "O Lord our God, sustainer of the universe" to "I make all things new" was taken from a liturgy written by Jonny Baker and used both at Grace [London, UK] and at the Greenbelt Festival in UK about a decade ago. Jonny is quite relaxed about attribution but you could note it either to him or to Grace [Ealing], London UK. I suspect it might be available through Proost in UK. As for the rest of it - i guess it came through my hands/head but i've never been able to get my head around attribution, seems to me the Spirit could have used any hands/head that were available, I just happened to be handy - so I kind of prefer no attribution.