Bulletin – Sunday, September 6, 2020 Communion
Sunday, September 6, 2020
Communion
Approach
Lighting the Christ Candle
This candle dances with the presence of the Spirit, reminding us of the warmth of the community in which God calls us to gather and the light that shines with wisdom, insight, and clarity for us in our time of worship.
Call to Worship
People of God, open your eyes!
We open our eyes to truly look around!
The presence of our Christ is here—
Christ’s presence is among us and within us.
God’s salvation is close at hand—
God’s salvation is even nearer than we know.
So open your hearts and minds to the Spirit,
Let us open our hearts and minds so that we might worship God together!
Hymn – “Praise Our Maker”
Praise our Maker, peoples of one fam’ly:
God is love, God is love!
Praise our Maker, peoples of one fam’ly:
God is love, God is love!
Love our Saviour, followers of Jesus:
God is love, God is love!
Love our Saviour, followers of Jesus:
God is love, God is love!
Care for others, children of the Spirit:
God is love, God is love!
Care for others, children of the Spirit:
God is love, God is love!
Prayer
God of Justice, peace and righteousness come into our midst this day.
Breathe your breath, your Spirit of prophecy, your energy, your enlivening, your imagination on us.
Wake us up. Open our eyes. Unplug our ears. That we might hear. That we might see. That we might grieve. That we might dream. That we might follow the ways of your extraordinary kingdom.
Holy One, you call us to wake from sleep, to become aware to our surroundings. The dawn of a new time of preparation is upon us.
Forgive us when sleepiness takes its toll, when our discussions become battles, when our judgement and self-judgement outweigh our faith. Let us put on the light of Christ and live as you have called us in respect, in mutual dialogue, and in healthy living.
Help us so that everything we do reflects Christ’s light. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Hymn – “Spirit, Open My Heart”
Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.
God, replace my stony heart with a heart that’s kind and tender.
All my coldness and fear to your grace I now surrender.
Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.
Write your love upon my heart as my law, my goal, my story.
In each thought, word, and deed, may my living bring you glory.
Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.
May I weep with those who weep, share the joy of sister, brother.
In the welcome of Christ, may we welcome one another.
Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.
Time for All Ages
The Word
Scripture Reading:
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20
Response (sung)
Where two or three are gathered in my name,
I am there, I am there.
Meditation – “To Gather in God’s Love”
Anthem – “Love One Another”
The Response
Communion
God be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
Holy One, we gather this day as one people, members of the same body, grateful for your many gifts, and carrying the hope within us for a world filled with love. This hope was given by you from the very beginning of your creation.
You have made the earth, and all that lives on it. You inspired prophets and widows and slaves to seek liberation from all that oppresses, so that we might be released to love fully. You, in your wisdom, sent singers and prophets, priests and sages to help guide us in love, but we continued to wander away from you and the challenge to live into, and with, that love. You became incarnate in Jesus Christ, so that through him we might experience the depth and width of your unquenchable love.
And so, joining our voices with the ancestors who have gone before us, we praise your name in song;
Sanctus (sung)
O holy, holy, holy God, O God of time and space.
All earth and sea and sky above bear witness to your grace,
Hosanna in the highest heav’n, creation sings your praise.
And blessed is the one who comes and bears your name always!
While Jesus lived among us he stood up for women and children, he touched the untouchable, healed the sick, and welcomed those who had given up hope of being included Through him we see a path not only to our own freedom, but a path to the liberation of the whole world.
He taught us that it will not be in brutality of violence that our world will be saved. Rather, it will be in showing kindness and love to our neighbour, in standing up against injustice, in returning hate with love, in transforming one heart at a time. It will be in the simple but holy task of dining together, sharing bread and wine, truly seeing one another as beloved by you.
We know this because on the night before he was killed, Jesus took bread, gave thanks to you, broke it, and gave it to his friends saying “Take, eat. This is my body broken for you. Do this to remember me.”
After dinner he took the cup of wine, gave thanks, gave it to them and said: “Drink this all of you. This is the cup of the new promise. Each time you drink of this cup, remember me.”
Therefore, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we are proclaiming Christ’s death until he comes. In this communion, we restore to memory and hope the broken and unremembered victims of tyranny and sin; and we long for the bread of tomorrow, and the wine of the age to come, and so we lift up our hearts, and we lift up our voices and we offer thanksgiving to God as we proclaim the mystery of our faith;
Memorial Acclamation (sung)
Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen, Christ will come again!
Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen, Christ will come again!
And now we come to your table again, Jesus, mindful of how you laid your life down, so that we and creation could be born anew; mindful of how you took your life up again, so that we and creation could be filled with life abundant. Knowing that God loved us so much that you came to be among us as teacher, priest, prophet, God be with us as we lift up in prayer those in this community whom we pray feel your presence in their lives this day…
Send your Holy Spirit, we pray, into these gifts of bread and wine. Please seen your Holy Spirit into us, that we may recognize each other as members of the same body, Christ’s hands and feet and heart, sent for the healing of the world.
All this we ask in your name.
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. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Great Amen (sung)
Amen, amen, O Holy One! Hosanna and Amen!
Amen, amen, O Holy One! Hosanna and Amen!
The Sacred Three, who is the Holy One has prepared a table for us, it is now ready. Friends of God, all whom the Spirit calls, all who are present, are welcome to this meal. You are welcome to come to the table of Christ, who is our hope.
Prayer after Communion
Eternal and gracious One, may your gifts of love transform and enliven us that we may live lives of thanksgiving. May your presence among us provoke such longing for your realm, that we will never be satisfied until the whole earth knows your justice your peace, and your love. This we pray in faith, in hope, and in love Amen.
Hymn – “Move in the World”
Move in the world, with kindness as your creed;
Open your eyes to see its deepest need;
Let peace and justice be the truths we heed,
Alleluia, alleluia.
Live in the world, strive for a better day,
Let truth and fairness birth a kinder way,
Where people, all, the love command obey,
Alleluia, alleluia.
Benediction
As you go from here, remember to love.
For love is what God asks of us; it is the very heart and soul of what it means to follow Jesus Christ.
So go from here to love and serve God by loving and serving those you meet.
And may God—who loved us first, and who showed us what real love looks like—be with you and among you wherever you find yourself in the coming week.
Response
May the grace of Christ attend us,
And the love of God surround us,
And the Holy Spirit keep us,
Now and ever, always.
Amen, amen, forever and ever,
Amen.
