These liturgical texts are appropriate for use throughout the time after Pentecost and may be repeated from week to week.
Sequences of Confession and Lament
1
O Love Incarnate,
we say that when faith came to our hearts
our differences disappeared,
but people are still hurting.
People are still starving.
People are still imprisoned.
We remember the heroes
in the great cloud of witnesses
who have come before us.
We say we want to do your will
on heaven as it is on earth,
but we continue to choose comfort,
to choose silence,
to choose complicity.
We still ignore the names of ancestors
who paved the way for us:
who perished while seeking freedom,
challenged oppressive systems,
or have lived in war-torn nations
and occupied lands.
Come with your fire, O Love Incarnate.
Speak a word that will ignite passion,
stir our hearts,
and transform our apathy
into love that risks everything
for you, for each other, for creation.
Our God is Love Incarnate.
In Christ, we are forgiven. Amen.
2
Great Judge, God of Justice,
we pray for those in need,
for those living in poverty,
and for those who are victims of greed.
We pray for those who practice deceit
and exploit others for a few coins.
We wonder:
Is this us?
Forgive us when we fail to see
our place in systems of oppression.
We tremble when we hear of your judgment.
Will you remember our deeds?
Will you turn our feasts into mourning
and our songs into lamentation?
We plead:
Give us a path toward justice.
Change our direction
and guide our lives,
that the earth
might breathe compassion
and your beloved ones
live how you intended:
free, flourishing, and in peace.
Our God is a God of justice.
The one who judges us forgives us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
3
The Lord is just and righteous;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
Trusting in the Lord, who will reign forever,
let us boldly raise our laments
to the God who hears
and confess our sins
to the God who forgives.
Gracious God, maker of heaven and earth,
we lament the abuse done
to the earth you have made
and we confess our part in that abuse.
We lament that good food goes to waste
while your children go hungry,
and we confess the ways
in which we are wasteful.
We lament the broken systems
which resort to incarceration
as a first recourse,
and we confess the ways
in which we seek punishment
instead of restoration.
We lament the ways in which
our society disables and disempowers,
and we confess the ways
in which our ableism creates obstacles
for all the children of God:
obstacles to participation,
obstacles to understanding,
and obstacles to sharing and receiving the gifts of each person.
We lament the worries
and well-founded fears
which keep so many from living abundantly,
and we confess the ways in which
we have given others cause for fear.
We lament that so many in our communities are denied welcome and basic human dignity,
and we confess the ways in which
we alienate our neighbors.
We lament the ways in which
our society fails its children and elders,
and we confess the ways in which
we deny loving respect to people
in the early and late phases of life.
Ruin wickedness, execute justice,
justify our hope,
help us all for your name’s sake. Amen.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs,
they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
But the Lord will reign forever
and rule with justice and mercy.
Hear the good news:
the God who judges
is the God who justifies,
and the God who adjudicates
is the God who forgives.
Hope in God, rest in grace,
administer mercy, practice peace.
Live in the help
of our loving and sovereign God,
who claims us in baptism
and guides us in the ways
of righteousness and truth.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Amen.
4
Foolish people,
how long will you persist in doing evil
and refuse to know how to do good?
The God who loves us
calls us to conform our lives to Christ.
So trusting God,
let us confess our sins and turn from them
to the one from whom
flows all grace and mercy.
Holy God, we lament the ways
in which worldly voices
whisper lies and yell falsehoods,
drowning out calls for justice,
suffocating reasons for hope,
fueling division, and sparking anger.
We confess that often we listen
to these foolish voices,
believing their lies, accepting despair,
allowing apathy to smother
our aching for justice,
and permitting partisanship
to permeate our purpose.
Grant us the grace
to evaluate the words of the world
according to the truth
we have from you,
through the Word we have from you,
in the hope we have from you.
Turn our divisions into connections.
Turn our apathy into action.
Turn our anger
into peace-filled purpose.
Turn our destructive impulses
into opportunities
for your righteous restoration,
all for your name’s sake. Amen.
The days are surely coming
when God’s law will be written in our hearts,
and all shall know the Lord!
The good news of the covenant of grace
is that God has claimed us
and will continue to make us
into the people God has called us to be.
By God’s grace, know that you
have received God’s forgiveness.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Amen.
Invitations to Discipleship
1
The Spirit of God-with-us
invites us to cultivate lives
that will bear fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Come, sit at the table God sets before us
and share these gifts
with the whole creation.
2
Siblings in Christ,
let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us,
knowing that we are not alone,
but part of a cloud of witnesses,
traveling alongside ancestors in faith
who loved their neighbors
with the love of Christ
and march with us every step of the way.
3
God has rescued us
from the power of darkness
and transferred us
into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
God invites us to participate in this kingdom,
offering us the strength
that comes from his glorious power,
the endurance that comes from patience,
the joy that comes from gratitude.
So let us labor with Christ,
that by God’s grace
we may be a blessing in God’s world
and one day enjoy a place
among God’s saints in light.
4
Our Lord Jesus Christ
and God our Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
loves us and invites us
into lives of faithful discipleship.
So let us respond,
proclaiming the good news,
holding fast to the traditions
which bind our community together
while making more room at Christ’s table.
In choosing this faithful way of living,
may we experience the eternal comfort
and good hope given to us through grace,
and may our hearts be strengthened
in every good work and word.
5
Friends,
we have the honor
of answering a true calling
to follow our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who came to seek and save the lost.
So let us rejoice in the Lord always.
Let us deal with one another gently.
Let us focus on what is true,
honorable, just, pure, commendable,
and pleasing to God.
And may the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding,
guard our hearts and minds
as we follow Christ Jesus our Lord.
Eucharist
1
Invitation to the Table
Friends, this is the table
where justice becomes a way of life,
dreams of equity become real,
and words of liberation feed our spirits.
This is the table of hope.
Great Thanksgiving
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to our Creator.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right and our greatest joy
to give you praise and thanks, O Holy Fire,
for you shaped mountains and valleys,
the oceans, rivers, and lakes.
You gave us the bountiful earth
in which we toil and play.
You molded us from earth,
out of corn and wheat, roots and flowers,
and you called us good.
When we did not trust your promises
of freedom and peace,
you fed us holy manna,
sheltered us from the scorching sun,
and gave us prophets
to remind us of your love.
So we sing with all our ancestors in faith
and with all the angels and all the planets:
Holy, holy, holy,
God of mercy and justice,
the whole creation sings of your glory,
O Maker of All Things.
Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of our God!
Hosanna in the highest!
You sent Jesus Christ
to share fish and loaves,
compassion and grace,
guidance and purpose,
with everyone he encountered.
Jesus showed us
that sharing multiplies abundance,
that love grows when it is poured out,
and that everyone deserves the feast
you have prepared.
On the night he was betrayed
by his closest friends,
he invited them to an abundant table . . .
(words of institution)
How great is the mystery of faith:
Christ was born. Christ lived.
Christ has died. Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit
on these gifts of grain and grape,
which have been milled and squeezed,
transformed into something new
by the love of artisan hands.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.
Make us bolder in our hospitality
and more radical in our generosity
so that one day your world
may hunger no more
for food or love. Amen.
Prayer after Communion
For these gifts of grain and grape,
of community, of hope and restoration,
we give you thanks, O Holy Love.
Strengthen our bodies
to do the work our ancestors began,
that the world may know peace. Amen.
2
Invitation to the Table
The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us,
full of grace and truth.
We have approached the Word with humility
and sought to hear God’s word for us today.
Now, with that same humility,
let us approach the table
where the Word made flesh reigns
and all are welcome
to the abundant feast of the Lord.
Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
It is truly right and our greatest joy
to give you thanks and praise,
Maker of heaven and earth,
Healer and restorer of all.
From the dawn of creation
you have fashioned the world into being.
You chose a family
through whom you promised to bless
all the families of the earth,
and whenever your people
wandered away from you,
you sought them out and brought them back
to your righteous ways.
So we praise you,
with the saints who rest in light
and all the heavenly host,
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory,
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest!
Lord Jesus Christ,
you came to seek and save the lost.
You healed all those who came to you,
and your heart overflowed with joy
when their hearts overflowed with gratitude.
We give thanks that,
at the end of your earthly ministry,
on the night before you died,
you gathered with your followers . . .
(words of institution)
We give thanks
for the divine mystery of grace
made manifest for us at this table,
and we acknowledge
the great mystery of our faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Come again, Holy Spirit,
upon these elements and upon us.
Stir in our hearts,
that we may know to whom we belong.
As we share this bread and cup,
bind us together in gratitude and joy
and equip us for the work of the kingdom
which reaches out wide to gather everyone in,
until we, too, rest with the saints
in a greater light. Alleluia! Amen.
Prayer after Communion
Loving God,
you draw us into your abundance
by feeding us
with the bread of life
and satisfying us
with the cup of salvation.
May this taste transform our thinking
from scarcity to abundance
and shape us
from listlessness to gratitude.
Now, fueled by your love,
send us out to participate
in your creative, holy work. Amen.
