Oct. 3rd – World Communion Sunday
This is World Communion Sunday and we join with communities of faith around the globe in celebrating the sacrament that unites us all. During today's service, we will pray together The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving as we prepare for communion, and you can follow along with the words below while using your own bread and wine/juice for the sacrament.
The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving for World Communion Sunday
The Spirit of God is with us!
We are not alone!
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to God’s Spirit which unites us as one.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Long ago our ancestors knew love’s power and they became the tellers of love’s tale. Love bound them in covenant, teaching them to live in community with compassion and concern for the poorest among them. Yet centuries of domination and violence shaped a different kind of community based on selfishness and inequality. In the struggle against oppression, Jesus became the face of love, showing us the way to abundant life. In word and deed, he announced love’s new reign of justice, reconciliation, and peace.
And in response, we rejoice with all your people of every time and place, proclaiming:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of justice and peace,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
It is your Spirit as reflected through the life of Jesus which joins us together as a community of broken but hopeful followers: loving what Jesus loved, living what he taught, and striving to be his faithful servants in our time and place. In this meal we remember Jesus, his promises, and the price he paid for who he was, what he said, and what he did.
We do remember.
We remember his life of love, his friendship, his teaching, his dying, and his promise of a new way of living.
On the night of his betrayal and arrest, as he shared a meal with his friends, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his followers, saying: “Share this bread among you; this is my body which will be given for justice. Do this to remember me.”
When supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Share this wine among you; this is my blood which will be shed for liberation. Do this to remember me.”
God of love, spirit of compassion, bless us and this bread and wine, that they would unite us with you, with one another, and with your children in all the world. Help us to grow in faith and love, as your people in Christ. As you call us together in unity, you also honour our uniqueness and diversity. Help us to do the same with one another.
Through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Music in today's service is provided by:
Paul Gockel - Knox's organist
Liz Brown - Knox harpist
The Strathdees
Ruth and Joy Everingham
Ron Klusmeier
Scripture reader - Ann Swan