God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us offer our prayers of thanksgiving for this meal:

God, you moved over the waters and created order from chaos. You dreamed of community and made a world sufficient for all. You rescued your people from slavery and walked with them through the desert, accompanying them as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. You gave them dreams and visions of a new way of living, a way of sharing the bounty of the earth with all its people, all your people.

In Jesus, you tried one more time to show us a way that is better than what we can imagine. And when he threatened the status quo, we killed him to assert our own power. But your power is greater, and you chose not to have his death be the end of the story.

So we share this meal. A meal Jesus told his followers to eat, a meal he said was his way of being with us in the struggle, in the quest for a mended world.

As he broke bread and poured wine, he shared it with all and said “do this,” and we do, to remember, but more than that: we do it to live even if just for a moment in the wholeness of all that is possible.

With this bread and cup today, make us again your holy people. Remind us that what has come before is nothing to compared to what can be, that who we are is a delight to you and our gifts are valued in the work.

Leader: Bless now this bread and wine, and through it bless us, your people.

People: Let us bear your light to the world and be part of your vision of peace.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Post Communion prayer:

Let us pray.

Leader: Bread, wine, community, these are your gifts to us, O God. Bless us through these, and through us, bless others.

People: We give you thanks always. Amen.