God be with you.
And with you.
Thank you. I give thanks to you, and I give thanks for you,
as we share a journey of faith to who-knows-where,
try to listen to the Spirit tell us who-knows-what.
We are on a journey together.
We are community for one another.
So we gather to give thanks together, for that journey, for that spirit,
for that community. And, in true thanksgiving manner, we gather around a meal.
The meal we share is the one that Jesus shared with his friends the night he was arrested, the night he got ensnared in the criminal justice system from which there is no human escape.
That night his resistance claimed his life.
That night was the point of no return.
Jesus joined them in a meal.
When the meal was just about done,
the laughter stilled,
the food mostly gone,
Jesus took the remaining loaf,
broke it and gave thanks one more time for his community, for food,
for clarity that the Spirit of God hovers even when we cannot see.
He broke the bread and gave it to his friends.
One more bite, he said;
and when you do this from now on, do it to remember me.
Then, he took one of the cups of wine,
gave thanks for vineyards
(which probably made them think of all the
subversive vineyard stories he was always telling them).
He took the cup of wine and gave it to them.
One more drink, he said;
and when you do this from now on, do it to remember me.
The bread of the earth, the fruit of the vines, these are God’s gifts to us.
And as with any gift God gives us,
when we offer it back to God it becomes sacred,
a part of God’s world-mending work done through us.
We offer these gifts of bread and wine,
and the Spirit of God pours on them, through them, through us,
inviting us into sacred community, into world-mending work.
Let us pray:
God of the harvest,
of food and wine and hearts and minds,
of hope and of community,
you grace us with this meal, with your power for renewal,
with your vision of a world at peace.
Let bread and wine feed us with all that is possible,
that we may live in your spirit and love in your name.
Be present with us and make us yours again. Amen.
Post-communion Prayer
God of the creation, in this meal, you have shared yourself with us in this bread and wine of grace. Give us wisdom to be righteous stewards of your earth, partners with you in making the world whole. In the Spirit of Jesus, claim us again.
Teach us to love; send us to care. Amen.