Sunday, April 25, 2021

CALL TO WORSHIP
Psalm 23

MUSIC
Curated by Clint Siebert
Phil Wickham - Battle Belongs
Commons Creative - Be Thou My Vision
Bethel Music - King of My Heart
Phil Wickham - Living Hope

AN INVITATION TO THE TABLE
Written by Yelena Pakhomova

On this fourth Sunday of Easter, we gather around the Eucharist table. We gather in our homes, kitchens, living rooms, across the world, and three livestreams to be reminded that this is a meal of interconnectedness. 

This sacred ritual has found its way to us through the centuries and many generations of Christ's followers, through beautiful, diverse and complicated histories. 

And as we eat and drink today, the Eucharist meal continues to break down walls and bring us together as a community. It reminds us that through the death and resurrection of Christ, we have the power to imagine and create new stories. And it invites us to participate in the healing of an aching world.   

So, receive this invitation: 
Come to this table, not because you must but because you may, 
Not because you are strong, but because you are weak. 
Come, not because you have done the work to be here and you deserve these gifts, 
But because you need mercy and help. 
Come, because you love God a little and would like to love God more.
Come, because God loves you and gives you life, always.
Come and meet the risen Jesus, for we are Christ's body.

And now we turn to the elements you have prepared for yourself and those with you today at home. Maybe you have some bread or crackers; maybe grapes or juice or wine. 

Here is the blessing for your elements: 

Risen Christ, 
Bless our tables and be our host, 
May we receive this meal with joy, 
May we find newness in its simplicity, 
And may we be a community of hope,
people who are loved and can love well. 

As you take the bread and hold it in your hands,
Or pass it to those who are with you,
Remember that this is Christ's body
Given for you to make you whole.

Please join me as we eat. 
[eat the bread]

As you lift the cup or prepare to crush the grape in your mouth,
You are united with the Risen Christ
and blessed to move forward with hope.  

Please join me as we drink.
[crush the grape]

Let us pray
Loving God, 
in this season of Eastertide, as we take the resurrection story into ourselves,  through this meal,  and on our walks, and in all the ways we reach out and come together. may we embrace your work of renewal in and around us, may we welcome the trajectories of healing and justice, and may we be instruments of your peace wherever you may take us.
Amen.