Eucharistic Prayers

“Abide in Us”

Holy  God,

You are the Vinegrower, and your Son Jesus is the Vine.

We thank you that you have made us the branches of the Vine,

that we may bear the fruit of love in our lives.

Pour out upon us your Spirit.

Fill us with trust.

Drive out fear of punishment

that we might think not of ourselves, but of others.

Abide in us that we may abide in you.

We thank you that you have loved us first,

            and that you have loved us beyond our sin.

We thank you that on the night in which he was betrayed

our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

With this bread and cup
we remember that Christ came to us in the flesh,

            full of love--

            full of grace and truth.

We remember our new birth in his death and resurrection.

And we look with hope for his coming to restore our world.

Abide in us, O Lord,

And nourish us that we may abide in you.

Amen.

“Banquet of Truth and Love”

Holy God, you are the Lord of Hosts.

You command armies, but they are of heaven and of the Spirit.

Your son did not call himself King, and did not raise up armies to fight for any nation or any cause; and his Kingdom is not of this world.

Instead, he testifies to the Truth.

He testifies to the Truth when he eats with sinners, and when he points us to the heavenly banquet table of redemption where the poor are filled, the blind see, the crippled walk, the sinners are forgiven, and all are welcome.

Indeed, Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life as he loves us to the end and commands us to love one another as he has loved us.

And so, on the night on which he was betrayed, he took the bread, blessed it, and gave it for us to eat, saying, “Take and eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

And after supper he took the cup, blessed it, and gave it for us saying, “Take and drink, this is my blood, the cup of the New Covenant, poured out for you and for all people, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The hour has come, O Lord, when we who worship you must worship in Spirit and in Truth.

Fill us with your Spirit, guide us into all Truth, and declare to us the things that are to come.

Sanctify us in your Truth, that we may live today and tomorrow, not for ourselves, but for you and for those you invite us to spend eternity with: these same blind and lame and poor—these forgiven sinners, just like us.

Fill us with your Spirit so that we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free.

Amen.

For Funerals

We give thanks to you, God, for gathering us around your banquet table.

You gather us from across the miles.

You gather us because you forgive us our sins.

You gather us despite our different creeds and beliefs.

You gather us despite old arguments we have had with each other.

We thank you that you have called us to be agents of your gathering. You have blessed us so that we may be bless one another with the love your pour out on us.

We thank you for gathering us to the banquet of your Son, Jesus Christ.

On the very night when he was betrayed,

Our Lord Jesus took the bread, broke and blessed it, saying, “Take and eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take and drink, this is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood. Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Then he gave us the New Commandment, that we should love one another as he has loved us.

Remembering Jesus and his love, we give thanks, not as we ought, but as we are able.

And we ask you to bless us, your servants, with confidence in your forgiveness and courage to let the love of Christ live within and through us, until he comes again.

To you, God of love, be all honor and glory, now and forever.

Amen.

“Fire Next Time”

Lord God, our Maker, our Judge, and our Redeemer.

We come to your table of grace as your baptized children –

baptized by the fire of your Holy Spirit.

Your Spirit has come to us as a mighty wind, and as fire.

You have sent your Son with a fire to end injustice

—to stop people from exploiting one another

—to end the hypocrisy of pretend piety and fake concern for others.

You have sent your Spirit to set us on fire

– to wake us to the joy that comes when we love you with our whole heart, soul, and strength; and our neighbor as ourselves.

With your refining and renewing fire, you make this meal a foretaste of the Feast to Come:

            Feeding us to live for the sake of this broken world.

            Nourishing us to live radically and joyfully, this story and this promise:

 In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Together as the body of Christ

We proclaim the Lord’s death

We live the Lord’s life until he comes again

With the sign of the cross upon us…

And we pray as our Lord taught us:  Our Father…

“Drawing Near”

Holy God of fire and light:

We seek to come into your presence for our healing and forgiveness, and for the healing and forgiveness of all the peoples of the world.

You are fire and you are light. You alone judge the world, and you alone cast back the darkness that threatens to swallow us.

Even when we remember your great mercy, we tremble in awe before you,

The more we wandered, the more you called us to return.

When we were unfaithful, you pursued us.

And now, you have come near to us in your Son, Jesus Christ.

Your very Son has shown us who you are, in the height of your majesty, and in the depth of your compassion for sinners.

And your Son has shown us who we are to be—your servants and the ambassadors of your gathering love.

Your Son, our perfect priest and mediator, lays down his own body as a sacrifice for our sins.

His Spirit, at this very moment within us, intercedes for us in groans too deep for words.

He draws us to this table that we may taste and touch your forgiveness, and be restored and refreshed.

On the very night when he was betrayed,

Our Lord Jesus took the bread, broke and blessed it, saying, “Take and eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take and drink, this is the cup of the New Covenant in my blood. Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Holy God, of fire and light, because of Christ, our priest and mediator, we dare to come to this feast—this foretaste of the feast to come; and we seek your strength to live toward the New Heaven and New Earth as we love one another as you, in Christ, have loved us.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

“Blessed and the Unblessed”

Holy God, we come to your table of grace as the blessed and the unblessed.

We are all chosen and precious to you.

Yet all of us sometimes, and many of us all of the time

Feel beyond the reach of your love.

Because of things we have done. Because of who we are.

Because of how far we have strayed.

 So we thank you that your Son, in his life, and on the cross,

            reached out his arms to us,

            and in this meal nourishes us that we may

            live blessed lives and share your blessing with all.

We thank you that…

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.

Remembering you, filled with your Spirit, and in joyful communion with one another, we pray as your Son taught us…

“We Are Chosen”

Holy Father, you have chosen us.

You have blessed us so that we may carry your blessing to all the families of the earth.

You have reconciled us to yourself and sent us to be ambassadors of your  reconciliation to all the world.

You have called us to carry our own cross—

To follow Christ in the way of sacrifice and service.

Though we were dead in our sins, you have chosen, and favored, and redeemed us

to empty ourselves, and to be filled with your grief and your glory.

Pour out upon us your Spirit of Truth.

Open our hearts that we may join in this banquet as a foretaste of the feast to come.

Open our eyes to see this table stretched out

through every wall and across every border,

            Across city streets and farm fields,

through war zones and jungles,

sheltered suburbs and dangerous slums.

            Help us to welcome all people, sinners just like us.

Of every color, custom. Of every faith and of no faith at all.

Help us know that your loving arms gather them,

your Son redeems them,

and your Spirit cries out Abba Father from deep within them.

And help us, together, to be transformed and fed once more by this story:

P: In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

P: Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.

P: Let us pray with confidence in the words our Savior gave us:

“Storm and Stillness”

You are indeed holy, Lord God.

You are the solid ground that we long to reach in this sea of sorrow and confusion.

Yet you are also in the waves that crash about our small boat of faith.

Help us to know that you come to us in the storm.

Help us to trust that you shatter our certainty only to make way for the coming in our midst of of your Kingdom.

Help us know that through pain is the path to salvation.

Lead us through the storm to the stillness.

And give us bread now for the journey.

We give you thanks that your Son was lifted up on the cross

so that, no matter how dark the storm

we may see always the light of the cross and resurrection before our eyes.

We thank you for Jesus, who,

on the night on which he was betrayed,
took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup,
we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Remembering, therefore,

His command to the waves to “be still,”

his promise to us to give peace,

and his power to bring life out of death,

we give you thanks O Lord God Almighty,

And we commit ourselves to live faithfully to you.

To you, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be all honor and glory in your holy church, now and forever.

Amen.

“Nearness of the Kingdom”

Lord God, we worry about inheriting eternal life, but you give us life now.

We look over the horizon for the coming Kingdom, but you bid us pray for it to come now.

The whole world is groaning for the revealing of the children of God, yet now we have the first fruits of that Spirit, and it cries out within us, “Abba, Father.”

Yes, we pray, Thy Kingdom Come.

But you have already shown your glory.

You have already broken down every dividing wall.

You have already swallowed up death forever.

You have already set the banquet.

The hour is coming, and is now here, for us to worship you in Spirit and Truth.

The hour is now for us to go into all the world,

With authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and every power of evil;

Going into any home that will welcome us, 

            Proclaiming the Good News that your reign of love has come near,

sharing the Peace you have won on the cross.

Send us forth nourished by this Daily Bread of Disciples:

P: In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

P: Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.

P: Let us pray with confidence in the words our Savior gave us:

C: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,