God of hope and grief,
God of power and strength,
God of the widow and the orphan,
God of the imprisoned and impoverished,
God of the poor in spirit, the merciful, the mourning…
God who sees the proud and arrogant,
God who does not forget those who turn away from the one in
need,
God who waits to be greeted in prison, in hunger, in
hospital, on the corner,
God who grieves the word spoken in hate and the action that
excludes…
You are the one true God and it is our gift and right and
duty to call upon you here.
We praise you for your faithfulness in history.
We praise you for your prophets who have shouted the truth.
We praise you for your saving action in leaders, in the
church, in the community
And for what You have done sometimes in spite of them.
With all faithful people of Christ, with all your children
across the world, with all the saints we name now [insert names appropriate to your congregation regarding Black History
Month and local observances], with the whole creation, we praise your name
and join the unending hymn.
[Insert whatever form of Holy,
Holy, Holy you may choose]
God, with our sighs to deep for words, we come to this table
And we remember when it has been closed.
We remember when the invitation was not open.
We remember when the feast was in part, but not the whole.
With gratitude and thanksgiving, we celebrate in our spirits
and our bodies that the barriers people erect cannot withstand the Holy Spirit.
With gratitude and thanksgiving, we celebrate in our spirits
and our bodies that the prejudices that people hold will not withstand the Holy
Spirit.
With gratitude and thanksgiving, we celebrate in our spirits
and our bodies that the ignorance people profess will not withstand the Holy
Spirit.
We gather here today and we remember Jesus gathered with
those whom he loved.
They celebrated the first Passover, that event that marked
the move of the people from slavery into freedom.
As they ate and drank their celebration, their actions
anticipated the second Passover- from death into life, from fear into joy, from
resignation into resurrection.
Jesus took the bread, a food that they as Jews had in common
with all people,
gave thanks to you, O God, broke it, gave it to his
disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this is my body - given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
After supper, he took the cup- filled with wine-
A drink they had in common with all people.
He gave thanks to you, O God, gave it to his disciples, and
said:
"Drink from this, all of you; this is a new covenant in
my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of
sins.
Do this in remembrance of me."
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
You have brought us thus far and we trust that you will not
leave us.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts
That they may strengthen us in the faith, in the fight, and
in our freedom in Christ.
Draw us together and bring us ever more fully into being the
people you have created us to be.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your
holy Church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and for
ever.
This is free and open for use in any congregation with attribution to Pastor Julia Seymour, Lutheran Church of Hope, Anchorage, AK.
Copy and paste to other electronic formats is only permitted WITH inclusion of the blog link.
Please comment if you use this in your congregation so I can pray for you and your church.
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