Liturgy
The table of Jesus is our place of gathering.
Here, you are welcomed, wanted, loved.
Here, there is a place set for you.
So come all you who are hungry,
all you who hunger for the bread of life,
all you whose souls cry out for healing.
Come all you who are weary, all you who
are bowed down with worry, all you who
ache with the tiredness of living.
Come all you poor, all you who are
without food or refuge, all you who
go hungry in a fat land.
Come all you who are lost, all you who
search for meaning but can not find it,
all you who have no place of belonging.
Jesus invites you, draw near with faith.
Receive this invitation from the one who is
the Son of the Most High, and worship in
your hearts with faith and thanksgiving.
We do this in the name
of the Father,
of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Community Confession
Holy God, you call us to come
and share in community, the rich
feast which you have prepared.
But instead, we often choose to spend on
ourselves with things that do not satisfy.
You call us to listen carefully
and to delight in you,
but instead, we often choose to look
our own way and impose our own will, l
listening to the noises around us, rather
than to hear the voice of your Spirit.
You call us to open our doors and our
tables to strangers as well as friends,
but we often choose to close our
doors and hearts to those unlike us.
You call us to seek you, to call
on you and to find you near us,
but we often choose to ignore your
cries for justice and your plea for
love without barriers and borders.
Remind us that your thoughts are
higher than ours, O God, and your
ways are higher than our ways.
Forgive us and show us your mercy.
Invite us again to your feast, fill us with
your word and your Spirit, that we might
go out in joy and come back in peace.
We pray in the name of the Father,
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What do we strive for in our attempt to be loveable?
What image of God is no longer helpful in your connection with God?
When you fast, or pull back from automated behavior/consumption, what word reflects your connection with self, God and community?
Benediction
Go now from this service of worship
to the service of God’s people near
and far, refreshed by the living water
that Jesus offers to you.
Listen for the parched voices of the least
of these; search out the dry places and
the arid souls, and become for them a
spring of living water.
And as you go, may the blessings of the God of life,
the Christ of love, and the Spirit of grace
be upon you this day and forevermore.
With your purpose given to us,
we go forth this and every week,
serving in the name
of the Father,
of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
Go in peace and live the church.
See you throughout the week.