Calling us back to the table
Eucharist August 15, 2009
Karen L. Munson
Great Thanksgiving
When our first ancestors were tempted to bite off more than they could chew. God called them back to the earth’s table, teaching them to coax grain from the ground.
Thanks be to God.
When their children and grandchildren ran amuck with the bread and wine and company God provided, God preserved a remnant for recreation and fed them in the belly of an ark, bouncing over rising flood waters.
Thanks be to God.
When God’s chosen leaders stood aside and watched, or worse, encouraged and helped as God’s people worshiped other gods, non-gods, God sent prophets to feed the people wild words for their souls, calling them back to their maker’s table.
Thanks be to God.
In their times and in ours, God persistently calls us back to the table where we find the daily bread and brimming cup to satisfy our gnawing hunger, our deepest thirst.
Thanks be to God.
Prayer
Gracious God we confess to loving junk food. We crave the salt of controversy. We indulge in sugary promises that lack substance. We pay extra to eat on the run, often finding it to be a lonely and unsatisfying meal.
We hear your call to come to the family table, set with food that feeds us mind and body so that our souls may grow healthy. Help us not to disdain the simplicity of the meal you offer or the love it embodies. Make us willing to turn from temptation to truth, from self-satisfaction to a yearning for justice.
AMEN
Invitation
Look around you, see who Christ invites with you this day.
Do you remember who Christ fed at that last meal with his followers,
when he taught us how to remember him?
Look, here is Peter, who so tempted Jesus
that Jesus told him to “get behind me Satan.”
Look, here are John and James who were so eager
to be given the places of honor at Jesus’ left side and his right.
Look, here are the women who cooked the bread,
perhaps Martha who fussed at Mary to get at those dishes,
and Mary, who couldn’t get enough of Jesus’ company.
Look, here is Judas,
being fed before he goes to do his work of betrayal.
Jesus called all of them to the table where he now calls us,
despite our temptations.
Come,
lay them down,
an offering to the one whose life gives meaning to ours.
Continue with your tradition’s Prayer of Consecration
Eucharist August 15, 2009
Karen L. Munson
Great Thanksgiving
When our first ancestors were tempted to bite off more than they could chew. God called them back to the earth’s table, teaching them to coax grain from the ground.
Thanks be to God.
When their children and grandchildren ran amuck with the bread and wine and company God provided, God preserved a remnant for recreation and fed them in the belly of an ark, bouncing over rising flood waters.
Thanks be to God.
When God’s chosen leaders stood aside and watched, or worse, encouraged and helped as God’s people worshiped other gods, non-gods, God sent prophets to feed the people wild words for their souls, calling them back to their maker’s table.
Thanks be to God.
In their times and in ours, God persistently calls us back to the table where we find the daily bread and brimming cup to satisfy our gnawing hunger, our deepest thirst.
Thanks be to God.
Prayer
Gracious God we confess to loving junk food. We crave the salt of controversy. We indulge in sugary promises that lack substance. We pay extra to eat on the run, often finding it to be a lonely and unsatisfying meal.
We hear your call to come to the family table, set with food that feeds us mind and body so that our souls may grow healthy. Help us not to disdain the simplicity of the meal you offer or the love it embodies. Make us willing to turn from temptation to truth, from self-satisfaction to a yearning for justice.
AMEN
Invitation
Look around you, see who Christ invites with you this day.
Do you remember who Christ fed at that last meal with his followers,
when he taught us how to remember him?
Look, here is Peter, who so tempted Jesus
that Jesus told him to “get behind me Satan.”
Look, here are John and James who were so eager
to be given the places of honor at Jesus’ left side and his right.
Look, here are the women who cooked the bread,
perhaps Martha who fussed at Mary to get at those dishes,
and Mary, who couldn’t get enough of Jesus’ company.
Look, here is Judas,
being fed before he goes to do his work of betrayal.
Jesus called all of them to the table where he now calls us,
despite our temptations.
Come,
lay them down,
an offering to the one whose life gives meaning to ours.
Continue with your tradition’s Prayer of Consecration