Maundy Thursday with our Missional Community of Faith

A Missional Community of Faith at A Third Place Community
“doing small things with great love changes the world”
“you don’t have to think alike to love alike”
“freely following Jesus, in deeds not creeds, making Jesus visible in the world”

Maundy Thursday Communion Service: A Feast of Life and Love and Liberation
Invocation
Today is the day which God has made:
Let us rejoice and be glad therein.
What does the Eternal require of us?
To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
This is our covenant:
In the light of truth, and the loving and liberating spirit of Jesus, we gather in freedom, to worship God, and serve all.
Opening Prayer
O God, who by the example of thy servant Jesus has taught us the greatness of true humility, give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness and to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings. For life eternal, salvation, and hope, grant us thanksgiving in the breaking of bread and of the vine outpoured, and in the life given us through Jesus Christ. Everlasting God, the comfort for all who mourn, the strength of all who suffer, let the prayers of those who cry out this night come unto thee, and may they rejoice and find feast wherever they may be. Let all who are beset by fears, troubled by poverty, worn by illness, all who are wronged and oppressed, the lonely, the weary and heavy-laden, come unto you and be sustained. Amen. (selections from King’s Chapel Book of Common Prayer)

Scripture and Song: Communion, Feasts, and God’s Beloved Community
Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: "What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?" 17Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit."…Mark 2 (The Message)
“Amazing Grace”

18The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: "Why do the followers of John and the Pharisees take on the discipline of fasting, but your followers don't?" 19-20Jesus said, "When you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!"---from Mark 2
So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord's Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. It is a spiritual meal—a love feast.---1 Corinthians 11
“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”

8The Day of Unleavened Bread came, the day the Passover lamb was butchered. Jesus sent Peter and John off, saying, "Go prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it together." 9They said, "Where do you want us to do this?" 10-12He said, "Keep your eyes open as you enter the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him home. Then speak with the owner of the house: The Teacher wants to know, 'Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?' He will show you a spacious second-story room, swept and ready. Prepare the meal there." 13They left, found everything just as he told them, and prepared the Passover meal. 14-16When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, "You've no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God." 17-18Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, "Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I'll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives." 19Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory." 20He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.”
“Let Us Break Bread Together”

Jesus said: "Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You'd rather eat and be served, right? But I've taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you've stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God's people.---Luke 22
And from Luke 24: They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: "Stay and have supper with us. It's nearly evening; the day is done." So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.
“Tis A Gift To Be Simple”

Responsive Reading
I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And they said, Lord, when did we do that? And he said, When you did it for the least of these, you did it to me. Here is the bread of life, food for the spirit. Let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine, pressed and poured out for us. Let all who thirst now come and drink.
We come to break bread. We come to drink of the fruit of the vine. We come to make peace. May we never praise God with our mouths while denying in our hearts or by our acts the love that is our common speech. We come to be restored in the love of God. All are welcome. All are worthy.
(based on Robert Eller-Isaacs, based on Matthew 25, alt. Singing The Living Tradition hymnal)

Call To The Table
Leader: From olden times comes to us this meal of bread and wine. In the night before his passing, Jesus and his friends were gathered around this table.
Congregation: He had spoken of God who wants to save the world; of the cross that must be carried; of the beaker that should be emptied; of the joy awaiting the faithful.
Leader: Now he spoke of the sacrifice that would be made;
Congregation: Of the communion in His love, stronger than death.
Leader: The bread, made of grain, would be broken.
Congregation: As his body would be broken and die.
Leader: The wine, pressed from grapes, would be shed.
Congregation: As his blood would be shed.
Leader: Those who had joined the meal, knew the significance.
Congregation: They understood the darkness of betraying love, the grief of sacrificing for love, the power of communion in a love stronger than death; the peace for those who remember his love.
Leader: The meal of the bread and wine is the communion in this love we behold in Jesus and in which we share through him.
Congregation: The communion with the dead, the communion with those far away, the communion with those near and the communion with those who will succeed us.
Leader: Friends, in faith and love, we invite you to our Holy Communion. We invite all of you, whether or not you belong to this or any other church, or to none at all, all of you who know yourselves to be bonded in the Spirit, or who long to live in the spirit of Jesus.
(Litany from First Unitarian Church, Worcester, MA)

Let us join in saying the prayer Jesus taught to all those who would follow in his compassionate and transforming way. Feel free to use the words you were taught in the diverse faith traditions, or the words you have chosen for the spirit of the prayer: Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Come to this sacred table not because you must, but because you may. Come not because you are fulfilled, but because in your emptiness you stand in need of God’s mercy and assurance. Come not to express an opinion, but to seek a presence and to pray for a spirit. Come to this table, then, sisters and brothers, as you are. Partake and share. It is spread for you and me that we might know that God has come to us, shared our common lot, and invited us to join the people of God…(Book of Worship, United Church of Christ)

Passing the Bread of Life Everlasting and the Cup of Hope Eternal
This bread, which we take and break, bless and give, is The bread of life everlasting, broken in our hands as is our world and our lives, but made whole again in the love and forgiveness of God. Jesus said, eat in remembrance of me.
The cup of hope and spirit eternal that knows no end, our communion in the risen life poured out for all. Jesus said, drink in remembrance of me.

Homily Based On A Reading From “An Altar in the World” by Barbara Brown Taylor: The Spiritual Practice of Blessings

Passing of Blessings: kneel and/or touch the shoulder of one next to you: In service to God through service with one another, may you know the blessing you are and the blessings you have to give, and that nothing can ever separate you from the love of God.
“We’re Going to Sit At the Welcome Table”

Benediction
At the end of his last supper with his disciples, Jesus said: Let me give you a new command. Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciple—when they see the love you have for each other.

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