A Communion Prayer for an Upside Down World

INVITING
A simple table, a basic meal.
But in the upside-down logic of God’s Reign also a great banquet
God invites us to this table where there is a place for Ev’ryone Born
God is the host, we are the guests,
all are welcome to share in the Banquet of faith.

THANKSGIVING
May God be with you
And also with you
Lift your hearts in praise and thanksgiving
It is good to offer thanks to God

Source of life and love we give thanks for all that you have given us.
We see the beauty of the earth and sing praise.
We remember those who came before us, the communion of saints
the ones who passed on the stories of faith and we are thankful
for their witness, their hope, their commitment to a New World.
We share again the promise that you are always with us,
turning over our expectations and assumptions,
re-creating the world into a reign of love and hope and justice
and we sings songs of hope and thanks.

STORYTELLING
In the midst of our thanksgiving we remember the core of our story.
In Jesus, child of Mary, you broke into the world in a new way,
reshaping expectations of who the Messiah could be.
Jesus challenged his friends and his enemies to see the world anew,
to turn upside down their understandings:
of blessings, of power, of leadership, of status.
Some welcomed this upending, others did not.
Jesus was arrested, tried, executed.
But then you turned the world upside down again, raising Jesus from death.
And we give thanks.

As we gather at this table we remember another table, long ago and far away
where, just before his arrest, Jesus gathered with his friends.
There he took bread, blessed it, broke it and passed it to them saying:
This is my body broken by the world, eat it and remember me.
At that same meal Jesus took a cup, blessed it and passed it to them saying:
This is the cup of the New Covenant, drink from it and remember me.
After all these years we still gather at tables to eat and drink and remember.

SPIRIT-INVOKING
God who has created and is creating, as we gather at this table here today.
Send your Spirit upon and among us.
Help us see the upside-down logic that leads to your Reign of peace, justice, hope and love.
Awaken in us a willingness to be turned head over heels
that we would participate in the mending and re-making of the world.
We pray in the name of the Risen Christ, who brings us to this table.
And with full voice the people all said: AMEN!

FRACTION AND DISTRIBUTION
The Bread we break is the bread of life
The Cup we share is the cup of love.
Gifts from God for the beloved people of God.
Thanks be to God.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
God who invites us to the table,
we have eaten, we have drunk, we have tasted your goodness.
May this meal and this faith-filledcommunity strengthen us in body, mind and soul,
as we continue to live into a world that is being turned upside-down.
May we have the courage to stand on our heads
as we try to see the world as you see it.   AMEN

For November's Theme of "Turning the World Upside Down"

CALL TO WORSHIP
We have been called, called to be a community of faith,
called by the God who turns the world upside down.
In response to that call we come to sing and pray and listen,
Line to go with that week’s theme
Come and worship, come and celebrate God’s transforming presence.

OPENING PRAYER
God who has created and is creating,
you have brought us together today.
God who challenges our assumptions of how the world must be with how it could be,
Line to go with that week’s theme
In this time of prayer and song and listening,
Help us catch the dream, encourage us to help turn the world upside down as we live into your Reign.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who proclaimed a new, transformed world and who taught us to pray saying...
LORD’S PRAYER

COMMISSIONING
With God, in Christ, through the winds of the Holy Spirit the world is turned upside down
The first shall be last, the greatest shall be least.
We go into the world to share a different vision, a different dream.
Line to go with that week’s theme
As we go to help upend assumptions, to help turn things upside down
we are assured that the Triune God: Parent, Child and Spirit, holds us in love.
Thanks be to God.