Holy Thursday: Eucharist as Re-membrance: A Living Presence - 2016
Receiving the Stole:
“We, your community, call you forth and bless
you as you lead us in today’s liturgy.”
Welcome and Theme
Presider
1:
We,
the Inclusive Catholic Community of Albany, NY, welcome you to our liturgical
gathering. We gather together on this journey of Good News for those who long
for the fullness of the Body of Christ for the life of the world. Our
liturgical style is highly inclusive and you are invited to participate in the
words of consecration. We are happy you are here with us today. All are welcome
to share in our simple Eucharistic meal of re-membrance
around this friendship table.
Opening Prayer
Presider 2: O
Holy One, throughout his life,
Jesus revealed that nothing can separate us from Your infinite love. He lived a
life of apparent joy in sharing meals with the people of the Galilean
countryside. The open table of his public life challenged the discriminatory
social code of his time and taught us that all people are to be included as
equals in Your kin-dom. May we, like Jesus, continue to open our table, and our
lives to all, especially those in need.
Amen.
Please join in
singing our Opening Song: We Are
Many Parts – by Marty Haugen
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: On
Being a Eucharistic Community
On Being a Eucharistic
Community
Meals are the most
frequent settings for Gospel stories. They range from informal picnics on
hillsides to banquets given by dignitaries. They introduce us to some of the
most of diverse and colorful of Gospel characters: a woman with long hair who
washes Jesus’ feet, a little boy who has loaves and fishes hidden in the folds
of his robe, and a short man, named Zacchaeus, who is about to have an
unexpected dinner guest. Meals transport us from the wedding in Cana to a quiet
dinner at a little house in Emmaus. They invited us to a party for a prodigal
and let a share of a Passover supper with a carpenter’s son.
This theme of
inclusivity is one of the benchmark of Jesus’ teaching. Everyone ought to have
a place at the table, especially those who have been marginalized. Obviously,
this includes many who do not qualify for the guest list–people who have been
relegated to the back roads and slums of the towns. When we give a luncheon, we
need to make sure that no one who wants to be there is left out. Inclusivity is
a Gospel mandate. It is not separate from Sabbath observance, but essential
part of it.
These are the
inspired words of Fran Ferder & John Heagle
Alleluia: Servant
of God, lowly and humble
Show us the way to
live a life of love
Gospel according to
John:
While
they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it
to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body."
He then raised high the cup of blessing, spoke the grace,
and offered them the wine saying:
Take and drink of the covenant made new again through my
life,
for you and for everyone,
for liberation from every oppression.
Whenever you do this, Re-member me!
These are the inspired words from the Gospel of John.
Homily
Washing of Hands
Presider 1: We are washing one another hands as a gesture in
imitation of what Jesus did in washing the disciples’ feet. It is a symbol of our willingness to
serve one another and meet one another’s needs.
Song during ritual:
The Servant Song by David Haas
Presider 2: Closing
prayer for ritual
Leader: God of life, help us to
remember,
that, for some, the earth is parched.
that, for some, the earth is parched.
We lift to you
those for whom clean water is
not a basic right but a luxury,
We cry out, O God,
against conflict and violence
that leaves crops to wither
and drives families from their homes
to lands where fresh, clean water is only a dream.
those for whom clean water is
not a basic right but a luxury,
We cry out, O God,
against conflict and violence
that leaves crops to wither
and drives families from their homes
to lands where fresh, clean water is only a dream.
All: In this season of rebirth,
may we heed your call
to hunger and thirst
for righteousness —
and may your justice and righteousness
roll down as an ever-flowing stream.
may we heed your call
to hunger and thirst
for righteousness —
and may your justice and righteousness
roll down as an ever-flowing stream.
Statement of Faith
Presider 1: Please
join in praying our Statement of Faith:
All: We believe in
one God, a divine mystery
beyond all definition
and rational understanding,
the heart of all that
has ever existed,
that exists now, or
that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus,
messenger of God's Word,
bringer of God's
healing, heart of God's compassion,
bright star in the
firmament of God's
prophets, mystics,
and saints.
We believe that we
are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of God's
love,
a source of God's
wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of
God's peace in the world.
We believe that God's
kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all
around us for those
with eyes to see it,
hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it
happen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider 1:
As we prepare for the sacred meal, we lay our stoles upon the table as a sign
that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. And, we bring to this table our blessings, cares, and
concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words, “I
bring to the table…”(Presider - at conclusion) We pray for these and all unspoken
concerns. Amen.
Presider 2: O Holy One, you
have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s
life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you. We celebrate you as the marvelous,
loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as
the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and
all-ways care.
Presider 1: Please join in praying the
Eucharistic prayer together: (written by Jay Murnane)
All: Great Spirit of the wonder-ful expansion and evolution
of creation, we come together with joy and amazement in this season of grace and
rebirth.
We join together in an open, hopeful circle of life, to
bring courage out of the heart of our fear, to bring a gentle acknowledgement
of communion out of the alienation of the illusion of our separations.
Joined consciously with the fire and wind of your Spirit,
with the emerging buds of spring’s regeneration, with the laughter of children
this precious world ‘round, we sing out a simple song of thanksgiving:
Holy, holy holy…. (by
Karen Drucker)
We thank you for Jesus, our way to the truth about living.
On the night before he faced his own death and for the sake
of living fully, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and
friends. He reminded them of all
that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly within them, be bent down
and washed their feet.
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the
Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them
saying:
Take and eat; this is
my very self.
(pause)
He then raised high the cup of blessing, spoke the grace,
and offered them the wine saying:
for you and for
everyone,
for liberation from
every oppression.
Whenever you do this,
Re-member me!
(pause)
Since you for-ever breathe forth your Spirit, we will, like
Jesus, be opened up wide and filled and given in love.
For it is through learning to live as he lived,
and why he lived,
that we awaken to your Spirit within, moving us to worship
you truly, life-giving God, at this time and at all time, and in all ways.
And we say yes to you!
Presider 1: Let
us pray as Jesus taught us
(written by the Monks of
Weston Priory)
Creator of all,
You are with us.
Holy is your name.
May Your kin-dom come,
Your will be done
by all who share the work of your creation.
Give us bread for the world’s hunger
And forgiveness in your mercy
As we forgive those who are in debt to us
For You are compassion, justice and love
Forevermore.
Amen, amen, amen!
Presider 2: In the beginning,
Your Spirit was poured into the void, and there came to be universes. We,
people of your Spirit, can be poured into the chaos of our world’s blindness,
for the sake of life. This is the springtime of the earth that we work for.
All: Glory be to
God! As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
Amen.
Presider 1:
Let us pray our communion prayer together. (presiders hold up bread and wine)
All: What we have heard with our
ears, we will live with our lives; as we share communion, we will become
communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
Presider 2: All are
welcome to receive at this friendship table.
Communion Song: Companions on the Journey by Carey
Landry
BLESSING
Presider 1:
Know that the God of all creation
Is here with us,
Understanding our hearts.
From those hearts,
We speak a blessing:
Presider 2:
The richness of the promise
Of light and water be yours
The light that call you
To continue in hope
The water that flows
In renewal and generosity.
Presider 1:
The healing of the promise
Of love be yours
The love which has formed you
And called you
And makes of you creators of a world.
Presider 2:
Strong vision be yours
Strong and gentle hearts
And resilient spirits.
May God’s own peace
The peace born in justice
And shared in tenderness and cherishing
Be with you always.
Amen.
Presider 1:
Let us sing our concluding song and offer each other a blessing of peace
as we continue this re-membrance meal with good food and
amazing companions on the journey.
Closing Song: Blessing Song by Jan Phillips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTVrbEbjqZ8
Pictures courtesy of Helen Blanchette, Lynn Kinlan, and Mary Theresa Streck
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