Gathering Around A Table
Table
of Plenty
Come to the feast of heaven and earth
Come to the table of plenty
God will provide for all that we need
Here at the table of plenty.
O come and sit at my table
Where saints and sinners are friends
I wait to welcome the lost and lonely
to share the cup of my love
O come and eat without money
Come to drink without price
My feast of gladness will feed your spirit
with faith and fullness of life.
My bread will ever sustain you
Through days of sorrow and woe,
My wine will flow like a sea of gladness
to flood the depths of your soul.
Scripture:
God’s voice comes to us through the Scriptures. What
word or phrase caught my attention during the reading? Am I
allowing the Word to nourish my spirituality?
How does
today’s Word of God disturb or challenge me
The people of God have a human face
We laugh, we weep, we await in hope,
We lift our eyes, we love and struggle,
We fail; we stand
But God is God
And Jesus is the Christ,
And the Spirit brings us life
We bring before our God,
Our prayers around this table.
Let us reflect on the symbols at the centre of our
life……
[The Symbols
of wheat and grapes are held up]
In our brokenness and in our wholeness
To be the Church of love and grace
All: We drink a common cup and we break
the common loaf.
In our struggle with injustice and in our desire
and hope to be a liberating people
All: We drink a common cup and we break the common
loaf.
Around the table of our daily lives our hands hold
one another as bread for nourishing, yet broken;
as wine for strengthening, yet spilt;
our weakness acknowledged and supported.
Our God, you look upon us and name us good.
You conceive in us a thousand possibilities and carry us
into the timeless struggle to birth the reign of love.
United with those who have gone before us [Name them]
And those we particularly wish to remember [Name them]
and those who will come after us, we acknowledge
each other with the greeting of peace.
[Sign of peace]
We take this bread as a sign of our gathering
in this community; a costly, dangerous call, to
vulnerability, trust, commitment, accountability,
faithfulness, giving and receiving of forgiveness,
openness, acceptance of diversity, kindness
and risk.
Together we eat this bread to nourish us on our journey.
[We pass the bread from
one to another saying:
Bread for the journey of
this day.]
We take this cup as a sign of our gathering
in this community; a costly, dangerous call
to vulnerability, trust, commitment, accountability,
faithfulness, openness, acceptance, of diversity, kindness
and risk. Together we drink this wine of strength for our
journey.
[We pass the
glass of wine to one another saying:
Strength for the journey
of this day.]
Blessing:
We give thanks for the power
Inherent in
The symbols to which we claim:
The power of this gathering
Which is the face of inclusivity and connection,
The power of the Word, which transforms and challenges,
The bread of nourishment
Which sustains and empowers,
The power of the circle
Which is love without discrimination,
Which is life without end. Amen
Mantra:
Take and eat, this is my body,
Take and drink, this is my life-blood,
Whenever you share this meal with others,
Do so in memory of me.
