Tag: welcome

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Invitation to the table Liturgy Prayer after Communion

An invitation to the table and two prayers after communion – no gatekeeping; acting out our gratitude

INVITATION TO THE TABLE

Sisters, brothers, and siblings in Christ,
this table is not ours to guard or gatekeep,
and there is no shortage of blessing here.

This is the table of Jesus Christ,
whose abundance is overflowing
and whose arms are open wide to receive
all who hunger and thirst.
Come to the table: you are welcome. 

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

What words of gratitude are big enough to express
the miracle of being nourished by our God’s own body and blood
across time and space?
Under all our different roofs, in so many corners of the world?

Words fail. So we will act out our thanksgiving,
fueled by this meal to bring glory to God
by working for peace, grafted to justice, for all God’s creatures.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Let all the people thank you, God, 
for the nourishment of your own body, the sharing of your Spirit.
Having been fed at your table, may we be a nourishment to others,
sharing your good news with the world
until all know your justice, your mercy, and your abundance.
Amen.

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Invitation to the table Liturgy

Invitation to the table: Let no one be led to believe, “I have no place here.”

Sisters, brothers, and siblings in the Living God,
in a world of fear and famine,
you will find no walls erected around Christ’s table;
nor will its bounty ever run dry. 

You need not have a perfect faith,
or look or act a certain way,
to partake.

Let no one say, “God has cut me off from the Body.”
Let no one be led to believe, “I have no place here.”
For Jesus stands, and beckons, and says,
“Come! Yes, you! Come, and be fed.”

I wrote this for a virtual service on August 16, 2020 (15A Proper), a service that centered around themes of reconciliation and interdependence. I preached on Genesis 45:1-15, exploring Joseph’s gender nonconformity as a source for the brothers’ violence against Joseph; how Joseph was brought from suffering into thriving and was celebrated for the very gifts that the brothers had hated; and how Joseph as the wronged party got to choose how and when reconciliation would take place.

Meanwhile, I wove that theme of reconciliation into my liturgy alongside our need for community and to draw the circles of our community ever wider, drawing from the alternative reading Isaiah 56:1-8. The above liturgy quotes directly from the Isaiah text.

To read or watch my sermon, visit here.

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Invitation to the table Liturgy

Invitation to the table: outcasts welcome, bring your struggles and guilt

Sisters, brothers, and siblings in Christ,

When we are shunned, shamed, called unloveable,
Jesus sets a place for us.

When we are the ones doing the shunning and shaming,
Jesus sets a place for us, too, inviting us into a better way. 

Whoever you are, whatever struggles you face,
whatever guilt weighs you down,
come. Join us. This is God’s table, and Her feast is for all.

I wrote this for a virtual service on June 21, 2020 centered around themes of oppression, patriarchy, and white supremacy; it explored how our world shapes each of us based on our various identities and what kind of reconciliation is possible between oppressors and the ones who oppress. My sermon text was Genesis 21:8-21. My sermon, “No Good Patriarchs – Solidarity with Hagar” can be read or watched here.

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Call to worship LGBT/queer Liturgy Multifaith Weddings

A call to worship that welcomes non-Christian participants

The Being worshipped in this space
is vaster than walls can contain or religions can claim.

All true loves have this Being as their source,
and so the love we celebrate today
transcends gender and bloodlines and state borders.

Here we are united
in all our diversity:

welcome, you with faith and you with doubts,
you from the North and you from the South,
welcome with all your joys and pains, fears and hopes.

We invite you to join us in praising the One
who fashioned human beings to experience all sorts of love.

Here in this space,
Love grafts us together.

This is the call to worship that I wrote for my wedding back in May 2019. Because many of the attendees were not Christian, I wanted to explicitly welcome them into worship too.

The language of this call to worship is rather specific to the context (for instance, the reference to North and South is because most of my relatives hail from the Northern portion of the United States, while most of my wife’s hail from the South; plus all the “love” stuff is clearly because it was for a queer wedding), so feel free to edit this piece to suit your own context.