CONTEMPORARY LITURGY FOR THE EUCHARIST Contemporary Prayer of
Humble Access for the Eucharist O God of all compassion,
we do not take for granted your invitation to come to the table you have prepared. Nor do we come trusting in our own goodness, but in your many and great mercies. We are not worthy even to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same God whose nature is always to be compassionate in kindness. Grant, therefore, loving God, that we would eat the body of Christ, the bread of heaven, and drink the blood of Christ, the cup of salvation, evermore dwelling in you and you in us. Amen. Leader: God is here. People: We are in God, God is in us, God is in everyone. Leader: Hence, we lift our hearts. People: In God we lift our hearts, to God we lift our hearts. Leader: As praise and thanksgiving we lift our hearts. People: God alone is worthy of our worship. I (We) cannot pray to our Father without praying to our Mother. I (We) cannot declare the transcendence of God in heaven without proclaiming the imminence of God on earth. I (We) cannot witness to the reverence of God’s sacred name without calling all that God has created holy. I (We) cannot plead for the coming of God’s Kin-dom without working myself for peace and justice. I (We) cannot ask that God’s will be done without seeking to do that which is God’s will and purpose. I (We) cannot intercede for earth in heaven without being in this world but not of this world. I (We) cannot make a plea this day for my daily bread without feeding those who are hungry this day and always. I (We) cannot request your forgiveness, O God, without turning away for all that is contrary to your will. I (We) cannot begin to forgive anyone who has wronged me without pursuing reconciliation with those I (we) have wronged. I (We) cannot appeal to you that my path be void of temptation without ceasing to be a presence of temptation in the life of others. I (We) cannot expect you to keep me free from evil without striving to do all the good I (we) can, in every time I (we) can. I (We) cannot praise you, O God, Sovereign, Almighty, and Immortal without trusting that you are the beginning and end of all things, forever. Amen. As we look deep inside, O God of Peace, we see the chaos that rages within our heart of hearts. Help us to see beyond that utter confusion unto the Kin-dom of peace and justice that you are bringing, both within us and in the world. May our hearts and minds now focus on that Kin-dom as we join to praise you and give you thanks. Amen. Loving God, who speaks to us through your Scriptures and in the collective wisdom of your people throughout the ages: Help us to hear anew what you would speak to us this day. For your Word is relevant and a message of life and hope in the world that needs to know and heed your will. Through Christ the living Word and your Spirit of illumination whom with You is the truth that sets us free. Amen. Leader: We gather as a people who know the strife that churns inside. People: We come to remember how to worship for in our daily lives we forget the connection of each moment with what we do here in this time and place of Sabbath. Leader: We gather as a people who are weary from the strife that churns inside. People: We come to learn once again how to bring the awe and wonder of Sunday into each and every day. Leader: We gather as a people who are ready to let peace overcome the strife that churns inside. People: We come to hear and be renewed in the love of God that we may be better able to love ourselves, one another, and all the world. Leader: We gather as a people who are willing to allow justice to have its way in us. People: We come to give ourselves to you, O God, in the strife that the end to all warfare, the end of all violence, the end of all hatred, the end of all prejudice, the end of all fear, the end of all pride, the end of all that is at war with your Kin-dom. Leader: We gather as a people who know the strife that we must fight. People: We come to surrender to your will, O Blessed Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all that is made in your image of beauty. Leader: Let us worship! People: So be it. Amen! Beloved of Christ, beloved in Christ, we need only look within ourselves and to look at our relationships with others to know that things have gone awry. We are broken. Our relationships are broken. Let us seek God in prayer for compassion and mercy that forgiveness and reconciliation would be ours. Loving God, we confess that apart from you there is no goodness in us or in the world. We have not loved as you give love. We have not shown mercy as you impart mercy. We have not shared compassion as you have compassion. We have been at dis-ease within ourselves and with others. We are a people who know the pain of division, the scourge of bruising and bruise, the savagery of our pride and self-centeredness, the contempt of our will and desires. Forgive us and heal us, O Holy, Mighty, Immortal One. Bring us to the peacemaking of justice as you bring a just peace within us. For we long to be your servant-disciples in all joyful obedience. Amen. ~ A brief silence is kept ~ God of all people you set a table before us and from your table we have received love in compassion and mercy. As a refreshed and renewed people, send us now into the world of your making and redeeming to serve the common good— for the sake of your Kin-Dom, forever and ever.  |
Those who believe they believe in God,
but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt,
and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God('s )self.
―Madeleine L'Engle