Table of Yes
Below are some prayers for a liturgy for Holy Communion. It was used for our annual Sunday School Sunday (2016) but the “table of yes” theme could be adapted for many occasions.
Note: some of the phrases below are adapted from the UCC Book of Worship
Invitation to the Table of Yes: Dear ones, this isn’t my table. It’s not your table. It’s not our table. But it’s Christ’s table. And because it’s Christ’s table, it’s the “table of yes”, and all of us are welcome here. At this table, you don’t have to look a certain way. You don’t have to believe what I believe, or what the person sitting next to you believes. You don’t have to worship a certain way, look a certain way, or love a certain way. You just have to come, exactly as you are, seeking the one who is seeking you. So come, all of you, not because you must, but because you may, and here find healing and wholeness for your journey. Let us pray.
Communion Prayer: God in Christ, saying, “yes,” when your followers said “no,” you insisted that the little children come to you because you knew the Kingdom belonged to them. And when the Canaanite woman, who was so different from you, came seeking healing for her daughter, you said, “yes” again even though it was shocking. And when the whole world said “no” with a cross and a few nails, you responded by giving the world the biggest “yes” there has ever been. And that greatest “yes” echoes still today in every corner, in every heart, in every Kingdom child, in every Canaanite woman, and even at this table, set for us, with humble bread and humble wine.
And so at the table of “yes” we pray, saying: come…Holy Spirit…come. Set aside this loaf and this fruit. Say yes to these elements and say yes to us in our eating and drinking, that when we leave this table we will be equipped to say yes in Christ’s name to all those we meet. Amen.
Prayer of Thanksgiving & Lord’s Prayer: Let us pray. Christ, our love, for this table of “yes” and the ways it is feeding us; for a year of learning and relationships; for the milestones of our graduates and the gift of your Word; for breath in our lungs, food in our stomachs, and hope in our hearts; we give you thanks and praise, we say yes to you, and we pray that prayer we’ve said so often, but which means so much, saying together: Our Father…AMEN.
© Rev. Kevin Goldenbogen, 2016
