October 6, 2024
CALL TO WORSHIP
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
People will come from the east and west, from the north and south, to eat in the kingdom of God.
The last will be first and the first will be last.
OPENING PRAYER
Eternal God, as we come to your table today, we recognize that here, heaven and earth join hands.
Around this holy table, we join with your Church which stretches around the world and across every generation, to meet you in our midst.
As we remember Jesus this day, unite us to those who have served you over the centuries, and to all who serve you in so many different situations today.
We praise you for your amazing love which embraces every nation and countless congregations, inviting us into a future you are creating.
Here, O God, let us join hands with heaven and earth to celebrate your holy Name
—Presbyterian Church of Canada (alt.)
RESPONSIVE READING: Psalm 8
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic Name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.
Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic Name fills the earth!
—NLT
No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, come, for the table is wide.
And the welcome will be wide.
And the arms will open wide to gather us in.
And our hearts will open wide to receive.
And we will come as children who trust that there’s enough.
And we will come unhindered and free.
And our aching will be met with bread.
And our sorrow will be met with wine.
And we will open our hands to the feast without shame.
And we will turn toward each other without fear.
And we will give up our appetite for despair.
And we will taste and know of delight.
And we will become bread for a hungering world.
And we will become drink for those who thirst.
And the blessed will become the blessing.
And everywhere will be the feast.
—Jan Richardson (alt.)
COMMUNION PRAYER
To this table, O Christ, you have called us. You have set a place for each of us and you have poured the wine. And still, you say, there is always room for one more. And so we gather: From the streets and the highways, from cities and suburbs and townships; from forests and deserts, from the ravages of poverty and from households of privilege. Running, limping, carried, we come. Though touched by tragedy and feeling the pain of sickness and loss, we hold the seeds of healing within us. We dream of your new creation, we work for justice, we long to make peace. And so we are here, hungering for the bread that embodies you and the wine that makes you real within us. In every nation, your song is sung; in every tongue, your Name is spoken—gather us into one body, and make us a family in your Name. Amen.
