Jesus' insights into his body and blood
Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Planning Ideas And Resources For The Entire Church Year
Order of Worship Headings
Consider this:
You may want to change the general headings for the various acts of worship,
as for example,
Adoration
Celebration through adoration
Confession
Celebration through confession and forgiveness
illumination
or,
Celebration through the word
Intercession
Celebration through commitment
or,
Gathering
Teaching
Sending
Pastoral Invitation to the Celebration
NOTE:
The idea for this way to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper comes from a sermon by Henry E. Kolbe, a United Methodist clergyman (now deceased), a sermon which was printed in the "Pulpit" magazine for July-August, 1966.
Try this:
The pastor enters the sanctuary wearing a blue denium jacket, or Levi jacket, or the latest jacket, which identifies with people who work with their hands, reminding us that God became incarnate in a human. Share this with the people. Jesus was not born, nor did he minister, in a palace of a king, or in the library of a scholar. For me, the jacket identifies us with the motorcycle crowd, whom we write off as the incorrigibles, the unwanted and unwashed, the lowest of earth. And, also with the farmers in our country, as well as the poor laborers of other countries, who remain poor so that we can eat well. The jacket symbolizes Jesus and the church's identification with the oppressed, and those shut off from God, and Christ's body, the church.
You may want to follow with this litany:
Pastor:
Listen! Observe! Think! Do you hear and see the voice of God?
Ministers: We do hear and see.
Pastor:
How do you hear it? How do you see it?
Ministers: (Congregation responds as led by God's Spirit.)
Pastor:
I invite us to listen more carefully, and to see more completely this worship hour.
Ministers: Indeed we shall. Amen.
The Act of Recognizing our Humanness and The Act of Receiving New Life
Consider this:
One of the sins of the church is to think that God offers the sacrament to us, and only to us. Communion always has a universal theme; we cannot receive it only for ourselves. Yet, it is personal, but never individual; it is a corporate act of the whole people of God. I invite us to consider these questions, silently, as we prepare to receive the elements:
How are we a part of these, and other, expressions of sin as alienation, I-centeredness, brokenness:
1. Failure to take seriously our responsibility to, not for, other persons.
2. Being parasites, rather than contributors.
3. Ignoring the tragedy of human separation, whatever form it may take.
Conclude with this prayer: Hear our prayers, O Christ. Be merciful to your imperfect disciples, O Christ.
For the assurance, invite the people to offer prayers of pardon and forgiveness. You may want to ask them before worship.
Message with the Children of All Ages
Suggestion:
Simulate the sacrament by educating what the elements mean. Then, offer the children a piece of bread and a bunch of grapes. Conclude with a prayer of thanks.
Proclamation of the Word
Consider these ideas:
(from Henry E. Kolbe's sermon, "The Lord's Supper.")
1. The Table. Use an ordinary table, not the communion table.
It symbolizes food, sustenance for the body and for life, and thus, a recollection of Jesus who said, "I am the bread of life." John 6:48
It symbolizes fellowship; for eating is both a physical and spiritual act, both a biological and sociological act.
2. The Bread. Not neatly pre-cut into dainty cubes; not the soft, white, bleached, overly-refined which loses its vital character. But rather, a bread made of whole grain flour, with all the natural nutrients and roughage left in; so it is "The dark brown body of Jesus for you."
Not ordinary brown bread, but Russian rye (preferably baked in a Jewish bakery), symbolizing the presence of Christ in the political enemy; Jewish symbol, not of ceremonial, but the kind used in homes at mealtime; Dark brown, symbolizing Christ's presence in the non-white culture, the poor and oppressed everywhere.
Not pre-cut, but each will break off a piece, symbolic of our active partaking of the body of Christ and of our participation in the whole community of faith of which the loaf is a symbol. No nibbling allowed!
3. The Wine. Not the sweet juice of the grape, which is bland, and which is easily swallowed, leaving a mild, pleasant taste. We will use grape juice laced with vinegar.
Wine symbolizes the blood of Christ. To drink of his blood means to take his life into our own, "for the blood is life." (Deuteronomy 12:23). Drinking of the blood can never be something pleasant and mild; it jars and offends. Vinegar is a reminder of the vinegar given in the sponge to Jesus at Golgatha. (Matthew 27:48) He refused the first offer; he accepted the second. Point out the reason for doing so.
Stewardship Challenge
Consider this (for the extremely courageous):
The stewardship of the sacrament. The church exists, not for our enjoyment or comfort or our security; it exists for the doing of God's work in God's world, for the achievement of God's purpose in God's world.
One pastor said to his congregation that it would be blasphemous to regard the hosts of nominal, lukewarm members of existing churches as members of the Body of Christ.
Charge to the Congregation
Suggestion:
Receiving the sacrament means the identification of our lives with those to whom Jesus identified himself, with those who labor and are heavy laden, those who are outcast, scorned, oppressed. Receiving Christ means accepting the burning acid of rejection, even from our fellow worshipers, and sharing the agony of his sufferings because of the sins of people against people. The sacrament drives us to enter into community in depth, and to know Christ, not simply in word and form, but in spirit and reality.
Planning for Your Congregation
Suggestions
Your Situation
I. Other Scriptures
Liturgist:
Psalm 102:1-12
Psalm 34:2-3, 9-15
2 Samuel 18:24-33
Proverbs 9:1-6
Ephesians 5:15-20
II. Suggested Hymns
Coordinator:
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"
Henry van Dyke, 1907
"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!"
Reginald Heber, 1826
"Become to Us the Living Bread"
Miriam Drury, 1970
"Upon Your Great Church Universal"
J.M. de Carbon-Ferriere, 1823 Trans. by Margaret House, 1949; alt., 1972
III. Other Music Possibilities
Organist/Choir director:
Music for Preparation
"O Lamb of God" Bach
Response to the Pastoral Invitation
"As In the Solemn Stillness" Fiesinger
Response to the Scriptures Adult Choir
"See What Love" Felix Mendelssohn
Invitation to the Sacrament
"O Taste Ye and See" Tchesnikoff
Response to the Stewardship Challenge
"Prayer" Guilmant
Music for Dismissal
"Cantabile" Guilmant
IV. Bulletin Cover
Church secretary:
V. Bulletin Symbols
VI. Miscellaneous Details (Assignments:)
Ushers
Candlelighters
Hosts/Hostesses
Banners
Flowers
Greeters
Posters
Name-tags
Others
Consider this:
You may want to change the general headings for the various acts of worship,
as for example,
Adoration
Celebration through adoration
Confession
Celebration through confession and forgiveness
illumination
or,
Celebration through the word
Intercession
Celebration through commitment
or,
Gathering
Teaching
Sending
Pastoral Invitation to the Celebration
NOTE:
The idea for this way to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper comes from a sermon by Henry E. Kolbe, a United Methodist clergyman (now deceased), a sermon which was printed in the "Pulpit" magazine for July-August, 1966.
Try this:
The pastor enters the sanctuary wearing a blue denium jacket, or Levi jacket, or the latest jacket, which identifies with people who work with their hands, reminding us that God became incarnate in a human. Share this with the people. Jesus was not born, nor did he minister, in a palace of a king, or in the library of a scholar. For me, the jacket identifies us with the motorcycle crowd, whom we write off as the incorrigibles, the unwanted and unwashed, the lowest of earth. And, also with the farmers in our country, as well as the poor laborers of other countries, who remain poor so that we can eat well. The jacket symbolizes Jesus and the church's identification with the oppressed, and those shut off from God, and Christ's body, the church.
You may want to follow with this litany:
Pastor:
Listen! Observe! Think! Do you hear and see the voice of God?
Ministers: We do hear and see.
Pastor:
How do you hear it? How do you see it?
Ministers: (Congregation responds as led by God's Spirit.)
Pastor:
I invite us to listen more carefully, and to see more completely this worship hour.
Ministers: Indeed we shall. Amen.
The Act of Recognizing our Humanness and The Act of Receiving New Life
Consider this:
One of the sins of the church is to think that God offers the sacrament to us, and only to us. Communion always has a universal theme; we cannot receive it only for ourselves. Yet, it is personal, but never individual; it is a corporate act of the whole people of God. I invite us to consider these questions, silently, as we prepare to receive the elements:
How are we a part of these, and other, expressions of sin as alienation, I-centeredness, brokenness:
1. Failure to take seriously our responsibility to, not for, other persons.
2. Being parasites, rather than contributors.
3. Ignoring the tragedy of human separation, whatever form it may take.
Conclude with this prayer: Hear our prayers, O Christ. Be merciful to your imperfect disciples, O Christ.
For the assurance, invite the people to offer prayers of pardon and forgiveness. You may want to ask them before worship.
Message with the Children of All Ages
Suggestion:
Simulate the sacrament by educating what the elements mean. Then, offer the children a piece of bread and a bunch of grapes. Conclude with a prayer of thanks.
Proclamation of the Word
Consider these ideas:
(from Henry E. Kolbe's sermon, "The Lord's Supper.")
1. The Table. Use an ordinary table, not the communion table.
It symbolizes food, sustenance for the body and for life, and thus, a recollection of Jesus who said, "I am the bread of life." John 6:48
It symbolizes fellowship; for eating is both a physical and spiritual act, both a biological and sociological act.
2. The Bread. Not neatly pre-cut into dainty cubes; not the soft, white, bleached, overly-refined which loses its vital character. But rather, a bread made of whole grain flour, with all the natural nutrients and roughage left in; so it is "The dark brown body of Jesus for you."
Not ordinary brown bread, but Russian rye (preferably baked in a Jewish bakery), symbolizing the presence of Christ in the political enemy; Jewish symbol, not of ceremonial, but the kind used in homes at mealtime; Dark brown, symbolizing Christ's presence in the non-white culture, the poor and oppressed everywhere.
Not pre-cut, but each will break off a piece, symbolic of our active partaking of the body of Christ and of our participation in the whole community of faith of which the loaf is a symbol. No nibbling allowed!
3. The Wine. Not the sweet juice of the grape, which is bland, and which is easily swallowed, leaving a mild, pleasant taste. We will use grape juice laced with vinegar.
Wine symbolizes the blood of Christ. To drink of his blood means to take his life into our own, "for the blood is life." (Deuteronomy 12:23). Drinking of the blood can never be something pleasant and mild; it jars and offends. Vinegar is a reminder of the vinegar given in the sponge to Jesus at Golgatha. (Matthew 27:48) He refused the first offer; he accepted the second. Point out the reason for doing so.
Stewardship Challenge
Consider this (for the extremely courageous):
The stewardship of the sacrament. The church exists, not for our enjoyment or comfort or our security; it exists for the doing of God's work in God's world, for the achievement of God's purpose in God's world.
One pastor said to his congregation that it would be blasphemous to regard the hosts of nominal, lukewarm members of existing churches as members of the Body of Christ.
Charge to the Congregation
Suggestion:
Receiving the sacrament means the identification of our lives with those to whom Jesus identified himself, with those who labor and are heavy laden, those who are outcast, scorned, oppressed. Receiving Christ means accepting the burning acid of rejection, even from our fellow worshipers, and sharing the agony of his sufferings because of the sins of people against people. The sacrament drives us to enter into community in depth, and to know Christ, not simply in word and form, but in spirit and reality.
Planning for Your Congregation
Suggestions
Your Situation
I. Other Scriptures
Liturgist:
Psalm 102:1-12
Psalm 34:2-3, 9-15
2 Samuel 18:24-33
Proverbs 9:1-6
Ephesians 5:15-20
II. Suggested Hymns
Coordinator:
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"
Henry van Dyke, 1907
"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!"
Reginald Heber, 1826
"Become to Us the Living Bread"
Miriam Drury, 1970
"Upon Your Great Church Universal"
J.M. de Carbon-Ferriere, 1823 Trans. by Margaret House, 1949; alt., 1972
III. Other Music Possibilities
Organist/Choir director:
Music for Preparation
"O Lamb of God" Bach
Response to the Pastoral Invitation
"As In the Solemn Stillness" Fiesinger
Response to the Scriptures Adult Choir
"See What Love" Felix Mendelssohn
Invitation to the Sacrament
"O Taste Ye and See" Tchesnikoff
Response to the Stewardship Challenge
"Prayer" Guilmant
Music for Dismissal
"Cantabile" Guilmant
IV. Bulletin Cover
Church secretary:
V. Bulletin Symbols
VI. Miscellaneous Details (Assignments:)
Ushers
Candlelighters
Hosts/Hostesses
Banners
Flowers
Greeters
Posters
Name-tags
Others
