PREPARATION
NOTES
The lectionary lessons combined with the celebration of World
Communion Sunday and the Peacemaking Offering theme (“Guide
Our Feet into the Way of Peace”) seem to point to a key
question: How do God’s people live into the peace/shalom/salvation
that God has promised? In the Exodus text we find that God has
already saved the covenant people from slavery in Egypt and
now provides the commandments as a means for God’s people
to live into the reality of the salvation that has been accomplished
for them. Having received God’s saving act through the
Passover and Exodus, the people of God must find what it means
to live in relationship with God and one another.
As we prepare to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper with our sisters and brothers around the world, it is
a good time to consider again what it means to live in relationship
with God and these distant family members across the globe.
One way of framing the theme would be to talk about “table
manners” for World Communion Sunday. Another way of shaping
the worship experience and sermon is to consider the question:
How do we live into the reality of the peace/shalom/salvation
that God has provided for us to appropriate in our day?
The Children’s Activities
Sheet in the Peacemaking Offering packet provides instructions
for the creation of stoles and Communion table paraments for
use on World Communion Sunday. Suggestions are also given for
leading a children’s conversation or children’s
sermon in worship. You may wish to coordinate the worship experience
with those who are carrying out the children’s activities
and incorporate their contributions into the worship service.
On World Communion Sunday some congregations make use of a
variety of bread from different cultures and traditions (white,
wheat, brown, pita, flat bread, sweet bread, challah). Loaves
can be set on the Communion table at the start of the service,
or brought in during the processional hymn or between the offering
and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. If the bread
is brought in during a processional, an additional option is
to carry it on fabric from somewhere around the world—providing
a visual symbol of our shared communion with our brothers and
sisters from across the globe.
ORDER OF SERVICE
Call to Worship (from
Psalm 19)
Leader: The heavens are telling the glory
of God, all creation speaks volumes of God’s handiwork.
All: Each sunrise proclaims God’s faithfulness
and the night reveals the Creator’s awe.
Leader: Without a word being spoken, all creation
bears witness to the goodness of the Lord.
All: So, too, may we join in witness with
all creation. May the words of our mouths and the meditation
of our hearts be God’s signature in the world.
Processional Hymn
“From All That Dwell Below the Skies”
The Presbyterian Hymnal, 229
(The processional could include children entering with flying
doves they have made. See Children’s
Activity Sheet.)
Call to Confession
Hear the words of the psalmist. The law of God is perfect,
reviving the soul; the decrees of God are sure, making wise
the simple; the precepts of God are right, rejoicing the heart;
the ordinances of God are true, and righteous altogether. Have
we not doubted and denied God’s ways? In penitence and
faith let us now turn to God, seeking the medicine of God’s
grace.
Prayer of Confession
You, O Lord, have created us for goodness and to live in peace
with one another and with you. Yet we have ignored your teachings
and substituted our own self-serving goals. As a result we have
inherited and perpetuated a world torn by violence, oppression,
and strife. And at the heart we are estranged from our Creator
and from the true selves you intended us to be. Wash us, we
pray, with the healing of your grace. Renew us by the power
of your Spirit and guide our feet in the way of peace. As we
prepare to feast at your Table, may we rediscover our identity
as defined by your love.
Assurance of Pardon
Passing the Peace
Old Testament Lesson Exodus
20:1–4, 7–9, 12–20
Time with Children
(See Preparation Notes.)
New Testament Lesson
Philippians 3:4b–14 or Matthew 21:33–46
Sermon (See
Preparation Notes.)
Offering and Receiving
the Peacemaking Offering
(You may introduce the offering using one
of the minutes for mission included with
the resource packet.)
Doxology
Hymn
“We Are Marching in the Light of God/Siyahamba”
(Sing the Faith, 2235-b) (See endnote 1.)
Invitation to the Lord’s Table
In the wee hours of the morning, while all was quiet and dark
here at our home, the sun was rising on the other side of the
world. And with the dawn of this new day, God’s people
began gathering for worship amid the sounds of drums or pipes,
stringed instruments or pianos and organs. And now we, too,
join in this worldwide chorus of those who call upon the name
of the Lord. On this World Communion Sunday we remember especially
that the Scriptures are fulfilled as “People will come
from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table
in the kingdom of God.”
So come, not because you must, but because you may. Come not
because you are strong, but because you seek God’s strength.
All those who trust in Jesus are invited to come and join in
the feast that God has prepared.
The Story of the Supper
Among friends gathered around a table, Jesus took bread, blessed
and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “This
is my body which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
Later, after they had eaten, he took a cup of wine and said,
“This cup is God’s new relationship, made possible
by my life and death. Whenever you drink it, do it remembering
me.” So now, following Jesus’ example, we take this
bread and wine; for in them he has promised to be with us, making
us whole, making us one. And in celebration of God’s goodness,
let us give thanks.
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Words of Institution
Leader: O living God, For your blessing in
creation, for your image deep within us, for your life in all
its fullness,
All: We give thanks.
Leader: O Jesus our brother, For your coming
to earth, for your calling of us as your friends, for your sharing
of our life and death,
All: We give you thanks.
Leader: O Spirit of grace and truth, For
revealing yourself in community, for healing us in our brokenness,
for inspiring us with courage to share,
All: We give you thanks.
Leader: O Trinity of love, For the promise
of a spreading tree giving shade and protection, for the vision
of a body in which each part works for the health of the whole,
for the invitation to a feast where the despised will be guests
of honor,
All: We give you thanks.
Sanctus
Prayers of Concern and Blessing
God of justice and peace, you stand with those who are poor.
Now, in prayers spoken and unspoken,
we call upon you for those who suffer the injustice of violence
and want . . .
(silence or free prayer)
We call upon you for those who carry heavy burdens . . .
(silence or free prayer)
We call upon you for those we love and those who love us .
. .
(silence or free prayer)
Where shall we go from your spirit, and how could we be away
from your presence? If darkness covers us and night closes in
on us, you are there. For the night is not dark for you but
luminous as the day, and the two are one to you.
Where shall we go from your spirit?
Your presence is there, and here, and everywhere.
Spirit of the living God, present with us now, breathe in
us and on these gifts of bread and wine, that sharing your blessing
and your broken life we may share in your continual presence
and reality, and together, as your body, remain in your love.
In the name of Christ who taught us to pray . . . (See endnote
2.)
The Lord’s Prayer
Sharing of the Gifts of Bread and Cup
Look. Here is your Lord, coming to you in bread and wine.
The gifts of God for the people of God.
Prayer after Communion
Gracious God, you have made us one with all your people in
heaven and on earth. You have fed us with the bread of life
and renewed us for our service. We give ourselves to you and
ask that our daily living may be part of the life of your kingdom.
May our love be your love reaching out into the life of the
world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (See endnote 3.)
Hymn
“Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ”
(The Presbyterian Hymnal, 514)
Benediction
NOTES
1. Sing the Faith (Louisville: Geneva Press, 2003).
2. Celebrate Life, World Alliance of Reformed Churches,
24th General Council, Accra, Ghana, 2004. Used with permission.
3. Reprinted from The Service for the Lord’s Day:
Supplemental Liturgical Resource 1, © 1984 The Westminster
Press, with permission.
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