The Way

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kin-dom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kin-dom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

God of steadfast love, as we begin this new year, we remember how you have cared for us and comforted us by speaking your love into being. Trusting in our faithfulness, we bring our attention to the world.

We pray for your church in all its many forms, that it may speak to the needs of all the diverse people of the world.

We pray for the world, that all might experience your love made flesh through justice and peace.

We pray for those who suffer, that our care for them may be a new incarnation.

We pray for your creation; make us healers of your earth.

We commend into your hands those who have died and pray for those who now journey toward death that they may rest in your love.

One with Christ and sealed in the Holy Spirit, we praise and glorify your name, Loving God, now and always. Amen.

Giving God, you have established us as your children, siblings together in Christ. Empower us to be faithful in our actions as we labor to establish your kin-dom here on earth. Amen.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

The law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus. How has your faith been trapped by the law and kept you from following the way of Jesus?

We offer both white and red grape juice. If you are afraid of spilling red grape juice, a limited number of cups with white grape juice are provided.

Here at Community Church, we celebrate “Open Communion.” Anyone who wishes to commune may come to God’s Table. You do not have to be sinless; God forgives you. You do not have to be perfect; God encourages you to grow. You need not belong to any church; God invites all people to this meal. It is enough to love and follow God with all your heart. This is what God asks us to do. Come to God’s Table in faith this day. Go from this place to live, and never be the same again. Let us commune as siblings in Christ.

God be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to our God.

Let us give thanks to the Source of Love.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Great God of the Coming Dawn, in each new day you surprise the earth with splendor. Your Spirit moves across the face of the waters and brings forth life. At the dawn of all things in a garden you worked the earth, elbow deep in mud you fashioned us, gifted us, and gave us work to do.

Made from the earth, made by your hand, we forgot who we were. We forgot who you were and we tried to remake ourselves. We rejected your love and fell into selfishness. Yet even in our darkness, you continued to speak your vision of light and life. When we were slaves in a foreign land, you brought us out of our oppression, led us through the waters, and washed us up on the shores of a new life as a chosen people.

And you spoke of a day to come when you would come once more to save. And so, we who live on the edge of this land look across the waters to the horizon. We come to live on the edge of your new and promised day, and we raise our voices with all the saints as we proclaim … Blessed are you, and blessed in your Son Jesus the Christ, whose coming was announced by wilderness prophets. In Jesus, you not only took our name but our flesh. He announced the new day and the acceptable year when blind folks would see, and poor folks would rejoice — when captives would be set free, and the oppressed would once more walk upright in liberty. In stories, he spoke of waiting bridesmaids and prodigal sons. With tears and compassion, he brought a dead man to life and gave a woman at a well the living water she sought. With anger he overturned tables and challenged the powerful. On the cross he revealed the power of weakness, and in the emptiness of the tomb he gave us a glimpse of your tomorrow that does not end in death.

On the night when he was betrayed, he sat at a table with his friends. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his followers and said: “Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way he took the cup, blessed it, served it to his followers, and said, “Drink from this every one of you. This is my blood poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin. Do this to remember me.”

And so we remember. And so we offer our praise and thanks, and our very lives as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

So we call on you to send your Holy Spirit on us once more, and on these gifts of bread and fruit of the vine. Let them be for us once more a reminder that we are Christ’s body resurrected and alive in the world today. Make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes again and we feast at his table. With all the saints who share your name and our flesh, we raise this song, until we hear in fullness the harmony of heaven:

God of the Dawn, Christ of the new Day Coming, Spirit who is Ever Present, we recommit ourselves to your way this day. Amen.

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

The bread which we have eaten is a sharing in the bread of Christ. The cup over which we give thanks is the sharing in the cup of Christ.

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

From God’s generous heart we have all received grace upon grace. Therefore let us give in gratitude for our lives and our inheritance as part of the family of Christ.

Gathering God, you have brought us together from many backgrounds and conditions to be this church together. Therefore, we praise you with these offerings and gifts. Multiply them for your service, that they might become your presence in the world. Amen.

God gathers us that we might live as a community of peace. Go in peace and live lives of love before God and all people. And may the God who turns our mourning into joy comfort you with the presence of the Holy Spirit and lead you forth into the way of Love. Amen.