Recently I preached on Luke 10 at my local church. It was also communion Sunday. The text has been popular among mission writers in recent years, The lectionary uses verse 1-11 and 16-20 and leave out some awkward words about judgement…
I asked a retired builder in the church to make me a doorway. I wish I’d taken a photo of the setup in the church itself, but here’s the door. The doorway was set up in the middle of the church. We have an informal setting with moveable chairs which were set up in a U shape. On the front right was the communion table and on the front left was a table with a simple setting for an everyday meal. Pieces of cardboard in the floor made pathways from the doorway to each table.
Here are some parts of the service.
Pre-Service
Video loop of a person’s feet walking with ambient music
Call to Worship
We gather seeking connection –
connection with one another and with God.
We gather as strangers seeking community –
friendship, yes, but something deeper,
an authentic communion with each other
and with the One who made us
and loves us immeasurably.
We each bring our stories,
perhaps happy to leave some parts behind,
seeking to be part of a bigger story –
a narrative of hope and peace and joy
for the whole world,
a rhythm of healing and grace and light –
God’s big story, which we call by many names
– salvation, shalom, the kingdom
We gather as guests at God’s banquet –
at a feast to which all are welcome,
particularly those who feel lost,
those who mourn,
those in need of comfort,
those who yearn for freedom,
those who cry for justice.
We are all welcome here.
May today be for us a thin place
where heaven and earth seem as one,
where we experience the touch of the holy,
where we see with new eyes,
and are renewed with the Spirit’s power.
So let us worship.
Song – There is a Thin Place
Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving
Today we give thanks for the gift of community.
Let us pray.
Loving God, you are the essence of community
Three in One and One in Three
We praise you today that your Creation
was born of your desire for community,
that you not only make and sustain your world,
you cherish all that is within it,
an ecosystem of interdependence
among the living and the material,
elements and organisms.
We praise you that you created human beings
to live in harmony with your Creation
and to live in community with one another.
We are made for relationships,
and our propensity for division grieves your heart.
We think of the community that nurtured us in our early years
our immediate and extended family
our friends, teachers, coaches, mentors
This was not always perfect –
and yet we give thanks for the love and care we experienced
(pause)
We think of times when we needed community most
and people were there to support us, to comfort,
to simply be present in our need –
and for this we are most deeply grateful
We think of times when we have experienced
the unexpected grace of strangers –
a warm welcome in a foreign place,
an accepting smile across social boundaries,
an invitation to a meal table as an honoured guest,
a helping hand from a good Samaritan –
and we recognise with gratitude
your likeness among people of all cultures.
We have not always acted without favour or judgement
We have not always spoken well
of those who are different
We have not always made the choice
to be generous or hospitable
And for this we seek your forgiveness
Generous God, remind us today
that around your meal table
all are equal, all are welcome, all are free.
May we so live our lives each day.
Amen.
Song – Come to The Banquet verses 1-4
Sermon
The sermon involved a reflection on coming into church and going out of church. I walked repeatedly through the door frame towards the communion table and talked about experienced of being welcomed into churches – some negative and some positive. Some of this was meant to be amusing – laughing at ourselves.
I spoke about the many possible steps involved in pathways into a faith community and some of the common gaps in those pathways.
We then turned to the Gospel story and being sent out of the church in mission. We reflected on being called and sent, on travelling lightly, on vulnerability, on being a guest rather than a host, on not knowing the rules, on being open and listening, on the value of conversation. We reflected on Australian’s aversions to speaking about politics, sport and religion over dinner.
I shared this wonderful poem by Rev Andreana Reale from Murrumbeena Uniting Church.
THE SEVENTY-TWO
They entered my house
with nothing.
No bag,
no money,
the dust of the street
clinging to bare feet.
I have opened the door
before
to people carrying suitcases of tracts,
to people with Bibles in tow,
underlined, book-marked,
battle-ready.
But all this pair carried
were their travel-weary bodies
and the dusty clothes on their backs,
vulnerable,
almost,
as lambs amongst wolves.
Yet their faces said ‘peace’
and my heart said ‘peace’ too
so I stood aside
and pointed them in the direction
of my kitchen.
And the three of us ate soup
and bread
and talked
and by and by
a new story tumbled out of our mouths.
Song – Come to The Banquet verses 1, 5-8
Holy Communion
Today we gather around a table with Christ as our host and we as his guests.You have probably been at a camp or conference where holy communion was celebrated not in a church building, but in a hall or room or even outdoors.
So today, in keeping with our Bible text, we will gather not around this table, but around this table – we will recognise and celebrate Christ’s presence not in the church but in the world. Just as the Last Supper was held not in a synagogue but in a home around a meal table, let us today, at least symbolically do the same, as a reminder that Christ and his body, the people of God, are firstly present not in the church but in the world.
I invite you to stand and follow us through the door as you are able and to stand around THIS table (point to table).
Offering
In some churches, people bring their offerings as the communion elements are brought to the table. Today let us acknowledge the gifts that we bring as we bring the bread and wine.
Process to the table.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
I invite you to share the peace with those on either side of you.
Pass the Peace
Let us pray:
Loving God, today we remind ourselves that the story of your saving love
began with the story of your creative love spread across our world from its beginning,
and that this story shaped earth and ocean, and all living things
we are reminded that this was also a story of choosing –
of people finding themselves blessed, and called to follow.
Today we admit that human history story reveals
that the chosen can become the oppressor,
ignoring your grace towards all people
a sin of which we have all been complicit at times.
Today we gather in gratitude
that your Son Jesus came as the revealer,
the example, and the channel
of your reconciling love –
a love that clears away division
so that all Creation might be one.
Gather us into his story as it continues today.
Amen.
Two people were walking a dusty road, somewhat perplexed,
questioning their beliefs and their futures,
when someone came alongside them and became a guest to their conversation.
They shared their story with him and he offered them some words of hope.
Further along this road to Emmaus they stopped at an inn,
where they all became guests and shared a meal. And as they shared the meal,
their fellow guest took bread and broke it.
And suddenly their eyes were opened,
and they remembered that just a week or so ago,
on the night when he was betrayed,
their Master took bread,
and when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said:
This is my body which is for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
And they remembered that in the same way
he also took the cup, after supper, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it,
for the remembrance of me.
They remembered that on that night,
their Master had acted as a servant
and treating them like honoured guests,
had washed their feet.
And they knew in that moment
that Jesus was risen and present with them.
Prayers of the People
In the cente of the room we had a couple of tables with a large printed map of our neighbouring suburbs plus some tea light candles.
Today we invite you to pray for a place or people from somewhere in our region who are known to you – those whom you know and wish to know better, those among whom you might be a guest. This is an invitation to pray for their well-being, for peace in their lives.
Or you may wish to pray for people whom you do not yet know but wish to know.
Pray too for your own sense of adventure and risk, your own sense of being sent, your own sense of being a messenger of peace.
We invite you to come and light a candle and to place it on the map to represent this place or people.
Song – Walking Down the Road
Blessing / Sending
Song – Breathe