Post Christmas Invitation to the Table

Voice 1:  Arise, beloved ones

and come to the feast

where all are welcome

and all is ready.

God’s light has become manifest----

the light shines in and around you

but also within you.

Let it shine.

Voice 2  Let the transforming power of love

shed light into your chaotic places,

your tragic places, and your hopeful places.

Let it fill you.

Voice 1:  You cannot see the path ahead,

you cannot divine the way.

You will make the road by walking it.

You will go home a different way.

Do not be afraid.

God knows that our deepest fear

is not that we are inadequate:

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful

beyond measure.

“It is our light; not our darkness

that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

Voice 2: Come, gorgeous ones

to the table of life

and share this meal

for all is prepared,  

all is ready for you.

(People come forward and place their gifts around the table)

Voice 1: The Holy One is here in our minds and in our hearts.

Voice 2:   Let us open our spirits to God.

We come open and ready. We give thanks and praise!

Voice 1:  O God, our mother and father, bread baker and wine maker, we give you thanks and praise. You worked the world into being, instilled all creation with life, and shaped us as your people.

Voice 2: In Jesus Christ, the bread of life and the true vine,

You feed us with the Word and quench our thirst for justice.

At table with a circle of his friends,

Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them saying:  “Take. Eat. This is my body given for you.

Remember me, each time you do this.”

Voice 1: After supper he took a cup, gave God thanks for the wine,

and shared it with his friends saying: “Take. Drink. This is my blood, love poured out for you. Remember me, each time you drink it.”

Voice 2:  Spirit of the Living God, help us recognize the risen Christ

in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup.

Send your blessing on this bread;

Send your grace upon this cup.

This is the feast of love for the people of God.

Voice 1 (holding up the bread) May the living God be reborn in you.  Please pass the bread to the person next to you.

Voice 2 (holding up the cup of wine, “Love born and poured out for you.”

painting by ChrisCowan