Today is World Wide Communion Sunday! If you are hungry and thirsty for a deeper communion with God, please come! Here are the words we will be saying today at Christ Community Church of Grand Rapids as we gather for Communion (* = parts said in unison)... MEANING OF THE SACRAMENT Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Supper which we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, of communion, and of hope. We remember that our Lord pointed his disciples and all who would follow him, beyond the hand of Moses, to the very hand of the God. During Israel’s wanderings in the desert and during our own times of trial, this is the God who can sustain. We come to have communion with this same Christ who declared the he is the true and living bread come down from heaven. He is the one who offers himself as bread for the world. Israel’s feast of Passover has been eternally fulfilled in him. He is the one who redeems. We come in hope, believing that all who eat of his flesh and drink of his blood will have eternal life, and that he will raise us up on the last day! In Christ all things were created. In Christ all things are made new. INVITATION According to John’s Gospel, after our Lord had instructed his followers that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, Jesus then went to the Festival of Booths – this is the very festival where Israel’s time in the wilderness, being sustained by Manna is remembered. On the Last day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.” We invite all who are thirsty to come and all who believe to drink. Anyone who desires for the living Christ to cause rivers of living water to flow from your heart come and have your thirst quenched and have your heart made new. COMMUNION PRAYER The Lord be with you. *And also with you.* Lift up your hearts! *We lift them up to the Lord.* Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. *It is right to give our thanks and praise.* Holy and right it is, and our joyful duty to give thanks to you at all times and in all places, O Lord our Creator, almighty and everlasting God! You created heaven with all its hosts and the earth with all its plenty. You have given us life and being, and preserve us by your providence. But you have shown us the fullness of your love in sending into the world your Son, Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, made flesh for us and for our salvation. For the precious gift of this mighty Savior who has reconciled us to you we praise and bless you, O God. With your whole Church on earth and with all the company of heaven we worship and adore your glorious name. *Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!* Most righteous God, we remember in this Supper the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world. In the joy of his resurrection and in expectation of his coming again, we offer ourselves to you as holy and living sacrifices. Together we proclaim the mystery of the faith: *Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!* Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break and the cup which we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ. Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into Christ our Lord. And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf, and these grapes from many hills into one cup, grant, O Lord, that your whole Church may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! WORDS OF INSTITUTION & COMMUNION The Lord Jesus, the same night he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me.” After the same manner also, he took the cup when they had supped, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” The bread which we break is our communion of the body of Christ. The cup which we bless is our communion of the blood of Christ. Come! For all things are now ready! The gifts of God for the people of God!
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 11:23:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015