Prayer of Preparation for the Eucharist
As if this were the only time, and this the only place, and we the only people, Jesus Christ will meet us. As if this were the only time and this the only place, and we the only people, let us worship God.
Let us pray.
Heaven is here, and earth, and the space is thin between them. Distance may divide, but Christ’s promise unites those of us still bounded by time, and those who are now blessed by eternity. Let heaven be glad.
All: Let the whole earth cry glory.
Heaven is here, and earth, and the church above and below is one. Peter and the disciples are here, and Paul, Martha and all the Marys, St Francis and St Claire, Mother Teresa; Jonathan Daniels and Martin Luther King; the saints from far back and those who left us not long ago. Genevieve, Dutchy, and Myrtle are here. And only sight prevents us from seeing them, for they are one with us on the other side. Let heaven be glad.
All: Let the whole earth cry glory.
Heaven is here, and earth, and God who made them is present. The Lamb, glorious on the throne, sits beside us; the spirit of God, the Dove, makes her resting place among us. God inhales the breath of our prayers and spreads a table for our satisfaction. Let heaven be glad.
All: Let the whole earth cry glory.
Blessing and honor and glory and power be to our God for ever and ever.
All: Amen.
Invitation to the Eucharist
Jesus was always the guest. In the homes of Peter and Jairus, Martha and Mary, Joanna and Susanna, and Zacchaeus, he was always the guest. At the meal table of the wealthy where he pled the case of the poor, he was always the guest. But here, at this table, he is the host. Those who wish to serve him must first be served by him, those who want to follow him must first be fed by him, those who would wash his feet must first let him make them clean. For this is the table where God intends us to be nourished; this is the time when Christ can make us new. So come, you who are tired and in need of rest, those of you who hunger and thirst for a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world. Jesus Christ, who has sat at our tables, now invites us to be guests at his table.
The Eucharistic Prayer
The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
We thank you, Holy Creator, that you allow us to live surrounded by the evidence of your divinity at St Peter’s: Your sun pours in through the tall clear windows, light and shadows playing across these holy walls and holy words like the joys and sorrows that come and go in our lives. We thank you for the ever-shifting beauty of the Rappahannock River, for the shade of the sycamores, for the flowers that bloom in their season, for the smell of newly cut grass, for the crunch of autumn leaves. We thank you for the laughter and the tears that we have shared together.
As Jesus was, we are called to times of service, but also to solitude, to vast stores of unused quiet to be with You, to immensities of rivers, oceans and skies that enlarge our souls and remind us of eternity, and of what passes, but with promise.
And so we come together today to receive your Word and join with Saints and Angels in a chorus of praise and thanks that rings through eternity, lifting our voices to magnify you as we sing:
(Sung to Land of Rest)
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. Hosanna in the highest.
And now, lest we believe that our praise alone fulfills your purpose, we fall silent and remember him who came to live and die as one of us. (Silence) Setting our wisdom, our will, our words aside, emptying our hearts, and bringing nothing in our hands, we yearn for the rest and the healing, the holding, the accepting, the forgiving which Christ alone can offer.
Merciful God, send now, in kindness, your Holy Spirit to settle on this bread and wine and fill them with the fullness of Jesus. And let that same Spirit rest on us, converting us from the patterns of this passing world, until we conform to the shape of him whose food we now share.
Among friends, gathered around a table, Jesus took bread, and broke it.
“This is my body broken for you.”
Later he took a cup of wine and said, “This is the new relationship with God made possible because of my death. Take it all of you, so that I may be present in your midst.”
Jesus, firstborn of Mary,
All: Have mercy upon us.
Jesus, Savior of the world,
All: Have mercy upon us.
Jesus Lord of heaven,
All: Grant us peace.
He whom the universe could not contain is present to us in this bread. He who redeemed us and called us by name now meets us in this cup. So take this bread and wine. In them God comes to us so that we may come to God.
Amen.
Sources:
A Wee Worship Book, The Community on Iona, Scotland
The preface of this Eucharistic Prayer was inspired by words for a Eucharistic prayer used at St Francis Episcopal Church, Emerald Isle, NC, written by Peter Makuck.