I wrote this Eucharistic prayer for Ruth Meyers’ liturgics class in the fall. Since then, I have “test driven” it in a couple of liturgies. A number of folks have asked for a copy of it. Here it is.
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The Offertory
The people bring forward their gifts of bread, wine, and money. All are placed upon – and remain upon – the table. The people gather around the table in a circle.
Sursum Corda
Presider The Lord be with you.
People And also with you.
Presider Lift up your hearts.
People We lift them to the Lord.
Presider Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People It is right to give our thanks and praise.[i]
History of Creation and Thanksgiving
Presider It is right to thank you and to praise you. Out of your imagination you called your creation into being: sculpting the heights of the mountains and the depths of the oceans; painting the stars in the sky; singing the song of the wind.
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord.[ii]
Presider In the fullness of time, you invited life into your creation. Out of clay you formed the birds who touch the heights of the sky, the fishes who sound the depths of the water, the creatures who dance upon the arc of the land. To all life you told your story. Last of all, you created humanity, so that there might be a creature who could tell a story back to you.[iii]
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord.
Presider But we forget to tell our story to you. And we forget to listen to the story that you have to tell to us. Instead, we tell one another stories of scarcity, of fear, of anger. We tell these stories of falsehood until we come to believe that they are true. But no matter how often we stop our ears and our mouths to you, you continue to whisper your truth to us. And you continue to listen for our truth in return.
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord.
Presider Through the majesty of this creation, through signs in the darkness of night and in the sudden light of day, through the testimony of your prophets, you call us back into the circle of your justice and wisdom. At the right time, you sent your Son, born of a woman, so that we might remember what you are like.[iv] Through his life, his death, and his resurrection, Jesus leads us through the paths of your kingdom.
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord.
Presider Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with those who have come before us and those who are yet to come, singing with all of creation:
Sanctus
All Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.[v]
Words of Institution
Presider Blessed are you, Lord our God, for sending us Jesus, the Christ.[vi] On the night when he stood on the precipice of uncertainty, having testified to your kingdom and, thereby, handed himself over to the mercy of the empire, he ate dinner with his friends.
Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and said, “Take this bread: this is my body. Do this and remember me.”
Likewise, Jesus took the wine, offered thanks, and said, “Take this wine: this is my blood. Do this and remember me.”
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord.
Memorial Acclamation
Presider Therefore, O Gracious God we do remember your Son, proclaiming the mystery of faith:
All Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.[vii]
Oblation
Presider We who have been redeemed by him,
and made a new people by water and the Spirit,
now bring you these gifts.[viii]
Epiclesis
Presider Send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts and upon us, that all who eat and drink with your Son may live into the transforming love to which he testifies.
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord.
Presider Pour out your spirit upon the whole earth, and renew your creation. Gather your church and all people of faith together, where peace and justice are revealed and where all may share the banquet you have promised.
Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, all honour and glory are yours, creator of all. [ix]
People Glory and praise to you, O Lord. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Presider As our Saviour taught us, we now pray:
All Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.
Or
Presider And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,
All Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom 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 kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
The Breaking of the Bread
The Presider breaks the consecrated bread.
Presider We break this bread,
All Communion with Jesus Christ in life, in death, and in life anew.
The Communion
Presider The Gifts of God for the People of God.
All Thanks be to God.[x]
The People receive communion followed by the Presider. The sacrament is given with the following words:
The Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven.
The Blood of Christ, the Cup of Salvation.
Prayer After Communion
Presider Let us pray.
The community prays in silence.
Presider Almighty God,
All You have united us with Jesus Christ and with one another in the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood.
May we who have shared in this meal carry your promise of eternal love to the world.
Keep us steadfast in hope. Help us serve you with courage. Allow us to find wonder in change and grace in uncertainty.
Grant that we and all your children may share in the abundant new life that is already among us. Amen.
Doxology
Presider Glory to God,
All Whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.[xi]
Dismissal
Presider Let us bless the Lord.
People Thanks be to God.[xii]
[i] Quoted directly from The Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1985), 201.
[ii] Ideally, this response is sung and, indeed, is cued by simple music.
[iii] This sentence is indebted to the words of Elie Wiesel: “God Created Man Because He Loves Stories.”
[iv] This sentence is indebted to Frances Somerville’s One Woman’s Creed and, in particular, the line, “I believe in Jesus Christ who came to live among us and let us see what God is like.”
[v] Also quoted directly from the BAS, but for a switch to gender neutral language (The Book of Alternative Services, 202.). I do recognise: (a) that these words are drawn from the Gospels and, in turn, from Psalm 118; and (b) that, with the exception of the NRSV, most translators prefer to render these passages “blessed is he.” However, within the context of the liturgy, my sense is that these words cease to be a quote and become, instead, an acclamation offered in the eternal present of worship. In other words, the reference is not only to the historical Jesus, who was a man, but to the eternal Christ, who is without gender.
I do not feel a similar reservation about the term “Lord,” a word which I know that some Christians experience as gendered and classist. There are two reasons for this. First, a Lord is not necessarily a man (Queen Elizabeth II, for instance, is a Lord). Second (and more importantly), I believe that designating a humiliated and crucified God as Lord is a fundamental act of reversal and of solidarity with the oppressed. Far from celebrating class boundaries, declaring that Jesus Christ is Lord subverts and lampoons those boundaries.
[vi] This sentence quoted from The Book of Alternative Services, 202.
[vii] This response quoted from The Book of Alternative Services, 195.
[viii] This sentence quoted from The Book of Alternative Services, 203.
[ix] This sentence and the one preceding it are closely patterned on The Book of Alternative Services, 203.
[x] Notwithstanding over two years of worship in the Episcopal church, I continue to find the absence of a congregational response at this point in the service disconcerting. God is giving us a gift: why don’t we say thank you?
[xi] Quoted from The Book of Alternative Services, 214.
