COLOUR LEGEND
RED = MINISTER
BLUE= READER
BLACK= QUESTIONER
GREEN= UNISON PART

Beth, I have a question. Where did the sermon go?

Today's service will be somewhat different. In the fall the Session of our church had a discussion on children and communion. We decided that children could take communion if their parents agreed to it. We also decided that children needed to receive some education on the meaning of communion. Perhaps some adults would like to learn a little bit too!

What we are going to do today is a ‘walk through' the service of communion. We will not be celebrating communion, but rather learning about the prayers and the actions so that we can all understand them better when we next gather for communion around the time of Pentecost.

Why does the Prayer of Thanksgiving begin the same way as the communion prayer?

On a communion Sunday, our prayers are a little different but we want to connect them to our prayers in our weekly worship by having the same dialogue each week, whether there is communion or not. We will hear more about that dialogue later.

Who can take communion?

On a communion Sunday I invite everyone to take part, not just members, not just adults.

If you want to come you can, if you want to join in this celebration you can come, if you want to show your love for God and if you are thankful and happy that Jesus is the bread of life then you can.

If you don't understand but want to learn more you can too.

People of all ages are welcome because they are part of God's family.

Do you mean that even little kids can take communion, like an 8 year old?

In our church we let the parents make the decision about children taking communion. We want everyone to promise to be open to God's love and to keep learning about Jesus. That applies to anyone, no matter how old or young!

So if we don't want to take communion do we have to leave?

Not unless you want to. Sometimes people take part by watching and praying quietly, and not eating the bread and juice, and they are participating too, just in a different way!

"Font color="black"> So do we get an invitation, like we are going to a party at a friend's house! ???

Yes and no! Sometimes there is a specific invitation at the beginning of the communion where I say "I invite all who believe in Jesus ....." Most often it is at the end of our communion prayer where I say, "These are God's gifts for all of God's people". Regardless we ARE ALL INVITED!!!

So, when did communion begin?

Our communion service has its beginnings in the Hebrew Scriptures, or "Old Testament". Long ago, just before the people of Israel escaped from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, they celebrated a special meal called the "Passover". It was a meal that helped them to remember God's care for them and they celebrated it every year after that. Just before Jesus died he gathered with his disciples for the Passover, because it was that time of year and Jesus and since Jesus and his disciples were like a family, they shared Passover together. It would have been a whole meal, with roast lamb, vegetables, bread and wine. On the last occasion they were together though, as he was giving the traditional blessing, Jesus added his own words by saying that the bread and wine were his body and blood. He knew that he was going to die soon and he wanted the disciples to think of his death as another important way God was acting to save his people.

So is it a sad service? Like a funeral?

Jesus did die. But on the third day there were lots of rumors that he was alive again. In the Bible we are told that several disciples were going to Emmaus on that Sunday afternoon and while they were walking they encountered a stranger. They with this stranger for quite a while about Jesus and as suppertime neared they invited him to eat with them. They asked this stranger to say grace before the meal and THEN they knew that they had been talking to Jesus all along.

So we are doing both, remembering AND celebrating?

Yes! On a communion Sunday we remember both the last supper and the time on the first Easter day when they recognized the RISEN CHRIST. This is the reason why we try to look at it as a joy-filled celebration, not just a solemn memorial. Even though we are sad because Jesus died for us, we are joy-filled because God raised him from the dead and he is alive forevermore.

Jesus gave his life, so what do we have to give?

Communion is a covenant. Covenants are promises. Communion is about saying ‘Yes' to God's promise to love us and care for us. When we say ‘yes' what we really mean is that we will attempt to serve and follow God's way as best we can. When we take the communion elements and eat them, the love of God becomes a part of us, and we respond in love and service. Just like regular food gives us energy to live, communion gives us special, or spiritual energy.

Communion is also a mystery. We don't know everything there is to know about it, or about God's love and care.

But that communion prayer is really looooong!

The prayer we have as part of the communion service can seem quite long, but each part is an important step in remembering, or giving thanks to God for all of God's blessings.

This prayer is commonly called the Great Thanksgiving. As the minister said before it begins the same way it does every week, "God be with You". We might like to know that Christians have used this dialogue, in many different languages, of course, for almost 2000 years. And that's a LONG time. This same beginning dialogue connects the prayers we say every week with this special thanksgiving prayer!

As we hear the prayer today LISTEN for the different events for which we are giving thanks.

God be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up in prayer
Let us give thanks to God
It is good to give God thanks and praise.

What follows is a prayer which praises God and remembers that God loves us and saves us.

It is right and a good and joyful thing,
always and everywhere to give thanks to you,
God almighty, Creator of heaven and earth
You formed us in your image
and breathed into us the breath of life.
When we turned away and our love failed
your love remained steadfast.

Are you talking about Adam and Eve? Are you saying that God loved them even though they sinned!

Yes, then the prayer continues

You delivered us from captivity,
made covenant to be our sovereign God,
brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey
and set before us the way of life.

Oh, that sounds like Moses on the way to the promised land.

Yes, then the prayer continues

And so with all your people on earth
and all the company of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn.

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.

So what about Jesus?

We're getting there?
We will remember that the people shouted hosanna when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It means "Save us now". This is a part where you folks normally join in and it is printed in the bulletin so that you can take part in this way.

What things do we remember about Jesus?

We recall a teaching from the ministry of Jesus or one of the stories recorded about him. We focus on the good news of Jesus. We try to remember a different set of stories each time. At Easter we remember and give thanks for Jesus' resurrection, at Pentecost we give thanks for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, at Thanksgiving we give thanks for God's blessings, at Christmas we give thanks for Jesus birth and the promise that God will always be with us.

Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him
to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
By the baptism of his suffering death and resurrection
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death
and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit.

So this prayer connects the covenant God made with the people of Israel at the Exodus to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the new covenant.

And the prayer would continue on to outline this action more fully.

So when do we get to the "Jesus dying" part?

Then we come to the part where we remember the last supper and at our Easter communion we remember to give thanks for the resurrection appearance of Jesus at Emmaus.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us
he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,
gave it to his disciples and said:
Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
When the supper was over he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
this is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this often and as you drink it, remember me.
On the day you raised him from the dead
he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread
and in the power of your Holy Spirit,
your church has continued in the breaking of the
bread and the sharing of the cup.
And so in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and we praise you. We join in proclaiming the mystery of our faith.

Christ has died. Chris is risen. Christ will come again.

This is indeed the central Christian affirmation. Jesus lived and died but God raised him from the dead and he is STILL alive, though he has ascended to God. As a people of faith we believe that he will come again to rule over all the earth.

So what makes this food special?

We then pray for the Holy Spirit to be present in our meal in a very special way. It's hard to explain, that is part of the mystery of communion.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

So does the Spirit affect us or just the juice and bread?

No, we don't get off without being changed.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other and one in ministry to all the world
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at the heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church
all honour and glory is yours
Almighty God
now and forever.
Amen.

So we feel close to Jesus in communion?

Yes. Many people feel very close to Jesus when they take communion and they remember that he taught us how to live. They also remember that he died for us. In communion we must always remember that Jesus was also raised from the dead and that the disciples started having this special meal to show their love for Jesus on that first Easter.

Are we finished praying yet?

Just about! This long prayer closes with everyone praying the Lord's Prayer. This is the special prayer Jesus taught his disciples and we say it every week.

So what happens next.

Then the minister breaks the bread and it is distributed. Sometimes the elders pass it out and we take it together, at the same time.

At other times you are asked to come forward, to act out your faith by doing something very visible.

So how often do we do this?

Some folks think that communion should be celebrated often and some people think that it should only be a few times a year. There are many different practices in the United Church. We try to have it four or five Sundays in each church on the Charge plus Maundy Thursday and sometimes on other special occasions.

Wow there is a lot to this. It could take a lifetime to figure all this out.

Well that's all God asks of us. Is to follow each day for the rest of our lives. If we are open to the Spirit we will learn as we go.

Amen.