Communion | nkchurch

Communion Gathering

May you be here
and know here
is home

May you be here if you are old or young
or a bit of both
whatever body shape you are
skin colour you have
whatever culture has shaped you
language you speak
gender you identify
or tradition you come from

May you be here
and know here
is home

May you be here if you have been here all your days
or if this is your first time
if you are certain
or unsure
of a bit of both
if you seek God
or if you have found God
but mostly if you are just yourself
whoever that is or will be

May you be here
and know here
is home

Let us worship the God
who has created the diversity that is humanity
and welcomed each
equally
to this moment
this table
this dwelling place
and how lovely it is

Prayer

May you bless the space between us
the air we breathe
the words unfolded in our speaking
the touch that breaks our boundaries
and opens up
the place in which we stand on our own

May you bless the space between us
of tables
that make community
where bread breaks and wine spills
with the joy of love
wrapped up in its pain
and words of forgiveness
break free from the binding of the wounds
that have been inflicted on us
and as we have inflicted on others

May you bless the space between us
of cups and plates
displaying your grace
that wait in invitation
for us to come
and hold
and share
wheat and grape
grown through the dark earth
and into the blue light of dawn
and bearing heaven’s gift
among us

Such holy hopes
in such lowly things

Great God
may you bless the space between us
where silence speaks with forgiveness
waiting speaks with peace
breaking speaks with love
and sharing speaks with grace

May we be here
and know here
is home

Shepherd,
gatekeeper,
light of life
and fullness resurrection
bless this space between us
that we will find you here

So be it

Evening Communion

The dust always settles
after the day
and the evening closes around us
limiting our view of the world
we retreat home
to our familiar places
as so we find ourselves
here
at table
our home
in the quiet of evening
and the loaming of the day

And with all that is familiar
we gather
and find bread and wine
meet us
and shape a space
familiar to us
and welcoming

Yet here
belongs the world
the whole world
in all the pain and celebration
that makes it so diverse

Here gathers the people of Syria
and those migrants fleeing
Here gathers
the hungry of Africa
and the poor of our own cities

Here the lost meet
and the homeless
the battle weary
and the those whose lives
seem to bring out the prejudice in others

Here are the streets of Jerusalem and Ramalah
of Washington and Moscow
Of London and Glasgow

And in this familiar place
gently curved by the evening light
instead we meet it all
the whole world

but also the shepherd
the gatekeeper
welcoming us
waiting for us
protecting us
from narrowness and prejudice
but with generous abundance
loves us all the more

Welcome to this place
this gathering place
this place of communion

I AM the Gatekeeper