One in Christ (NL)

Gathering

(Sunday after Manchester bombings)

This is a simple place
shaped by the belief
one love is big enough

and that this humanity God created
is bigger than one individual
or one event
or one idea

so let us gather round
the one thing we all recognise
that is bigger than all our own versions of God

the love
that is God
that sees through prejudice and fear
brings us together
and makes us one
in hope

Please feel able to turn to each other and welcome your neighbour in the peace of Christ this morning…

Evening Communion Gathering

Do not think
there is a source of God
that wells up
with love and light

or that somewhere
in some single moment
God begins
bread is broken
or wine is poured

for there is not

this table
solid to the touch
is but the quantum
of what is forever

or this bread
a single physical echo
of what is eternal

or this cup
a tangible thirst
of what is sourceless

love’s edges
incarnate as bread
where it touches the world
enfleshing a ghost
into bodily form

but really
there is nothing here
only the manifestation of eternity
of what is undying

Do not think beginnings or endings

Nothing begins or ends here
this is forever

One in Christ

Galatians 3:23-29

All-Age Prayer

Loving God
One body
One family
One world to love

Many people
many paths
One world to love

different languages
different cultures
but one world to love

countless needs
countless questions
but one world to love

a multitude of gifts
a multitude of tastes
but one world to love

various talents
various abilities
but one world to love

Loving God
may you use all our differences
to share the one thing the world needs
a love that includes us all

Communion Prayer

In coming here O God
where table is set
and bread waits
and cup shimmers
may we gather
in that place
beyond the world yet in it
and close to heaven

That thin place
without beginning or end
where the curve of heaven
glances the edge of earth
and light slips through

Spirit
dance in our imaginations
so that this bread and wine
become the body and blood
not in any physical way
by in that mysterious rumour
of story and dreams
of wonder and creativity
that lets us see
you in this
seeing the love of God
on this able
the grace of Jesus
in the bread breaking
the community of followers
in every face
the radical welcome
at this table

Come Spirit
dance in our imaginations
that make this place
a place beyond words
and full of colour
a place that neither has beginning or ending
a meeting place
of eternity and world
of wonder and actuality
of spirit and earth

Come Spirit
So be it
Amen