Seventh Sunday of Easter

Call to Worship: From Thomas Merton

One: Alleluia! Christ is Risen!+

Many: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

One: O God, we are one with you.

You have made us one with you.

You have taught us that if we are open to one another,

you dwell in us.

Help us to preserve this openness

and to fight for it with all our hearts.

Help us to realize that there can be no understanding

where there is mutual rejection.

O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely,

we accept you, and we thank you, and we adore you,

and we love you with our whole being,

because our being is in your being,

our spirit is rooted in your spirit.

Fill us then with love,

and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways,

united in this one spirit which makes you present in the world,

and makes you witness to the ultimate reality that is love.

Love has overcome.

Love is victorious.

Come, let us worship.

Colect: O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Liturgy of the Table: (Adapted From Lift Up Your Hearts: Year A, OSL Publications)

One: The Lord be with you.

Many: And also with you. One: Lift up your hearts. Many: We lift them up to the Lord One: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. Many: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

One: It is right, and a good and joyful thing.

Always and everywhere to give thanks to you,

Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth

who cares for us.

Many: 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.

One: Holy are you, and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ,

who makes the Father known to us!

Your Spirit anointed him to preach the good news to the poor,

to proclaim release to the captives and recovery 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.

He 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 of sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples.

And he 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, gave it to his disciples,

and said

“Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these mighty acts in Jesus Christ, We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith. Many: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. **Placing hands over the elements to consecrate them** One: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and cup. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood, for we are called to be saints and bring the world to Christ. 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 honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen

And now with the confidence of children of God, let us pray: Many: Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil; For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen. One: Come, receive the elements. **Taking the bread** One: Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ. Receive, and eat.

**Taking the Cup** The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ. Receive, and drink. [Prayer After All Receive]

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery

in which you have given yourself to us.

Grant that we may go into the world

in the strength of your Spirit,

to hold steadfast in the faith!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. ☩

Amen. Benediction One: Go, lead others to the Risen and Ascended Christ Jesus who sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ☩ go in grace and peace to love and serve the Lord and neighbor.

Many – Thanks be to God.