Prayer

God of distributive justice, throughout Scripture we are old of your vision of an equal and just creation. Woman and man were created in your image, slaves are to be set free, and grace is give in abundance to all of creation. As we celebrate the life of this country, we are reminded of the ideals which we have set up for ourselves: that all people are created equal and are to be given equal rights to life, liberty and happiness. And yet, even as we say these words we know that we have fallen short on even these goals. There are people who are not given equal status and are victims of sexism, racism, heterosexism or any other ism which is used to marginalize people. So while we hold these ideals up and strive for them, we repent for the times where we have stunted their development. Give us the strength to stand up for not only for our rights but for the rights of others. For we know that it is only in the giving that we receive, it is only in the dying that we live.

Providing God, in our neighborhoods and around the world there are people who are homeless, hungry and alone. Empower us to work with your Holy Spirit to find solutions for these problems. In cities and in nations there are people enslaved to consumerism, greed, and oppressive governments. Empower us to work with your Holy Spirit to rid these evil powers and help usher in a kingdom of generosity, selflessness and grace. We admit that we cannot do this alone, we need you, and at the same time we recognize that you need us to be your hands and feet. We celebrate that you call us to be your coworker in this world and on this day we renew this call on our lives. Give us the courage to live our lives as our great teacher Jesus, your Christ lived. Give us the courage to stand up against the evil in the world and encourage us to work to share the greatest power of all – Love. Finally, we give you thanks for the ability to worship in a country which gives us the freedom to do so.

Prayer

God of hope and justice, we pause and give you thanks for these moments to come together as your gathered children. We gather this day to celebrate your presence in our lives and throughout creation. You are present to us in countless ways: a sun set, warm embrace, a song, and even in a mundane cup of shared water. You are always and everywhere present to us, and for this great gift we give you thanks.

Redeeming God for as present you are in our lives we are often not present in the lives of others. Forgive us when we spend more time in reality shows than in the reality of those in need or when we are full of other priorities when asked to give time to our neighbor but always have time to surf the internet fulfilling our personal desires. Forgive us of our own idolatry when we treat celebrities, cell phones, and even ourselves as gods. Give us the strength to say no to these gods so that we might be able to say yes to you the God of Life.

Providing God, in our neighborhoods and around the world there are people who are homeless, hungry and alone. Empower us to work with your Holy Spirit to find solutions for these problems. In cities and in nations there are people enslaved to consumerism, greed, and oppressive governments. Empower us to work with your Holy Spirit to rid these evil powers and help usher in a kingdom of generosity, selflessness and grace. We admit that we cannot do this alone, we need you, and at the same time we recognize that you need us to be your hands and feet. We celebrate that you call us to be your coworker in this world and on this day we renew this call on our lives. Give us the courage to live our lives as our great teacher Jesus, your Christ lived. Give us the courage to stand up against the evil in the world and encourage us to work to share the greatest power of all – Love. Finally, we give you thanks for the ability to worship in a country which gives us the freedom to do so. For things spoken and those things on our hearts which remain unspoken, we pray.

Clean/Messy - We need both within worship...

Two Sundays ago AHUMC had communion in both worship services. The difference is this time we had communion with the wafers and little cups (Comedian Dane Cook calls the wafers "Croutons-o-Christ" or "Jees-its"). This is the first time this has ever happened in my time at AHUMC, and I was excited about the idea of doing communion in an alternate way.

Then last Sunday AHUMC had communion by the method of intinction. That is each person received a piece of a larger loaf of bread then dipped their piece into a common cup of grape juice and ate the juice soaked bread.

It was after this past Sunday that I realized how messy Communion via intinction is. I have purple stains on my stole, there are crumbs on the floor, there is juice on the floor and rails, bread is torn. Even the "dishes" used (the cup and plate) are rustic pottery which makes it look somewhat messy.

However, the wafer communion was very clean. No purple stains. Not a single crumb. Unused juice remains in plastic cups. Bread is neatly stacked in a tray. The "dishes" are brass and ornate.

Juxtaposing these two images of Communion got me to consider something. The Catholic Church uses crucifixes (which are very messy), but have a wafer communion (which is clean). While AHUMC has empty crosses (which is very clean) but bread torn Communion (which is messy).

Do we just naturally have a need to have both a clean, orderly and sanitized visual as well as a messy, unpolished, and sloppy visual in worship?

What does it mean to have communion in a "clean" way? What about a "messy" way?