The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Chemist of Creation, you separate water from water
and leave vast beds of salt
that your creatures might taste and see your goodness.
Light of the World, you separate day from night
and promise to be light to us
no matter how dark our souls.
Throughout time, you have been our goodness and our light,
but we prefer the dark and bitterness
of our misguidance and anger.
So, generation after generation,
you have chosen a remnant
to remind us the value of true fasting,
the freedom of our siblings,
fasting from want and danger,
that all may be safe and whole.
When still we glutted ourselves
and ignored our neighbors,
you sent us the true Light
to remind us how to shine.
And so, with your people across creation
and all the host of the heavens,
we join in their ceaseless song of praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might!
All creation rings with your praise:
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!
We acclaim you, Holy One,
and we bow to your Light, the Word fulfilling all words.
He offered to us more wisdom
than anyone could possibly remember,
more healing
than anyone could possibly recount.
His goodness nourishes and keeps us
and his truth is our light.
Everything he is, he gives to us;
a practice so hard to palate
that we quarreled and fought
and struck him with wicked fists
until the Light went dim on a tree
and the Word became silent.
But still, your mystery whispered to us,
and we hear and join today:
Christ died, and the cosmos turned dark;
Christ has risen at the break of the day;
Christ will come again, a delicious healing balm for all.
On the eve of the darkest hour of creation,
he sat with his friends
to share a meal they all knew,
all of history bound up
in one hurried moment.
He took the ancient loaf,
gave thanks to you,
shared it with his disciples,
and renamed it:
“Take this and take it in.
This is my body I give for you.
Do this. Remember me.”
At the end of the meal he took the old cup,
gave thanks to you,
shared it with his disciples,
and gave it a new name:
“Drink from this, each of you.
This is my blood, emptied for you.
Every time you do this, remember me.”
Pour out your Spirit on us here,
and on these gifts we have brought:
yeasty, salty bread
and sweet, simple juice.
Make them be all we need:
your body and your life-giving blood,
that we may be for all
the body of the Savior, made perfect by his blood.
Make us one, as you are One,
so we may together shine your light,
refracting through us.
Make us together the seasoning of your world,
until the world is complete
and all everywhere and together
sing your praise,
our Light, our Joy, our Peace,
holy in One.
Amen.
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