narrative lectionary – Page 15

Maundy Thursday Communion Worship

All: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not Want

So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” They asked him, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?” “Listen,” he said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters. Luke 22:8-10

All: Even though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

And speak to the owner of the house. ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.” So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. Luke 22:11-13

All: You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies

When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Luke 22:14-16

(Option: Do a table preparation)

All: You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows

Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Luke 22: 17-18

(Pour into the cup)

All: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Luke 22:19-20

Celebrate Communion

All: And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole long life.

Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. Luke 22:25-27

Closing Prayer of Thanksgiving

(Feel free to add music, but everyone is handling it differently, I suggest The Shepherd will Supply My Need)

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Maundy Thursday Topical Prayer

Topical Prayer: God it’s been a long journey. And you are ending it by serving us a meal. What an unexpected way for the journey to end. The disciples expected revolution and a call to arms. Instead Jesus spent time with those he loved, celebrating the festival of Unleavened Bread and Praising God. You spent your last night, as you spent your entire life: teaching and loving us by serving us. As we wander through this Mandy Thursday, help us to keep your commandment: to love one another, close to our heart we pray. Amen.

Mandy Thursday Prayers

Journeying Together

April 1

Maundy Thursday

Last Supper

Luke 22:1-27: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=476536091

Psalm 34:8-10: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=476536110

Call to Worship

God, you call us to love and serve one another

Let us enter into this space as disciples of Christ

Jesus, you are about to break your very self for us

Let us enter into communion with each other and you, we pray. Amen.

Invitation: God calls us each by name to approach, come let us confess ourselves to God.

Prayer of Confession: Jesus, we are aware that you are holy and we confess that we do not always understand how you can be motivated to serve. We confess that we do not know how to love and serve one another. We get caught off guard by the command, and that it is very hard to put into practice. Forgive us, we pray. Help us to recognize the ways in which we and others love and serve one another, so that we might be better equipped to do as you command. We pray in your most Holy Name. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news, Jesus will always forgive us. So let us reassure one another: In Jesus Christ we are Forgiven. Amen.

Communion Prayer: Here we are Jesus, the time and place that you serve your very self up for communion. Bless these elements and this celebration of your death, we pray. Send your Holy Spirit, remind us that you created and love us, and give us what we need to sustain us through Holy Week we pray. Amen.

Hymns: O for a Closer Walk with God, There’s a Sweet Sweet Spirit, What a Friend We Have in Jesus,

Taize: I am Sure I shall see the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 6: Palm/Passion Sunday Topical Prayer

Topical Prayer: Jesus, you have done it. You have reached the end of your journey to Jerusalem. Thank you for letting us to journey with you. Thank you for letting us enjoy the full moment of your arrival with a festive parade and hope. Thank you for standing up to the officials and not letting them stop the celebration. Even though you know that things will spin to ugly very soon, you let us be our full human selves and do this Palm Sunday too. Grant us the courage and endurance for Holy Week. Help us to see ourselves there, so we can witness your life and death and sacrifice. Help us not skip straight to the resurrection we pray. Amen.

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 6: Palm/Passion Sunday Prayers

Journey to Jerusalem

March 28

Lent 6: Palm/Passion Sunday

Triumphal Entry

Luke 19:29-44

Psalm 118:19-23

Call to Worship

Hosanna, in the Highest!

Blessed is the One who come in the name of the Lord

Save us Lord! We need help!

Come Savior, teach us the ways of Peace.

Blessed is the Kind who comes in the name of Lord

Peace in heaven and glory in highest Heaven

Invitation: Let have all who are burdened confess those burdens to God who is loving and merciful.

Confession: God, I confess that I do not always let it be known that I need Saving. It is a strange idea to me to go into the streets and shout “Hosanna, Save us.” But you know that we need saving. We still do not know all of the ways of peace. We are distraught and lonely. We often don’t know how to connect to each other and to you. We squabble, we worry, we judge. Help us, we pray. Teach us the ways of peace, so that the rocks don’t need to shout out, because we are doing it instead. Lord, forgive us and teach us we pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: God’s steadfast love endures forever! Let us all know and proclaim that God’s steadfast love endures forever. And because of this, we know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Lord, this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us give thanks to the Lord for God is Good all the Time! Let us proclaim that God’s steadfast love endures forever!

Hymns: Lift High the Cross, Take My Life, There is a Balm in Gilead, In the Cross of God I Glory,

Taize: Nada te Turbe: nothing disturb you

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 5 Topical Prayer

Topical Prayer: God it is so hard to hear what you had to endure in order to save us. We want to be like the disciples and dismiss it. But over and over again you show us that you want to save everyone. The blind begged who is sitting at the side of the road, the short and smarmy tax collector Zacchaeus, and us. Help us to grasp the facts that Jesus, as the Son of Man, was handed over to the government to be mocked, insulted, spat upon and flogged. And that he will then be killed. And the third day he will rise again. Give us ears to hear this to be true, we pray. Amen.

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 5 Prayers

Journeying to Redemption

March 21

Lent 5

Zacchaeus

Luke 18:31-19:10: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=476535940

Psalm 84:1-4, 10-12: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=476535968

Call to Worship:

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

My soul is longing and fainting for it

Happy are those who live your house, God

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

A day in your courts, is better than a thousand elsewhere, God

God, you give us such good things, let us rejoice in our trust for you!

Invitation: All you have to say is “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! and Jesus will heal and save you! Come let us confess ourselves to God

Confession: God, I confess that I am but a frail human, my body does not always work the way I want it to. Also, I confess that I worry about the future so I am not always generous with my time or my talent or my wealth. I know that you are calling me to greater things. Please heal me like the blind man and show me how to be more generous like Zaccheus, I pray. Amen.

Assurance fo Pardon: Hear the Good News: Your faith has saved you! In Jesus Christ you are forgiven! Amen.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God we are nearing the end of our journey with Christ to Jerusalem, but Jesus does not stop his preaching and healing. Help us to hear and see and feel his grace that imbued him as he journeyed, we pray. Amen.

Communion Prayer: Lord God, we know that your crucifixion is imminent. We can feel the long journey to Jerusalem coming to an end. Please gather our hearts together in this communion so that we can complete the journey to the cross together. Send your Holy Spirit so that we can celebrate Christ’s death with his Holy presence we pray. Amen.

Hymns: Live Into Hope, Called as Partners in Christ’s Service, Guide My Feet, I Love the Lord Who Heard My Cry, Just as I am Without One Plea, There is a Balm in Gilead, O Wondrous Sight, O Vision Fair, We walk By Faith but Not By Sight,

Taize: Seigneur, Tu gardes mon âme

you know my heart, lead me to eternity

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 4 Topical Prayers

Topical Prayer: God, we admit that today’s message is a hard one to take in. We do not want to know that there are times we have forgotten or ignored the poor, or refused to treat one another as human beings. You remind us, pointedly, that this ignorance is our own. However, you also give us, even in this passage, the hope of the resurrection. Help us to find something to hang onto in the resurrections, so that we can reshape who we are into followers of Christ, we pray. Amen.

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 4 Prayers

Journeying with ghosts: The Christmas Carol

March 14

Lent 4

Rich Man and Lazarus

Luke 16:19-31

Psalm 41: 1-3

Call to Worship:

Blessed be the Lord, The God of Israel

God is from everlasting to everlasting

The Lord our God is gracious and healing

Nothing can separate us from the love of God

Come Let us worship God

Invitation: God will hear all of our prayers, give us the courage to confess our failings today.

Confession: Lord God, we confess that we are often like the rich man, leaving the poor out of what we have. Truly you command us over and over again to take care of the poor but it feels too hard. Help us God, to see, hear and comfort those who have less than us. Help us we pray.

Assurance of Pardon: God will never abandon you. For we have seen and known the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Know the truth every single time we confess our sins, we are forgiven. Let us tell one another the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God, deliver those who are in pain or ill. Sustain those who are dealing with longterm effects of coronavirus or cancer or dementia or mental illness. Help those too who are poor, those who deal with longterm illness often deal with poverty and vice versa, but we know they are not the same thing. Walk with them, Jesus, Sustain those who are suffering in any way we pray. Amen.

Communion Prayer: God you commanded Peter and your disciples not once, not twice, but three times to “Feed My Sheep” and then you showed us how by sharing the bread and cup even on the very night that you were betrayed, to every single person present, even your betrayer. Help us to be as generous with your meal, we pray. Send your Holy Spirit upon this food and cup that we might spill out your grace to all people, and nourish us in your grace and love, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hymns: When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land, O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee, I Want Jesus to Walk with Me, Make Me a Captive Lord, When I Had Not Yet Learned of Jesus, Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed,

Taize: De Noche Iremos: By night we hasten in darkness to search for living water, only our thirst leads us onwards

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy

Lent 2 Prayers

Sustenance for the Journey (More nourishment when we falter)

February 28

Lent 2

Lament over Jerusalem

Luke 13:1-9, 31-35

Psalm 122

Call to Worship:

Gather us together Jesus

That we might take shelter under your wings.

For I was glad when they said unto me, let us god into the house of the Lord

Our feet are standing within your gates, O God.

Peace be within you family and friends

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, let us seek good!

Invitation: For all those who feel empty, God invites us to lay to God in confession too.

Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that sometimes we feel like we don’t produce enough and we deserve to be cut down. We admit that sometimes we view ourselves, or others as a waste of space. Remind us that some years are barer than others. That sometimes, like the fig tree, we need more room and care to grow. Help us to give ourselves, and others what is needed to grow we pray.

Assurance of Pardon: God will always welcome us home and gather us under her wings, so we may be comforted by the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God loves and cares for us, sending Jesus to nourish us and wrap us under the wings of the Holy Spirit Help us God when we are bare or barren, or sick or lament Help us not to chop each other down, but to build each other up we pray. Amen.

Communion Prayer: Dear Jesus, it is a blessing to be gathered here, like your brood under your wing, through the celebration of Communion. Before you left, you gathered one last time, and left it as an invitation for any or all who wish to join in the protection of the Lord. Send your Holy Spirit upon this communion so that we might experience a moment of peace, and bless us with the nourishment we need along the way we pray. Amen.

Hymns: Be Thou My Vision, Jesus Thy Boundless Love to Me, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Taize: Bless the Lord, My Soul, that leads me into life

For the Complete List of Narrative Lectionary Lent Resources can be found here including a way to receive a doc copy