Breakfast Communion

Communion Prayer

In such a morning as this
when the day is filled with new colours
and words are charged with new meaning
and sounds are carried by alleluias

In such a season as this
when bread is baked to be broken
and grapes grown to be crushed
and table set to be shared

In such a place as this
where mystery is found in the everyday
and questions become our invitation to adventure
and stories tangle and become more than sentences

may we meet you
O risen one
saviour
alive now
in words we use
and songs we sing
and tables we share
and bread we break
and wine we spill
and community we offer
and love we dare is real

More alive
because the rules are broken
in this place

May we be set free
from what the world expects to happen
and our doctrine tells us should happen
set free
from what was once the way
but no longer

and find ourselves and you
alive in a new way
as we gather here
around this news

and speak of it
in a world that needs to hear;
and share it
in a world that does not;
and hope in it
in a world that has forgotten how to hope.

May we gather
here
in the experience
of resurrection
and find you
in our being together
our meeting here
our breaking of bread
and offering of love

So be it
Amen

Thanksgiving Prayer

Here is our central place with you O God
among all the speed of the world
and worry of life
here is our meeting place
where the air calms
breath deepens
the spirit stills
and bread waits

and in this place
at this table
we pause
and touch
the story
opened in that bread
and shared in this wine

Letting go our masks and worries
our armour and concerns
we meet you
as we are
vulnerable in this world
but strengthened in being here

and of all the words of glory and importance the world strives for
and all the creeds and doctrine the church embodies
and all the majesty and authority religion supports
may it be here
in broken bread
and spilled wine
we find the heart of our faith
in a reimagined story
of simple folk
who did not understand
meeting you again among them
as they broke bread together
after rumours of empty tombs and gardens at dawn

This is where we find ourselves now
and so let the angels sing their sanctus
let the church theologise
let denominations fall out

we choose to meet you
where we gather
and hope
and believe again
in a resurrected hope

and it is this, O Spirit
that makes this place
thin
translucent
with the promise of life
and uniquely so

Come Spirit
Meet us here Jesus
and hold it all, O Loving God

So be it
Amen

Sanctus

Holy, holy, holy
sing the angels
and well they might
for their words
have steered us
prepared us
through the centuries

and so we gather with all who have ever sung them
and join in the great chorus
of all the saints

God of power and might
the power of loving
and the cost of that love

the might of a cross
borne in loves name

the consequences
of living a life
so free of the world
that this makes sense

Heaven and earth are full of your glory
beyond us and between us
a glory made all of grace
of broken bread
and spilled wine
and a messy table
round which meet messy folk
betrayers and deniers
and questioners and zealots
such tarnished
yet honest glory

Hosanna in the highest
Indeed
let that be our song
hosanna
save us
come to us
renew us
praise for the common nature
of your divinity
the everyday sight
of your heavenly nature

blessed is the one who comes in your name
the one who gives of self
that others might life
blessed

Hosanna again
hosanna because there are no others words
thanks is too thin
thanksgiving too unappreciative
but rather than sound of the whole of heaven
who knows
what this is about

This is our prayer
this is our song
this is our being here
in this place
for this purpose
with these people

and we shall feast
on such a meal
that only the kingdom can offer

So be it
Amen

Breakfast Communion

John 21:1-14

Institution

That night
with the disciples
at passover

That table
an ancient story
about to be retold

That talk
of things done
and miracles seen

That betrayer
sharing the meal
yet soon betraying

That bread
passover sign
now resurrection hope

That breaking
of body for all
before new life can come

That wine
bitter tales
of exodus escape

That story
now retold
a new covenant begun

That silence
as all ate
no one understanding

That room
soon emptied
for an olive garden

That cross
too soon
where love got killed

That tomb
that garden
that dawn

Now, this place
now this table
now this meal

now us
now here
now Jesus

resurrected
and among us
now

Reflection

stones
of which barriers are made
and walls that divide

found over the entrance
of tombs
and graves

borders between life
and the hiding of death
as if it is some whisper
of failure

stones

yet

stones
scattered across a shoreline
a beach that rattles
when you walk on it

stone that surround a camp fire
that burns bright
in the early dawn

and becomes
for those who first saw
a meeting place
with resurrection

stones
turned to bread

walls
knocked down

tombstones
rolled

that which once divided us
broke us
buried us
becomes now
the ground on which new life is found
and resurrection experienced

nothing is the same now

There are many tables (Institution)

There are many tables in the bible
and all are shared

many tables
of all shapes
some are the ones with pharisees
with invited guests
where debates take place
where Jesus was invited
though this particular debate
was taken over by the woman
who anointed Jesus feet
with her expensive perfume
and only she and Jesus understood

there are other tables
of tax collectors
behind doors
where discussion and decisions are made
that turn folks heads
and their lives
round towards the kingdom
and walk from that table
new people

tables too
in upper rooms
around which sit betrayers and deniers
where shadows lurk
and kingdoms teeter
between that of the world
and of God
where bread is broken
symbols of body
and wine spilled
signs of blood
yet through these things
through the brokenness
some promise is found
that comes alive
right in the depths
of that darkness

and tables too
that aren’t table shaped
but simple meeting places
fires on the beach
at dawn
cooking fish and bread
for some friends
that seem to be lost to their thoughts
their hopes
their faith
brought back into life again
at the table of beach stones

there are many tables in the bible
and all are shared

and so we share this one
not so much a piece of furniture
for that is not the essence of such a table
but a meeting place
a sharing place
a story place
a communion place
where community is made between each other
and between earth and heaven
between past and present
and between now and then

There are many tables in the bible
and this is one

Let us gather round it