Return to the liturgy library here or visit our poetics library here.
- Communion liturgies
- Re-affirmation of baptism for a trans individual (full ritual)
Prayer of Confession
God of Justice,
God of Compassion,
God of Sacred and Scandalous ways,
We have so much still to learn.
By your grace, we have come to know love more deeply –
its mess, its complexity, its stubborn and tender truths transform us more each day.
Through fires that refine and valleys of death, you have guided us.
You draw us into the heart of Wisdom,
Saving us from the lies of destruction.
Turning us towards hope that liberates.
But still, O God, we struggle to trust in you..
And so, when we are afraid. Or hurt. Or weary…
We betray the very One who brought us thus far.
We confess, we still shame Jesus, when he turns over tables.
We confess, we still condemn Jesus, when he breaks the rules to which we are loyal.
We confess, while Jesus is torn from the arms of his mother by ICE,
killed by his own lovers – so afraid of desiring trans women,
and sitting lonely on the street with no family to welcome them home,
our loyalties are often elsewhere.
Our priorities are not your own.
Search our hearts, O God, and see if there is any fear within us.
Meet us there with your good news that sets the captives free.
Forgive us from the harm we have done as we seek to harm no more.
(pause in silent prayer)
Beloveds, God does not abandon us to the systems that destroy.
God does not bind us to our regrets.
Or forever hold us to what we once believed.
God says, come and follow!
Know forgiveness and sin no more.
Love abounds. And Justice shall be manifest!
Wherever new life is desired,
may the peace of Christ be welcomed among us.
Thanks be to God who leads us on paths of resurrection.
Prayers of Illumination
1 – That our hearts would be open to you, O God. That we may release every defense against your Spirit’s guidance. That we would receive the wisdom you intend for us. May it be so.
2 – Holy Wisdom, we ask that your Spirit would guide us in meditation on your word, that we might be led more deeply into knowledge of you and love for all your creatures and creations. – Amen.
Remembrance of Baptism (water emphasis)
In a time where there is too much water and not enough water.
Tears sting our eyes and our cheeks flare hot with grief
when we witness how greed sets the ocean aflame.
Billows of smoke are our anger.
Crops toasting dry, our heartbreak.
Rush of rising water wiping away homes, our weeping.
In our grief, here we are:
Blood in our veins, riverbeds of our bodies.
Air in our lungs, trees inhaling.
We tip cups of tea to our lips.
We hear the sound of rain and can finally fall asleep.
Some lucky days we might float in water with our faces to the sky,
or take a hot shower smelling of soap.
Can you see our sibling, the Earth-being, Jesus,
waist-deep in the river saying, yes John, yes. This is why I came:
to be immersed in what I am already made of —
grief, anger, heartbreakingly beautiful joy.
The gift is being blessed by another with what’s on hand.
The gift is the sheer ability to receive the blessing in the first place.
So today, at the water’s edge,
today with cupped hands,
today with a light touch to your forehead,
dipping your fingers into a bowl,
watching the ripples spread out: remember.
Remember that the water brimming your cells to life
is the same water that has been on this planet since conception.
Cycling into ancient newness: tomato on a vine,
body of a beetle, lapping of a lake, life pulsing in our hearts.
Beloved Interdependence.
Remember your baptism.
You are being made new over and over again.
Remember, even in your grief, you are held
in the Still Living Waters of Creation,
determined, with hearts on fire, to bless Them back.
– Rev. Molly Bolton, enfleshed
More remembrances of Baptism
#1
a queering of family
a renouncing of loyalties to the state
an unshakable divine embrace
an abolitionist proclamation
that rejects punitive logics
and dreams of collective care
an acknowledgement of the ways we fail each other
and are failed
a choosing to believe in transformation anyway
a sharing of resources and righting of wrongs
a invitation to deep and lasting solidarity
a reminder of our entanglement with every living thing
a calling toward a different kind of power
there is water everywhere.
it will outlast every institution.
go ahead: wade. soak. wash. splash.
let nothing keep you from this kind of kinship,
this kind of sacrament.
a baptism for all of us.
– Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
#2
Beloveds in Christ,
Through the waters of baptism,
We are brought into the family of God.
In this family,
some are queer and some are straight,
some are trans and some are cisgender.
The body of Christ is rich in Divine creativity,
a community of people of many genders, races, body types and sizes, abilities and hungers,
each a glimpse of God from a different angle.
God claims us with delight.
We claim one another as companions.
In our baptismal vows, we promise to love and support each other, working together to resist
evil, injustice, and oppression in all its forms – within us and around us.
We need each other.
Today, we remember that the love we encounter through these waters
cannot be undermined by bigotry or hate,
by exclusion or injustice.
We are children of the Holy One,
Siblings in the life of God.
These family ties cannot be broken.
No one and nothing has the power to turn us away from our Creator.
We cannot be kicked out, or accepted only in part.
The full embrace of God always extends to us.
And so today,
as we remember our baptism,
we also remember that through this new life in Christ we are set free:
To love wildly.
To live with Pride in who we are and what God has seen us through.
And to claim the power God has given us
To turn from everything that destroys.
Through God’s grace,
We leave shame behind
And rejoice in the Good News
That sets the captives free.
Let us pray together.
God of Life and God of Love, through this gift of water, you do miraculous things. The dust of past shame and guilt are washed away. The bonds of love are restored. The possibilities of new life emerge. May it be so for us today as we remember our baptisms. May your Spirit be upon this water and all who gather, as we celebrate this Sacred family to which you have called us. Strengthen us in love for one another as we renew our commitment to the pursuit of the Kindom of God, where all your creatures and creations are beloved and free. Amen.
[Invitation to the font]
Pastor to each individual during remembrance: Remember you are free to love and be loved.
– Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
#3
Baptized into the dreams of God, we wade into the Sacred waters and make our alliances public. Togetherness. Love. Mess and complexity. Sharing at Table. Pursuing justice. Resisting forces of evil – within and around. Practicing moral imagination. Struggle. The waters are all-consuming, no part of our lives goes untouched. In all things, they remind us our lives are bound together by the One who claims us each as beloved.
– Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
Introduction to the baptism (loosely based on the Methodist Book of Worship)
Siblings in Christ: Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we come to understand ourselves and each other as family in God’s lineages of love and liberation. For centuries, people have been drawn to this holy water to find assurance of irrevocable belovedness and everlasting potential for transformation. To know and practice a queer kinship, choosing each other as family. To encounter God’s love through this offering of the earth. And to publicly bear witness to whom, and to what, we devote ourselves to in this world.
On this day, [full names of all caretakers presenting the child] present [full name of child] to be baptized into the family of God. Baptized into lineages of prophets and saints, ancestors and elders, and other beloveds of shared heart and spirit.
As we gather around [name of child], we pause to remember and welcome the presence of those no longer with us in body but here in spirit. The aunties, and uncles, grandparents, mentors and companions [exchange as needed] whose love and legacies are forever connected to [name of child] and [their] family. What names would you like to speak, invoking their ongoing presence today and ongoingly in [name of child]’s life and becoming?
[parents speak names]
The pastor addresses parents and other sponsors:
On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you as caretakers entrusted with [name of child]:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
aim to divest from oppressive systems of this world,
and cast your lot with all who struggle for freedom?
We do.
Do you accept the power God gives you
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves?
I do.
Do you commit to following the Way of Christ,
put your trust in the ancient grace that goes before us,
and promise to be loyal to God’s love above all else?
I do.
Will you nurture [name of child]
in the community of the faith,
that by the teaching and example of surrounding community
[name of child] may come to know God’s love for them and the world,
and learn to practice [their] faith for the flourishing of all,
leading a Christian life marked by justice, kindness, and humility?
I will.
To the congregation:
Do you, as a collective embodiment of Christ in the world,
reaffirm your commitment to resisting the powers of evil
and practicing the solidarity Jesus modeled for us?
We do.
Will you nurture one another in the life of faith
and include [name of child] in this community,
providing space for [their] authentic becoming,
and supporting God’s unfolding in [their] life?
With God’s help, we will proclaim and practice the good news that sets free.
We will seek to live in likeness with Christ.
We will surround [name of child] with love and forgiveness,
modeling how a community takes care of each other,
makes mistakes, learns, grows, and nurtures joy.
We will encourage [name of child] in service to the flourishing of [their] communities,
the earth and all its creatures, and all who seek solidarity, near and globally.
We will pray for [name of child]
that [they] may be a disciple of radical love all the days of [their] life.
THANKSGIVING OVER THE WATER
While someone is pouring water into the font:
The power of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
Creative Maker, Divine Companion,
in the beginning, your Spirit hovered over the waters,
nurtured life in the dark and chaotic,
and brought forth gifts of an abundant earth and a diverse creation.
As evil grabbed hold and human betrayal took the form of enslavement,
You delivered your people through the red sea
and made promises of lands of rest and freedom.
As the struggle continued under forces of empire,
You raised up prophets and priests, comforters and companions.
From the waters of Mary’s womb, Jesus was born.
He taught us of sharing bread and seeking liberation,
turning over tables and miracles of restoration.
He called people into God’s ancient movement,
of solidarity all the way to the cross,
trusting in the power of resurrection.
The pastor may place hands in or over the water, stir the water, or lift the water.
And still, O God, you hear the cries of your people and all of creation, groaning.
We remember the declarations of indigenous kin that ‘water is life,’
that this resource is sacred and in need of our protection,
And that the fate of these waters is tied both spiritually and physically to all our thriving.
May your Spirit bless the waters before us,
making them once again an encounter with your holy presence,
calling us into the depths of love and righteousness.
[child’s full name,] I now baptize you in the name of the Creator, the Liberator, and the Sustainer.
Disciple’s Prayer
Mother of us all,
who dwells within and beyond,
Sacred is your name.
May your holy vision for collective flourishing
come to fruition among us.
May your dreams of justice, love, compassion, and connection be enfleshed on earth.
Provide us today with what we need to be nourished in body, soul, and heart.
Forgive us for the harm we cause as we seek to forgive those who have harmed us.
Lead us away from everything that destroys and liberate us from the hands of evil.
For you are the ultimate source of hope.
Your power-with exceeds all power-over.
Your presence incites eternal wonder.
All praise to you, our comfort and strength.
Amen.
Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
Affirmations of faith
Affirmation #1
We believe that our spiritual invitation is to follow the example of Jewish teacher, Palestinian refugee, and poor person, Jesus: to live in community; to share our resources; to centralize the stories of poor people, children, and people of marginalized genders; to turn power structures on their heads. We honor all teachers who show us how to defy abusive structures and how to co-create expansive ways of living.
We believe in rooting out the holds that the systemic sins of white supremacy, cisheterosexism, misogyny, ableism, fatphobia, and Christian supremacy have on our hearts, our behaviors, and our patterns of thinking.
We believe that liberation is experienced through our bodies and that our liberation is bound up with one another’s. We believe in access to healthcare, to freetime, to safety, to a home, to nourishing food, and to clean water for all people and creatures. We believe in joy, play, rest, dance, pleasure, creativity, tenderness, and shared abundance.
We believe that God — Faithful Advocate, Lure Towards Compassion, Blessed Interdependence, Great Mystery, Holy Becoming, Sacred Undoing — is with us, is in us, and moves between us. We believe that resurrection is both a gritty spiritual practice and happens without our effort, as a gift, as the seasons change. We believe that all beings are worthy of flourishing.
Affirmation #2
As a gathered community of disciples,
created by the hands of the Holy,
born with Divine purpose,
and bound together by the Spirit
that breaths life into all things,
we affirm our commitment to the way of Jesus Christ,
who is The Liberator of the Oppressed,
The Bread of Heaven,
God enfleshed.
With faith, we aim to live as Christ taught us,
laboring towards liberation,
and seeking a world free of domination and control.
We believe in God’s promise to uplift the lowly
and bring the powerful down from their thrones.
We believe the resurrecting power of Christ
cannot be overcome by evil,
but persists in all collective efforts
to make life flourish in the midst of destruction,
to birth beauty in places of death,
and to tend gently to the aches of this world.
We profess the transforming power of love.
We profess that justice is a form of love.
We profess that we are still growing into the mystery of love.
In the company of the saints who go before us,
we journey together by grace,
seeking always to unlearn all that obstructs authentic relationship,
listening for the guidance of Sacred Wisdom,
And praying earnestly for the day
the Kindom of God is born anew.
Until it is so, we live in hope,
for God is with us.
Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
Affirmation #3
We believe God is Love
And from Love, all things are born.
No creature or creation
Falls outside of God’s eternal embrace.
We believe forces of
domination and destruction,
control and greed,
prejudice and violence,
pervade our lives,
seeking to turn us against one another,
against the earth,
and against the Spirit of the Liberating Christ.
We believe we depend on God,
the remembrance of our ancestors,
the courage of the prophets,
and the wisdom that can only flow from the margins,
in order to grow in Love.
We believe in the power of God,
to make what seems impossible possible.
We believe in the Good News
that sets the captives free.
We believe in proclaiming the truths
that unsettle unjust power
and encourage collective liberation.
We proclaim
that Black Lives Matter and that white supremacy is sin.
that queer love is divine.
that trans bodies are beautiful.
that immigrants must be welcomed.
that women must be granted full bodily autonomy.
that the earth must be protected.
that the rich “shall be sent away empty.”
that all bodies are good bodies.
And we celebrate our siblings of other faiths and spiritualities.
We proclaim these truths in aspiration that we might learn to live them in full.
We recognize, still, other truths remain hidden,
and we pray we may continue to grow in understanding,
in love for all our neighbors,
in hunger for justice,
and in the steadfast practice of our faith.
Rev. M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed
Calls to worship
How precious, how fragile, how short is life!
Our lives are but a breath.
The Divine brings us into being,
weaves our lives together,
and ushers us into eternal rest.
Blessed are the Sacred rhythms of life
and holy are these tasks:
to be alive,
to pay attention,
to honor the fleeting with awe and care.
When the way is difficult and dangerous,
let us still choose what is good and just.
When evil comes to break us down and break us apart,
let us still choose to carry on with each other.
When power from on high strikes fear in our hearts,
let us still choose the courage to persist.
For we know that the love and power of God, which abides in us, will not be overcome.
One: Long ago in Galilee, there were many who were sick and suffering, isolated and oppressed. Wherever there was pain – you were there in solidarity and empowering liberation. We see and experience the same realities today. In the margins, in the hard, in the alone – you are there too. Confident of your commitment to wholeness and healing, we lift before you the wounds inflicted on your beloved queer and trans children. We name the rejection we have felt- from our churches, from our families and friends. We name that many of us wondered if you too had rejected us.
Jesus Christ, lover of all,
People: bring healing, bring peace.
One: We grieve the reality of a broken church that has been used as a place of harm rather than a safe harbor. So much pain has been inflicted. So many lies have been spread about God. In a church whose purpose is grounded in embrace, liberation, resistance, and community, instead it has enacted spiritual violence on children and adults alike.
Jesus Christ, lover of all,
People: bring healing, bring peace.
One: We hold in this space, those who have endured the worst of what the world has to offer. Those of every generation who have faced violence, the breaking of relationships, the fading of hope when basic needs go unmet.
Jesus Christ, lover of all,
People: bring healing, bring peace.
One:In silence, we name within ourselves, the things we cannot bear to speak.
(silence)
Jesus Christ, lover of all,
People: bring healing, bring peace.
Since the beginning, God has been relentlessly pursuing us in love.
Though our faithfulness ebbs and flows, God’s love endures forever.
Taking on flesh like ours, God became one with humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.
God lived and moved and ministered in the margins of power.
God incarnate was not what we expected. We did not recognize God in Jesus.Still, we struggle to recognize God with us.
And yet, God continues to dwell in our midst. Thanks be to God.
From the dust of the earth, the Holy One breathed us into life.
Through the breath of God we are all connected.
Shaped in her image, God formed us with a purpose:
To create
To serve
To tend
To protect
To love
That life may flourish in all its forms,
May the Spirit of the Living God be manifest in us!
We gather in the presence of God to encounter Love that sets free.
We do not come seeking crumbs of justice but a way of life that liberates.
Together, we practice courage in resisting evil and rejecting the temptations of complicity and complacency.
The Spirit leads us in power and truth.
Our faith is placed in Love Eternal that lifts broken spirits and brings new life from places of ruin.
With hope that is neither narrow nor fragile, we come to follow Christ.
A Queer Call to Worship (1)
Strange One. Fabulous One. Fluid and ever becoming One.
Do not allow us to make our ideas of you into an idol.
You are as close to us as our own breath and yet, your essence transcends all that we can imagine.
You are mother, father, and parent.
You are sister, brother, and sibling.
You are drag queen, and trans man, and gender-fluid – incapable of limiting your vast expressions of beauty.
Embodied in us, your creation, we recognize our flesh in all its forms is made holy in You.
With thanksgiving, we celebrate your manifestation in all its glorious forms.
Blessed are our bodies.
Blessed is our love.
Blessed are we when we celebrate that which the world turns away.
Fill our hearts with a pride rooted in resistance to all that seeks to destroy.
May we delight in the ways you have created us: diverse, unique, surprising, and beautiful. Thanks be to God!
A Queer Call to Worship (2)
Listen! Listen for the voice of God, naming us all: Holy. Beloved. Cherished. Valued.
We believe you delight in us!
Make us people who recognize and proclaim your beauty and goodness in unexpected places.
Surprise us. Challenge us. Transform us.
We trust in you, Holy One, to reveal to us the sacredness of every life, of every way of being, of every physical manifestation of your Spirit.
May it be so!
A Queer Call to Worship (3)
Blessed be the Non-Conforming One.
God, who took on flesh
Of the poor
Of an immigrant
Of an infant
Birthed into a peculiar family.
This Holy One won’t be hindered by social norms.
She defies our expectations.
She challenges our preconceptions.
She awakens us to new possibilities.
Praise be to God, the queerest of us all.
A Queer Call to Worship (4)
In the image of God, you created everything and called it good!
In abundant diversity, your likeness is found in us.
We reject all that belittles or degrades any among us.
And so in faithfulness to God and one another we proclaim:
Sacred are our bodies, each as they are.
Blessed are our sexualities, drawing us towards love of many kinds.
Beloved is every gender, revealing you in different ways.
To our skin, beautiful in every shade, we say hallelujah!
Praise God, our Creator, who blesses us with this world, these bodies, and our fellow creatures, all created good, very good.
A Queer Call to Worship (5)
We, of many backgrounds and identities, personalities, and ideas, gather collectively in shared pursuit of the Sacred.
Together, we make up the body of Christ.
Wherever one of us is in pain,
our whole body aches.
Whenever one of us is cut off,
The whole body is wounded.
Whoever is kept away by discriminatory policies or practices or prejudices,
Our collective soul suffers the loss of their presence.
We need one another in order to be whole,
God make us the body of Christ as you envisioned.
May we become your presence enfleshed, in service to the world and one another.
A Queer Call to Worship (6)
God is calling us
Out of the places we hide
Out of insecurity
Out of shame
Out from under that which silences love and justice.
Come out, people of God!
Though we may be afraid
Though we will be at risk
Though the cross stands as a threat
God calls us to courage!
Our God is a god of resurrection.
Of new life after devastation. Of hope in the grip of evil.
And so we dare to proclaim, with pride and faith, our truths:
We believe in the power of love.
We believe in solidarity with the suffering.
We believe we are each valuable.
We believe that our togetherness is transformative.
The world is longing for Holy truths that reveal, voices that speak real words of hope.
Come out, people of God!
communion liturgies
solidarity across movements
The Holy One be with you.
And also with you.
Open your hearts.
We open our hearts to you, O God.
Let us give thanks to God, an Abiding Presence.
To the One who companions us through all things, we give thanks and praise.
Faithful One, we come to your table hungry for a taste of your kindom. In a world where evil and empire come together to hoard and exploit, we crave the fruits of your Spirit. We long for kindness. We dream of peace. We hope to be disciples of generosity – sharing and redistributing the resources you intended for the flourishing of all.
Gathering at your table, we remember the ordinary gifts of heaven among us.
Those that nurture hope when it’s hard to find.
That surprise us in destruction’s wake.
That bring new life from sites of death.
And sustain our labors of love across generations.
In awe and gratitude, we join together in praise of you, Source of Abundance:
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Blessed is your presence among us
Since the beginning, you have been building a lineage of love and liberation.
Inviting all who wish to belong.
Through the saints and prophets,
you call us to turn from the temptations of power and individualism.
To deepen our commitments to building communities of care and justice.
And to practice a more radical solidarity across identities and communities, so that none must struggle alone.
You have shown us the way. Taken on flesh and dwelled among us.
In Jesus, we come to understand. God enfleshed as a Brown, Jewish, Palestinian man. A refugee. Born into a frowned upon familial structure, with neither security of wealth nor access to power. His life is a witness to hope that does not come from climbing ladders of power or begging for crumbs of dignity. Hope that is born in community, nurturing love, taking risks together, multiplying what we have and finding it is more than enough.
Jesus shared a meal with his companions, his community, his chosen family, before he would be arrested.
Filled with love for them, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of Jesus,
executed by the state,
faithful to the end,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
Gracious One, may your Spirit be poured out upon these elements. May this bread and this cup be for us a revival of hope and a renewal of courage as we encounter your presence among the ordinary gifts of life. Through the grace of your sustenance, may Christ be with us.
Prayer after receiving
God of Persistence, though you have been betrayed many times, you still do not give up on love. Evil is relentless but so, too, is your belief in us. In our ability to be transformed. To turn from dominance. To mend and repair where harm has been done. May we, too, believe in our potential for co-creating with you a future of flourishing for all life. We give thanks for this meal, a reminder of your unending grace and abiding companionship. Amen.
Communion – God does not abandon us
The Holy One be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to God.
Let us give thanks to God, in whose image we are made.
To the Creator of all, we give thanks and praise.
Divine Protector, Defender of Life, your love for this world is everlasting. As oceans burn and species go extinct, our children are made vulnerable at school and our neighbors are denied at our borders, there is so much reason to despair. But you, O God, refuse to abandon us to destruction. Christ takes on flesh. In the midst of struggle, you are glimpses of hope, encounters of freedom, tastes of what satisfies when so much leaves empty. In these incarnate moments, we sense the closeness of your Kindom.
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna, among us
You, O God, reorder the world into right-relationship.
You lift high those made low.
You humble the arrogant.
You hear the earth groaning under capitalism and consumption
and your fire burns in the hearts of your prophets.
With this hope and assurance, we turn to the witness of Jesus whose teachings reveal the way to liberation. We seek his wisdom. We practice his courage. We remember his radical commitment to love.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of the love that saves us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was executed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
May the Spirit come and settle upon these gifts. Making this bread and this cup be for us a Holy Encounter. Reminding us that Christ is with us. That Resurrection is a promise granted to us. That the Kindom is always closer than we can imagine.
May we be nourished, that we might nourish others.
[Invitation to Table]
Prayer after receiving
Beloved One, if we grow weary in love, may this meal live on as a reminder of what sustains us. In seeking the flourishing you intend for us, our neighbors, and this planet, keep our hearts tender, our spirits alive, and our senses attuned to the beauty that surrounds. With gratitude for your abiding presence, we pray. Amen.
Communion for Broken and Blessed Bodies
The fortitude of the Holy be with you
And also with you
We bring our Sacred Bodies to the Beloved
It is healing to bring our Whole Selves to God
Let us give thanks to God who cares about our fleshly flourishing;
To the Spirit who joins us in our suffering and redemption
God, we come to your table of Mystery, holding the heartbreaking and the hopeful in the same handful. We gather to remember your teaching, your suffering, and your example of new life.
As we remember your body, broken, we honor the suffering of our own beloved bodies too.
From the cruelty and shrapnel of war,
Inadequate and inaccessible healthcare,
Inevitable accidents and illness of life:
Our bodies and hearts break, oh God.
From work that bows our backs and wears our resilience,
Violence directed towards gender oppressed people,
State-sanctioned violence aimed at Black and Brown beloveds:
Our bodies and hearts break, Oh God.
Guns in the hands of the vengeful,
Laws in hands of the out of touch,
Prison systems that enslave and rip families apart:
Our bodies and our hearts break, Oh God.
Big pharma who profits as overdoses escalate
Species suffering through climate collapse
People, fleeing and fighting storms, fires, and drought:
Our bodies and our hearts break, Oh God.
Like us, Jesus was broken: Broken by the ways of empire. Beaten up by unjust systems. He cried out to God, and asked why. He was betrayed by a friend. His mother wept.
And, like us, Jesus was blessed: Anointed with oil by his beloved, Mary. Accompanied through his wanderings by a group of friends. He drank wine at dinner parties, sat with children, and took time to be alone.
We remember one night of life and death commingling in particular:
Before Jesus was arrested, he gathered with his friends for a meal, as he often did.
He took bread, gave thanks to God, and like his body would break, he broke the bread. He shared it with his disciples saying: 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, red like his blood, and gave thanks to God. He gave it to his disciples, and said: Drink from this, all of you; this is the cup of the new covenant. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Beloveds, the table of Broken Hearts and New Life is set. Bring your blessed bodies forward, that we might share in God’s meal together.
Prayer After Communion:
Living Christ, thank you for this meal that nourishes our bodies and spirits. By feasting on this bread of life, your presence reminds us of our belovedness, even when broken. For you, Holy Mystery, companion us through all things. Thanks be for your sustaining love. Amen.
– Rev. Molly Bolton, enfleshed
God calls us
Community of saints,
beloveds of God,
we are invited to come and gather at the table of love and liberation,
to feast on the dreams of God,
to be nourished by but a taste of what God desires to do among us.
God calls us from institutional halls of power,
From shelters and the streets;
God calls us from classrooms and pulpits,
Gay bars and prison cells.
God calls us as we are, from wherever we are,
to come and be in solidarity with Christ,
who lives and loves on the margins.
God whispers “come”
and live abundantly,
turning from all that claims blessings
flow from money, power, or control.
Come, and
love relentlessly;
following Christ on paths of uncertainty,
taking risks for one another,
calling down unjust power from its throne
and lifting up the lowly,
the impoverished,
the burdened.
To answer the call of Christ is to find ourselves
no matter our social location,
choosing to align ourselves with the causes
of the marginalized, the oppressed,
the outcast, and the isolated,
with the faith that
together,
we might enflesh new possibilities
of healing,
of connection,
of freedom from all that destroys.
When these are the desires of our hearts,
we open ourselves to God.
Blessed are those, Jesus said, who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
And so let us come to the table,
expectant,
eager,
open
to tasting the rich blessings of heaven
born from unexpected places, and people, and experiences.
In this meal,
we remember the life, death, and resurrection of
the One who still takes on flesh among us today.
On the night he would be arrested,
Jesus gathered his friends and companions.
In the midst of a tense and dangerous time,
they found each other at table,
connecting over the story of God-enfleshed among them.
And as they did so, Jesus took bread, gave thanks to God, broke the bread and shared it with his disciples saying,
“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
When the supper was over, he also took the cup, gave thanks to God, and shared it with his disciples, saying,
“Drink from this, all of you; this is the cup of the new covenant. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
And so we pray,
Come Holy Spirit,
Breath of God,
Renewer of life,
settle on these gifts and all who gather here,
that we might be transformed in our remembrance
of your radical love,
your eternal embrace,
and your grace that makes all things news.
For the sake of our shared lives,
the life of this land on which we live,
and the lives of those yet to come,
nourish us and renew our hope
that soon Christ may rise again among us.
Ordinary time
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Open your hearts to the One who is Love
We open our hearts to you, O God
Let us give thanks to God, who gathers us together
To the One who welcomes us to the table, we give thanks and praise
God, your invitation to come and feast in your presence is but a taste of the love you extend to us every day. By your very nature, you are always seeking us out – searching for ways to connect us and connect with us. You meet us in the most ordinary of places and you make them sacred. By your grace, we come to recognize the holiness that dwells in the world around us, in our neighbors, in our own internal depths.
Therefore we join our voices with your people on earth and all the company of the heavens,
singing praise to you,
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna, among us
Blessed are you and blessed is your eternal table. You welcome all who thirst for justice and hunger to grow in love. You ask us to extend this same welcome to all our neighbors, but God, since our beginning, we have struggled.
And so in your love for us, you took on flesh in Jesus. Through his life, you pointed to your presence on the margins. You revealed the sacredness in all life. You showed us how to live together, even among forces of destruction.
Believing it could transform the world, Jesus proclaimed the Good News. He called for the captives to be set free. He spoke of the lowly being lifted up. He talked of redistributing wealth and eradicating the causes of poverty. His commitment to practicing love knew no bounds – not even the bounds of death.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of all you have done to save us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
Pour out your Spirit on these gifts, O God. Make these ordinary elements into the Sacred gift of your presence with us once again. May they awaken us anew to your everlasting invitation into a life of resurrection. Aliven us in our pursuit of a world where all needs are met, power is balanced, and the worth of every creature and creation is celebrated.
In collective longing for a taste of your Kindom on earth,
we join together in echoing the prayer of Jesus:
Our Creator, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kindom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kindom, the power, and the glory for ever.
Amen.
Prayer after receiving
God, by the bread of heaven and the cup of life, you make us one body. Bind us together by your spirit that we might live into your hopes for us, a community centered in Christ and rich in compassion, commitment, courage, and care. May it be so.
Advent
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Open your hearts to the One who is Love
We open our hearts to you, O God
Let us give thanks to God with us
To the One who took on flesh, we give thanks and praise
Creator of all that is, Mother of life itself, by your hand we were formed.
You made us relational.
You created us to thrive – not alone, but together.
You shaped the entire cosmos so that every form of life depends on another.
You never intended for us to power through these lives alone.
You made us strong and resilient people, but equally vulnerable and dependent on you, the earth, and all our neighbors.
You gifted us with the need to rely on one another,
bone of each other’s bone, flesh of each other’s flesh.
In your wisdom, you created us with both desire and need to be in community.
Therefore we join our voices with your people on earth and all the company of the heavens,
singing praise to you,
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna among us
In our longing for your presence with us, we often expect your arrival in traditional places of power. We seek our hope and salvation in the false promises of dominance and might. But instead, you brought us salvation through vulnerability. You too became bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. God, in the form of a baby, you made yourself dependent on us. An infant, revealing the transformative power of giving and receiving love through human flesh.
Throughout the life of Jesus, we saw lives transformed by your willingness to make yourself vulnerable. And yet, the same vulnerability also came at a price. Though some fed you and raised you and befriended you, others persecuted you to the point of death. Seeking to eradicate their own feelings of vulnerability, those in power preyed on yours.
Still, today, we often crucify the ones who dare to risk it all on love.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of all you have done to save us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
Pour out your Spirit on these gifts, O God. Give us a taste of resurrection hope that lasts through even the most challening of relational betrayls. Meet us in this bread and this cup and hear the prayers of your people in this aching world. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
In collective longing for a taste of your Kindom on earth,
we join together in echoing the prayer of Jesus:
Our Creator, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kindom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kindom, the power, and the glory for ever.
Amen.
Prayer after receiving
God, we recognize the ways you still make yourself vulnerable to us today. In gratitude for a taste of your Kindom, may our discipleship shape us into fierce protectors of the vulnerable, give us courage to practice our own vulnerability, and help us to honor the sacredness of our need for one another. In Christ’s name we pray,Amen.
Epiphany
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Open your hearts to the One who is Love
We open our hearts to you, O God
Let us give thanks to God, who welcomes the stranger
To the One who reaches across every border, we give thanks and praise
In wonder of your expansive embrace, we give you praise, O God. Through your radical welcome, you reveal the limitations of our own imaginations. You break down walls and boundaries we don’t even realize we have erected.
Like the magi guided by the light of star through foreign territory, you call us all towards you.
You lead your people across borders of hate and into lands of curious and different. You strengthen us as we journey, learning and unlearning stories about one another. Gathered in your presence, we come to recognize the gifts of community rich in diversity.
Therefore we join our voices with your people on earth and all the company of the heavens,
singing praise to you,
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna among us
You move in mysterious way, O God. This journey with you is filled with more questions than answers. Each time we think we have you figured out, you surprise us again, revealing yourself in new ways.
In Jesus, we saw your radical welcome of strangers extended in challenging ways. Ways that disrupt our traditions and unsettle our comfort zones.
Jesus broke religious rules in order to include all people.
He lifted up the sacredness of the people and places deemed unclean.
He cared more about the well-being of the oppressed than his own reputation.
Jesus taught us to rethink your presence among us, but we couldn’t accept it. Resistant to transformation, your people sent him to the cross.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of all you have done to save us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
May the same Spirit that lifted Christ from the grave be poured out on these gifts. Make this bread and this cup be an extension of your welcome that knows no bounds. Fill us with the courage and faith to join you in the work of tearing down walls that exclude and pointing to the Sacred in the margins.
In collective longing for a taste of your Kindom on earth,
we join together in echoing the prayer of Jesus:
Our Creator, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kindom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kindom, the power, and the glory for ever.
Amen.
Prayer after receiving
God, this meal we shared together is a remembrance of your radical embrace of the outcast and oppressed. May it strengthen us as we open our minds and hearts to new ways of recognizing your presence among us. Amen.
Lent
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Open your hearts to the One who is Love
We open our hearts to you, O God
Let us give thanks to God, who gives us courage
To the One who calls us to lives of service, we give thanks and praise
From our beginning, you shaped us to live in service to one another and all the earth. You set us in the garden to co-create life with you. You surrounded us with creatures and creations that depend on our care. Our destinies have always been wrapped up in one another – our individual well-being bound to the well-being of all.
Therefore we join our voices with your people on earth and all the company of the heavens,
singing praise to you,
Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna among us
Gracious One, we struggle with spirits of fear and greed that tempt us away from your original plan for us. We excuse ourselves from responsibilities to our neighbors. We struggle to believe we have anything to offer to the whole. And at times we knowingly do harm to others for the sake of our own gain.
You know our struggles, O God. And so you sent us Jesus.
In him we learn how to show up for one another. Jesus lived in service to collective well-being. He sought out those in need of community. He befriended the ones who were isolated. He challenged the structures that destroy.
Through his life, you taught us that the same capacities live in us. We too can choose the way of service to collective life. You have given each of us gifts to play our part.
The same spirit of courage that kept Jesus proclaiming love even in the face of death lives in us.
On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
In remembrance of all you have done to save us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was killed among us.
Christ rises again among us.
Pour out your Spirit on these gifts and make this bread and this cup sustenance for our lenten journey. By your grace, may we experience anew the call you place on our lives to serve one another. In feasting at your table, may our hearts be filled with courage once again to follow Christ, come what may.
In collective longing for a taste of your Kindom on earth,
we join together in echoing the prayer of Jesus:
Our Creator, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kindom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kindom, the power, and the glory for ever.
Amen.
Prayer after receiving
God, your bread and your cup renew our spirits. No matter the times we have failed to show up to your call, or to our own needs, or to the cries of our neighbors, you receive us again. May your unending grace be our foundation as we journey with Christ towards justice. Amen.
Longing for liberation
By Rev. Anna Blaedel
Beloveds.
Beloveds.
Beloveds.
We come to this Table because we are claimed in covenant
Because we are still learning what covenant and togetherness means
how it looks and moves and feels
Because we long for liberation
Because we thirst for justice
Because we know the need—fierce and urgent—
for grace and freedom and nourishment in our flesh and our bones
Because this is not a table of The United Methodist Church
This is Christ’s table
and you are invited to bring your whole lives
and all are welcome here. Period.
Because we remember:
On the night he was arrested
while the powers and principalities
of Empire, and supremacy, and dominance raged,
Jesus—
a brown skinned, radical, healer, community organizer, insurrectionist—
gathered people
invited their fears and longings
invited people into radical solidarity
justice-love-in-action
healing of and in the world
to which, for which, he gave his life over and over and over.
Jesus took bread
broke it
shared it, and said:
Take and eat: this is my body.
The bread of new life.
Share this, and remember.
Then Jesus took the cup
blessed it
gave thanks for it, and said:
Take and drink: this is the power of my life-blood.
The salve of salvation.
The cup blessing.
Share this, and remember.
And so, we do.
We remember.
We offer.
We receive.
And we share in this nourishing feast.
Because we know how to nourish each other in ordinary and extraordinary ways.
Because we need each other
and we need this sacrament, this visible sign of life-giving grace, flowing and overflowing.
So, come.
Come.
Come.
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Meditative and intimate
God is with us. I invite you to take a moment and close your eyes, draw your awareness to the presence of the divine in this space…and in each person Gathered here.
Draw your attention to your heart and imagine breathing in and out of your heart- opening it up to the divine with gratitude as we pray…
Loving one, close to us as breathing yet reaching into eternity, we give you thanks. Your outpouring of radical love has brought forth life among us. You have shown yourself to us as parent, creator, lover, and friend. In whatever image will bring us healing, you come to us.
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with all of creation, all of heaven and earth who forever sing this hymn:
ALL: “holy holy holy One, God of Love and Light. Heaven and Earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is the One who comes in your name, O God. Hosanna In the Highest.
Presider: Blessed are you and blessed is your child, Jesus Christ. He showed us the ways of justice and mercy, turning the norms of society upside down. He welcomed and empowered the outsider and stood in resistance to the powers of oppression. Like so many among us today, Christ’s choice to live his truth and challenge oppression put him at risk.
And yet, on the night in which death, hatred, and betrayal would seek to have the last and lasting word, Christ remained centered in radical peace and showed us love embodied by washing the feet of his beloved’s and serving them at your table.
At the table he took the bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread saying “take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks to you 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, your acts of love in Jesus Christ we offer ourselves and all of who we are in union with Christ’s offering as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
ALL: christ has died. christ is risen. christ will come again
Presider: Pour out your holy spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and cup. Make them be for us the Body of Christ, that we might become interdependent with each other as Christ’s body, reflecting your diverse image in the world.
By your spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other and in each other’s struggles, until we feast at your heavenly banquet. Through your beloved Jesus Christ, with the love the Holy Spirit, in your church- all love and devotion is yours, O God. Amen
In the uncertainty
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the One who guides our life together.
It is our joy to offer gratitude and praise.
God, you never promised us that way would be clear. You have, however, created us in your image – the image of One who is Wisdom, who is Love, who is Courage. You breathed your life into us with the assurance that we have, within and around us, everything we need to be your faithful people. Though we sometimes act in disregard for your call on our collective life, still you show up with and for us, relentlessly. And so we join with all the saints who have gone before in gratitude for your abiding presence:
Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and presence
all that is, is full of your glory
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of Love
Sacred is your presence and blessed is Christ with us.
Through the life of Jesus we saw an example of what it means to navigate an uncertain path, practice creative ministry, and face with courage and compassion all the barriers that work against your Spirit on the move.
Jesus lived and breathed a ministry rooted in your Love for all people.He prioritized the lives of those who are suffering and showed us what it looks like to be with and for one another, even under great distress. Though evil attempted to silence his proclamation of an all inclusive Kindom of God, not even death could keep Love from growing.
On the night in which he was arrested, he gathered among friends for a meal.
He took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread and shared it with his disciples saying,
“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 to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
“Drink from this, all of you; this is the cup of the new covenant. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
And so, in remembrance of Christ with us, and in the assurance of your Love persistent, we offer our lives, our ministries, and our church in the service of your healing work as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Spirit on this community and these gifts. Make them a taste of your Kindom through Christ with us, that we might leave the Table both nourished by your Love and still hungry for justice for all your people.
Different and One
The Holy One be with you.
And also with you.
Open your hearts to the One who is Love.
Our hearts are open to God.
Let us give thanks and praise to the Holy One.
We give you thanks, O God!
Indeed, we give you thanks, O God, for you keep showing up to meet us at this table. Created in your image, you made us different from one another and yet we are also one. Still, we fight tooth and nail to keep your table from hosting the fullness of your body. Though we long to practice love, evil still has its way in us and our communities. We struggle to confront the unjust powers and prejudices that keep us from being in full relationship with you and one another.
In Jesus, you showed us an alternative way. Jesus, who practiced counter-cultural socializing, was friends with the despised ones of his time: Sex-workers. The ill. Bleeding women. Tax collectors. The poor. Jesus, God enfleshed, found companionship in the ones deemed sinners or unclean by religious leaders. And he modeled for us what it looks like to practice love, not only interpersonally, but by confronting political and religious powers that destroy.
Because of his relentless pursuit of love, he was seized by those in power. On the night he would be arrested, he gathered with his companions for a meal.
He took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread and shared it with his disciples saying,
“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 to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
“Drink from this, all of you; this is the cup of the new covenant. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
And so, in remembrance of Christ with us, and with the hope that we too might pursue love so relentlessly, we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Spirit on these gifts, O God. Make this a meal that nourishes us on this long journey we share together, that by your Spirit we might seize every opportunity before us to advance love, justice, and compassion in the face of evil in all its forms.
For the sake of all that aches in this world, our church, and within every creature and creation, we come to your Table, hungry for a taste of your Kindom. Amen.
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God’s relentless invitation
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Open your hearts to the One who is Love
We open our hearts to you, O God
Let us give thanks to God, our life-breath
To the One who sustains us, we rejoice in your presence!
With gratitude, O God, we remember that it is through you we are made truly alive. Every creature and creation – the tiny ones, the scaley ones, the human ones, the leafy ones – all that is has been shaped by you. There is nothing on this earth that has not been touched by your Sacred hand. In your love for us, you claim us – individually and as a whole – as your beloveds. You will for us life abundant and you invite us into co-working with you towards a world where harmony among all life is restored.
And yet, daily, we turn away from you and one another. Destructive and divisive powers lure us away from connection and relationship. We forget that we need each other. We pretend that our lives are not deeply entangled. When injustice threatens our neighbors, we too easily cower or hide.
Like those who turned on Jesus when things became too difficult, we too are tempted to desert those most vulnerable.
But you do not abandon us to our fear or sin. In the life of Jesus, Love enfleshed, we are shown that the invitation to join in your work of transforming and healing and restoring is always open. No matter our past. No matter our regrets. No matter the wrong done to us or the wrong we have done to others, you keep calling us back to you.
This relentless invitation of yours that entices with freedom and joy and forgiveness is such a threat to empire that it still attempts to crucify every incarnation of your love today. And so, we are reminded of the example given to us in the person of Jesus.
On the night of his arrest, he gathered around table with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said,
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying,
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”
And so in remembrance of the One who never gave up on love, we pray that the Spirit would make us one in our commitment to the liberation of all your creatures and creations. Pour out your Spirit on this bread and this cup, that through these ordinary gifts, we might taste a glimpse of your Kindom. May they be for us a reminder of what we are capable of becoming and what we are capable of accomplishing together. Amen.
[Invitation to the table]
Prayer after Communion
God, we give you thanks for this meal that nourishes us, body and soul. May it sustain us as we confront evil that keeps us from living the lives you intended for us and for all your creatures and creations. Until every life can be lived abundantly, be our guide, be our hope, be our comforter. Amen.
Claiming our power
The Holy One be with you
And also with you
Open your hearts to the One who is Love
We open our hearts to you, O God
Let us give thanks to God who takes risks for love
For the courage of the Holy that lives in us, we give thanks
Throughout history, O God, we have struggled to claim the power you have given us. Destructive forces within and around us make us question your call upon our lives. We turn ourselves over, in ways ordinary and remarkable, to what is. To what has been. To the familiar.
But you have created us for so much more. In Jesus, we saw a life lived in all its potential. In all its Sacred power. Life that is abundant. Love that was creative, and fervent for justice.
We saw, too, the consequences of living as if the Kindom were close.
And so we wonder.
If we live with such courage, what will we lose?
In proclaiming truths that confront unjust power, do we stand a chance of survival?
How will it go for us, if we are willing to risk everything for love?
You have never promised us safety, but you have shown us what is possible.
The Spirit brings new life even to places of death.
Jesus, knowing the dangers ahead, still did not cave to the threats of power or give in to the temptations of the popular.
There was nothing he would trade for his love of the suffering and betrayed, not even his own life.
On the night of his arrest, he gathered around table with his companions. His friends. His beloveds in the struggle. Even the one who would turn him over to the cross.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to all of them and said,
“This is my body which is given for you.
Take, eat, and remember me.”
After the supper, he did the same with the cup, saying,
“This is a symbol of the new covenant. Drink in remembrance of me.”
In remembering the life of Jesus, we remember what he taught us about ourselves – about the power God has given us. We remember that God enfleshed is Good News that feeds, that protects, that heals, and delivers. We remember the words he spoke: “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing,and they will do even greater things than these.”
And so we pray, pour out your Spirit on this bread and this cup, O God. Through these gifts, fill our hearts with courage to believe the Kindom is within us, to live boldly in pursuit of love that liberates, and to follow the Wisdom that leads from the margins.
Blessed be this meal of hope.
Prayer after Communion
God, we give you thanks! For this meal that nourishes us in body and spirit. For a taste of your dreams. For the earth that gifts us these resources. And for these bodies of ours through which you take on flesh. May our gratitude produce faithfulness and our faithfulness produce justice. Amen.
re-affirmation of baptism for trans individual – full ritual
This service was originally written for a small, intimate, lutheran family ritual of baptismal affirmation. Adaptations for use in congregational settings are welcome. If making changes, please include citation as “adapted from M Jade Kaiser, enfleshed.”
PRESENTATION
[person 1] Beloveds, we gather together this day to affirm the baptism of [terms of affection and relationship – sibling, daughter, father, friend, etc, beloved one], [full name].
Today, we remember that baptism is a means of God’s grace through which we recognize and claim one another as kin in the family of Christ. We are taken into the community of God, nurtured in faith and justice, and eternally embraced as a child of the Divine, one among the many in the body of Christ. These promises of God, revealed through the ritual of baptism, are not conditionally dependent on the declarations of religious leaders, church teachings, or any other institutional authority. Though we have and do betray one another, though the church has turned away or turned against many whom it has baptized, especially in the queer and trans community, and though we know we are still growing in love, our baptism reminds us of the love that holds us with grace, empowers us in repentance and reconciliation, and makes possible the healing and mending of the world, our relations with earth, others, and our own bodies.
[person 2 ] Through the waters of the earth, holy and blessed by the Creator of life, you, [name], were welcomed and baptized as an infant into the lineage of Christ. At that time, [parents/guardians/language as needed] presented you for baptism with love, deep and abiding, placing you in the care of the community and the love of God that has nurtured your becoming. This grace has held you through transitions of many kinds, including [edit as needed – a new name and new identity], symbols of the you that has always been with us, making yourself known all along. On this day, as we gather again to affirm that the grace and love that once claimed you, still claims you today, consistently and with renewed confirmation that your belovedly trans being, body, and personhood have been, are, and will always be held and blessed by God’s original grace.
Now, these years later, we who have loved you, learned from you, grown with you, and transformed in our own ways, as your siblings [in family] and in Christ, embrace the honor of presenting you for reaffirmation of baptism.
In so doing, we make these promises to you, renewed in light of your transition and refined by love and time:
[individuals/siblings/chosen or bio family may take turns saying a line]
We honor who you are and who God has created you to be. We love the you we have known since your birth. We love the you we are coming to know and the you that you will yet become.
We promise to always care for you and claim you as our kin.
We promise to celebrate your identities and communities as beloved in the eyes of God, to be your place of harbor when the world is cruel, and to grow in our own understanding and practices of loving you.
We promise to live in witness to the faith we profess by being advocates of God’s love, seekers of God’s justice, and companions to all who long for the transformation of the world.
We promise to encourage you in your own faith, to be a champion of your courage and commitment to justice, to support your spiritual growth as it blooms and blossoms. We entrust you in the care of the Spirit.
[parents/siblings/chosen others pray] Holy One, for the gift of [name] and this [family/community] for the extended web of care, connection, and community that enables us, and for the grace of God woven through this love, we give thanks. May the Spirit of Christ embolden us as we seek to be faithful to our baptismal covenants and the freedom of new life. May it be so.
PROFESSION OF FAITH
[individual being affirmed] Today, I desire to re-affirm my covenant with the Sacred in the company of you, [family in birth and new birth – or other community], and among the cloud of saints who gather in witness: prophets of trans glory and survival, teachers of queer love and compassion, ancestors in family and justice, seekers of Spirit across the ages. I remember that baptism is a lineage by which I have long been claimed – one of faith in a world that can be just, in a love that wishes for all of us to thrive, in Christ who brings new life even where we thought there could only be death.
In honoring the truths of my past, the freedom of new life, and the becoming yet before me…
In declaring myself before God and my family as [name], I remember that I was baptized into God’s eternal family and that God has known me, loved me, and held me without wavering.
In so doing, I profess my faith anew:
I renounce allegiances to evil, to systems of dominance and oppression, to patterns that betray life among my neighbors. I will do my part to resist forces of destruction and all powers that prohibit God’s flourishing of life. I commit to examining my own heart, to self-reflection and pursuit of love’s constant unfolding.
I confess my belief in God the Creator, Christ the Redeemer, Spirit the Sustainer. I believe in Divine forgiveness, a love that cannot be severed by any force, and the promises of resurrection that keep aliveness among us. I believe in the communion of saints and trust in community to guide, support, and hold me accountable to the beliefs I profess. With God’s help, I will be faithful to my baptism in practicing solidarity with my neighbors, championing the freedom of all people and creations, and seeking to incarnate God’s love in all my endeavors.
AFFIRMATION
[pastor or other facilitator] (perhaps engaging with a bowl of water throughout)
Water reminds us of new life in Christ. It is a symbol of God’s grace that changes us. Transforms us. Draws us more deeply into our truest selves that we might love one another fully and freely. As [name] remembers the embrace of [her/their/his] baptism, as [she/they/he] is affirmed in the promises of God experienced through baptism, and as we each remember our own place of belovedness in the whole of creation – we turn to water.
These waters. The waters of baptism…
They are the same waters from which God drew forth all life.
They are the same waters through which God delivered Their people from enslavement in Egypt.
They are the same waters that baptized the prophet John, the teacher Jesus, and the many who have felt and heard the call of God toward a new way of life, one of forgiveness and restoration, joy and companionship, and love that is rich and abiding.
These waters hold ancient, lasting, and reviving grace.
We remember the wisdom of our indigenous siblings, “water is life.”
We remember that our baptismal commitments call us to care for and protect this precious resource.
Through these waters, ancient and still flowing, you, [name], are affirmed in God’s love, assured of your place in the body of Christ, and encouraged to continue your spiritual journey with the solidarity of this family and all who seek to live in love.
Closing prayer
Spirit of Christ, your love never fails us. Even when we cannot believe it, imagine it, feel it, or recognize it around us – your love is always with us. May we each and all grow in the practice of this love. May courage and compassion call us into lasting solidarity with all our siblings and neighbors to whom your love binds us forever. Amen.