communion liturgy

I love the way we do communion at nexus. Have I ever told you this? I love it. I love that I can line up and choose to be silent and contemplative if I want, or chat to someone beside me in line, or to give or receive a hug from a friend. I love that the ritual is so well established with us – we know that as soon as ‘the nexus song’ (as Annie Peters has been known to call it) plays, it’s time to go up.

More often than not, my thoughts as I go through the line will be along these lines, about how appropriate this way of doing communion is, considering we view the Lord’s Supper as a table of inclusion, of an image of our belief that we are in before we are out. That’s why kids take communion with us. That’s why guests, even if we don’t always remember to tell them, are encouraged to take communion with us.

After last month’s communion service, we discussed as a staff the need to develop some sort of liturgy for communion. We wanted a statement that would explain, remind, and reinforce our beliefs around this ritual, both for our core community, and for guests and children as well.

With the parables of the workers in the vineyard and the two sons fresh in my mind this week, I sat down to work on some lines that we could speak together before we take communion. I wanted to share them with you here, to give you a chance to think them over in advance, before we recite them together, and also because I thought it would be neat to see what people had to say about them. So here’s draft 1 of a Nexus Communion Liturgy:

We come to the table today
alongside countless sisters and brothers
around the world
throughout history
remembering Jesus’ work
two thousand years ago
to bring about the Kingdom of God
amidst the Kingdom of Man

We come to the table today
a banquet in the Kingdom of God
a table of inclusion
for young and old
rich and poor
friends and strangers
healthy and unhealthy
where we are all welcomed, wanted, loved

We come to the table today
to join in the party
because we are all workers in the vineyard
because we have all been both brothers in the story
because we are all in before we are out

So come, one and all,
friend and stranger
healthy and unhealthy
share the body and blood of Christ together
broken and shed
for you

church calendar and the liturgical year

check out this helpful article by Jason Clark in London.