Service of Communion: Sunday 28 June 2020

 

Welcome! Please click on the play button (the triangle) in the sound file above to listen to the service of Communion from St Andrew’s and St George’s West, Edinburgh.
You can download a PDF of the Order of Service here or just follow it below:

 

Preparing for Worship

‘Hurry! Hurry! Open every door says my heart.’

Mary Oliver

 

Welcome

 

Call to worship                      Joyce Rupp

Open my mind to remember Your presence
Open my mouth to speak Your wisdom
Open my heart to extend Your love.
Open my hands to serve You generously
Open my whole being to You.

 

Hymn:    My life flows on in endless song (CH4 565  verses 1 and 4)

My life flows on in endless song
above earth’s lamentation:
I catch the sweet, though far off, hymn
that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since love is Lord of heaven and earth,
how can I keep from singing?

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing.
All things are mine since I am his!
How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm
while to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since love is Lord of heaven and earth,
how can I keep from singing?

Words: Robert Lowry
Tune: American traditional

 

Opening Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Gracious God we feel your welcome
in this time of worship.
We were created to find our joy in you
and live in unity with one another.

As we worship,
we pray for the families of those who lost loved ones in the attack in Glasgow.
Bring your comfort.
We pray for healing for those who were injured.
We pray for those throughout the world whose lives are disrupted by violence,
particularly our sisters and brothers in South Sudan.
Bring your peace wherever there is conflict.
We remember especially those who do not find
the world a welcoming place.

O God, you spoke your word
and revealed your good news in Jesus, the Christ.
Fill all creation with that word again,
so that we may become one living body,
your incarnate presence on the earth.

Hear us now as we pray together the words that Jesus taught saying,

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us in the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen

 

Old Testament Reading:    Psalm 86:1-10 (NRSV)

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my cry of supplication.
In the day of my trouble I call on you,
for you will answer me.
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.

 

New Testament Reading:    Matthew 10:40-42 (NRSV)

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

 

Reflection

 

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

 

Hymn 659   Put peace into each other’s hands (verses 3 and 4)

Put peace into each other’s hands,
like bread we break for sharing;
look people warmly in the eye:
our life is meant for caring.

And at communion shape your hands
into a waiting cradle;
the gift of Christ, receive, revere,
united round the table.

Words: Fred Kaan
Tune: Vriede in Handen , by John L. Bell

 

Invitation

 

Eucharistic Prayer*     Elizabeth Baxter

Before life stirred
your Spirit brooded over darkness
exploding light in all directions.
Rainbow promise
celebrated your creation.

Your Spirit led a people to long for you,
guiding them gently:
a pillar of cloud by day;
fire by night.

Prophets spoke of your justice
dancing Spirit songs of liberation;
with tambourine and whispered hope.

Your still small voice in lonely places;
as dry bones lived
and friendships blossomed.

With tender Spirit passion
you embodied Love
nestling in the womb of Mary
calling fishermen,
accompanying women,
blessing children.

They found themselves on Calvary’s road
accompanying Love
to the cross and the tomb;
Meeting Love in the garden and on the shore;
Taking the risk of letting go
so the Spirit of comfort might
come to them.

Accompanying Christ today in one another
with life-giving encounters of grace,
we flesh out the Spirit’s fruit
through Spirit gifts
in communities of hope;
celebrating the gifts of others
sustaining us on our journeys;
our hearts burn within us
as we feel the stirrings of your presence.

Touch us by your Spirit
as we touch this bread and wine,
fruits of the earth to nourish us
with the very presence of Christ;
as we recall the night of betrayal
after he had washed the feet of his companions,
when Jesus blessed bread,
breaking it and
sharing it, saying,
‘This is my body, which is given for you;
Do this to remember me.’

We recall the moment after supper
when Jesus blessed the cup
he gave to them saying,
‘Drink this all of you;
this is my blood
of the new promise
shed for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sin;
do this as often as you drink it
to remember me.

Blazing Spirit,
light these gifts with holy fire,
so we who receive them
may be ablaze with your love.
As we remember
fractured stories
of your marred image,
broken bodies of inhospitality
and blood spilt in war and waste
do not leave us in this place of loneliness;
do not abandon us.

Come make your home in us.

In this humble meal we receive you;
in our embodied hospitality
you take your refuge;
when your wings are broken
and your fire quenched.

Come, Spirit, yearn for us
as we yearn for you.
Together we shall burst the bars of fear
flying freely,
bringing warmth to the earth
And winds of justice
To those who cry, ‘Peace’.

The breaking and sharing of the bread

The Spirit calls us to break down the walls of division;
to break through the barriers of fear;
to break out of our tombs of apathy.
So we break this bread as a symbol of solidarity (the bread is broken)
with all communities who work and pray to this end.
this is our unity with all that breathes and the Spirit of God,
and our commitment to embody the fruits and gifts of Pentecost.

These are the gifts of God – for all God’s people in every age.
Let us eat. Let us drink.

 

The Peace

We have experienced the peace that Jesus offers.
May we share that peace with others in our daily living.
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

 

Hymn 659   Put peace into each other’s hands (verses 1 and 5)

Put peace into each other’s hands
and like a treasure hold it;
protect it like a candle flame,
with tenderness enfold it.

Put Christ into each other’s hands,
he is love’s deepest measure;
in love make peace, give peace a chance
and share it like a treasure.

 

Benediction        Iona Abbey Worship Book

The blessing of Martha’s welcome,
the blessing of Mary’s listening:
the blessing of action
the blessing of reflection
the blessing of a God
who is in each of these, and in each one of us,
be with you all. Amen.

 

Sung Blessing:   The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace.

 

Minister: Rosie Magee
Director of Music: Brigitte Harris
Reader: Harriet Carnegie
Musicians: Eleanor Wilson, Caitlin McGillivray, Drew Crichton, Tim Cooper,
Andrew Carvel
Communications: Alison Bruce and Susan McLarty
Service edited by Andrew Carvel

*Eucharistic prayer taken from ‘Summer’ by Wild Goose Publications p187

Photo: Pexels

Hymns used under licence from CCLI 247862
Streaming licence 351013

St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church of Scotland Edinburgh. Charity SC008990
www.edinburghnewtownchurch.org.uk