This is a communion service written for New Addington Baptist Church as we are unable to meet because of the restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea is that we will all take part at the same time (8.15pm - after the clap for carers) on Maundy Thursday, and those who are able will meet virtually as we take part via zoom (which will be shared separately). The video of the service is below the script.
Maundy
Thursday Communion – Scattered but Gathered
Before we begin set the table with wine and with bread, ready
to participate together. If you are with others, gather if you can. If you are
alone be assured that you sit with many others even if you may not see them
right now.
Find a quiet space, a different space, a space to be and take
a moment to lay your day, your week before God, to say sorry for the things you
have done wrong and to rest in his presence.
You might want to light a candle to remind you that wherever
you are, whoever you are with, the Christ light will always shine. The light
shines in the darkness but the darkness will not overcome it.
At this time
we are unable to meet in person because it is not safe to leave our homes. We
gather in an unfamiliar way, but as we gather we remember that many others sit
with us, lay their tables and serve bread and wine.
As we break bread and drink
wine together we remember that we are part of something far bigger than what is
in our homes, bigger than even when we meet in our church – that we are part of
a worldwide church where this meal is a familiar meal, where bread broken and wine
drunk is a remembrance meal that speaks of that time spent in an upper room as
the disciples gathered with Jesus on the night before his death.
Read – Mark
14:12-16
So we gather
at our tables, of different sizes and shapes. Some are mourning the loss of the
sound of family meals. Some are where we would normally meet with those who
can’t walk through our doors. Some are where school happens, where work is
trawled through. Some are where jigsaws and the craft that we’ve taken up again
have lain throughout the week.
Each table,
it tells a story, and today the story it will tell is the story of 2000 years
of history where the people of God have gathered and eaten and drunk to
remember the first time that Jesus did this, on that first Thursday, the day
before he was to go to the cross.
As we gather
this evening, scattered in the community, this story that centres us reminds us
that we are not alone.
We gather
with those who we know well, who are part of our story, who we see on screens
and hear through the telephone.
We gather
with those we do not know, who are joining the story, all are welcome here.
We gather because
we love one another.
We gather
because we are broken.
We gather in
our fears, in our worries, in our sickness, we gather to share in this story
that brings us together.
As we gather
we tell His story, which is our story too.
We gather at
the table, with bread and wine, scattered yet together to give thanks through
this meal.
Let us pray
and give thanks
We gather here, Gracious
God, struggling with being separate but glad to stand together
We give thanks for all you
have given to us.
For this beautiful world
we live in.
For family and friends,
some of whom are with us, some of whom are far away
For food, for our homes,
for the telephone, for the internet.
For those we know who are
working on the frontline, who are serving and caring and sacrificing for others.
For all those things that make
our life as full as it can be right now.
We offer our thanks and
praise.
We thank you for this
bread and this wine, on different tables, in different cups, on different
plates, in different places, all symbols of your body broken and your blood
shed for us.
We thank you for your
story, which is our story – a story of redemption and new life, a story of
restoration and forgiveness. We thank you that this meal speaks of healing and
of mending and of love so deep it is beyond all comprehension.
We sit together, yet scattered,
and we praise you Lord.
Amen
Read Mark 14:22-26
Take your
bread and break it. This is Jesus’ body, which is broken for you. Though we eat
from many loaves, we remember that in Christ, we, though many, form one body
and each belongs to all the others.
Eat the bread
and remember that Christ calls you to be his follower, he welcomes you as his
friend, he calls you his family and he invites you to become part of his story.
Pause
Take your
wine and hold it. This is Jesus’ blood, which is shed for you. Though we drink
from many cups, we remember that in Christ, we though many, form one body and
each belongs to all the others.
Drink this
wine and remember that Christ died for you, he offers you forgiveness, he calls
you his own and he restores your soul.
Pause
The disciples left that upper room and they walked to the Garden
of Gethsemane. In the garden Jesus called them to prayer. He called them to
wait. He called them to stand beside him. They waited and they waited for the
events to come. It was to get worse before it got better, for as we approach
tomorrow, the stink of death is in the air.
Pause
Beyond
tomorrow this story speaks of hope, of new beginnings, of a time when the
loneliness of the cross will become the glory of resurrection.
But for now,
we wait and we watch and we pray.
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