The Bread of Life:

Service Prayers for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Call to Worship (a continuation of last week’s Call to Worship)

One:   You call your people to prayer and praise in many ways.  This day, bring us together just as you called the people of Israel to gather manna in the desert to eat and sustain life.

Many: God of unity, give us this day our daily bread.

One:   Offer us the nutrients we need to remain connected to you. As spiritual beings, we desire to receive food that endures— faith, hope, and love. 

Many: God of grace, give us this day our daily bread.

One:   All life is created and nourished by you!  May we grow into new circles of understanding and being, reflecting the ways in which we have been touched by your holy manna.

Many: Holy Spirit, come! Give us this day our daily bread.

Unison Prayer of Invocation

Many:

Life Sustainer, we receive the things you desire to offer us

            today and each new day!

            Grant us wisdom and openness to your Word

and use its teachings to energize our bodies and spirits.  

Confession

One:

God, we confess that we often spoon-feed ourselves items and ideas

that do not provide us the energy we need to do your work.

This creates space between you and us,

between ourselves and each other, as members of Christ’s one body.

Oftentimes, we are willing to risk our sustained health and well-being

for immediate satisfaction. (Moment of silence and reflection)

Assurance of Pardon

One:

Through Jesus, we have been given an example of one who was truly nourished and sustained by God.  In Christ, we are forgiven, made whole, and restored to the one body.  Let us outwardly profess our Christian unity by offering each other a sign of peace.

Prayer Before the Distribution of Holy Communion   

Many:       

In one hand, we embrace a piece of one common loaf.

Sharing one cup, we drink of the Christ’s new covenant of unity.

With one voice, we lift up our prayers

to you, the one great God, who embraces our differences

yet rejoices in our unity in this one communion act. Amen.

Call for the Offering

One:

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Let us offer our loaves and fishes in the service of God’s kin-dom.

Dedication

One:

O God, we share these gifts in the spirit of those who shared their manna in the desert and their loaves and fishes by the seaside:  we ask that you take these gifts and use them to feed all of creation—to produce seed and grain, filling humans and animals alike, and to restore wholeness in the places where malnourishment exists.

Benediction

One:

Let us go forth in faith in our Nonperishable God,

who gives us daily what we need to feed our bodies and spirits.

Our common need for nourishment

unites us together as the body of Christ.

May the holy Bread of Life create

sustenance for the journey,

calm for troubled stomachs,

grace-filled movement for aching limbs,

and joyful activity for all bodies

as we seek to live in sacred community. Amen.

Hymn suggestion: “One Bread, One Body” – John B. Foley, 1978

http://www.spiritandsong.com/musicondemand/songs/1398                        

“The Bread of Life” Service Prayers for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost was written by the Rev. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, Minority Student Life Specialist at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO.Copyright 2009 Local Church Ministries, Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.