World Communion Sunday 2021 Resources

By Cynthia Wilson, Diana Sanchez-Bushong & Derek Weber

A Prayer for World Communion Sunday

Lord of justice and fairness,

Each of our understandings of love and justice is partial, but You are full. We made efforts to love; however, our history consists of full of violence. We may speak the same language or even speak the same term; we each understand it differently. We hardly accept that what we do is not love for someone even though we act out of love. The hurt from this misunderstanding gives birth to another violence. This is our reality. This is our limit.

However, perfect Lord, make us full with Your flesh and blood. Save our lives with the grace that saved our souls. We cannot save ourselves, but You can give life to the world through us. We want to become like You, who gave us life through flesh and blood. You empathized with humans by incarnating Yourself to us. Now let us go and empathize with our surroundings as how You did to us. Let us be the Good Samaritans.

Ruler of all, Lord of all creation, come to us now through Your flesh and blood on this Table. Restore Your love that You called each of us from the Beginning. Your love for us exceeds how we think of each other. Your love is great to cover our different looks. Your love is living peace that embraces each of us. You make us remember each of the unique images that You gave us from the Beginning. Let us all accept and remember that You loved each of us differently in different ways.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Restorer, we pray. Amen.

공평과 정의의 주님,

우리 각자가 이해하는 사랑과 정의는 부분적이지만, 주님은 온전하십니다. 우리는 우리의 의지로 사랑해왔지만, 우리의 역사는 누군가에게 아픔을 주는 이야기로 점철되어 있습니다. 서로 같은 언어를 사용해도, 각자가 다른 의미로 이해합니다. 우리 스스로가 이해하는 사랑이 다른 이에게 사랑이 아니라는 것을 받아들이기 힘들어합니다. 그리고 그 상처로 또 다른 폭력을 낳습니다. 이것이 우리의 현실입니다. 이것이 우리의 한계입니다.

그러나, 온전하신 주님, 주님의 살과 피로 우리를 온전케 하소서. 우리의 영혼을 살리신 그 은혜로 우리의 삶을 구원하소서. 우리는 스스로 구원할 수 없으나, 주님은 우리를 통해 생명 주심을 고백합니다. 우리에게 살과 피를 주신 생명의 주님을 닮아가기를 원합니다. 주께서 우리에게 성육신 하셔서 인간을 공감해 주셨듯이 우리도 세상에 나아가 공감할 수 있게 하소서. 우리의 이웃에게 우리로 선한 사마리아인이 되게 하소서.

만유의 주관자이시며 창조의 주님, 주님의 살과 피를 통해 지금 우리에게 임하셔서 각 사람을 부르셨던 태초의 그 사랑을 이 시간 회복 시켜 주시옵소서. 주님께서 우리에게 주신 사랑은 우리 인간의 서로 다른 생각을 넘어섭니다. 주님의 사랑은 우리의 서로 다른 모습보다 더 크십니다. 우리 각 사람을 아우르는 평화의 생명력입니다. 우리 각자의 모습을 창조 때의 본래 모습으로 기억하게 하십니다. 주님께서 우리 각자를 각각 다른 모습으로 사랑하셨음을 우리 모두가 기억하고 인정하게 하소서.

회복의 주님을 의지하며, 예수 그리스도 이름으로 기도합니다. 아멘.

Rev. Hyok-In Kwon, Senior Pastor of Korean UMC of Santa Clara Valley

LA CELEBRACION DE LA SANTA EUCARISTIA
Para Caminantes

BILINGUAL EUCHARIST for SOJOURNERS
preparada por L. Muñoz

La Invitación a la Mesa/Invitation to the Table

The table to which we gather is the table of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who invites with his love and great mercy all those who desire to live in peace with God and with their neighbor. As beloved community, let us confess our offences.

La mesa en donde nos congregamos es la mesa de nuestro Señor Jesus. Es Jesucristo quien invita con su amor y gran misericordia a todos aquellos y aquellas que procuran vivir en paz con Dios y con su prójimo. Como pueblo amado, confesemos nuestras ofensas.

Es por tu gracia que estamos aquí ante tu presencia, O Dios.
No por nuestros méritos, sino por los méritos de Jesucristo.
Confesamos que no hemos amado como Tu amas,
que no hemos actuado en favor de los indefensos como Tu nos mandas
y que no hemos perdonado como Tu nos has perdonado a nosotros y nosotras.
Perdónanos. Libéranos. Renuévanos.
Por Cristo Jesús. Amen.

Let us pray in silence/Oremos en silencio

Escuchen estas buenas nuevas.
Somos perdonados/as, liberados/as y renovados/as en Cristo Jesus.
Aleluya, Amen!

Saludo de la Paz/Greet each other in Peace

LA GRAN ACCION DE GRACIAS

L: El Señor sea con ustedes.
P: Y también contigo.
L: Elevemos nuestros corazones al Señor.
P: Los elevamos al Señor.
L: Demos gracias a nuestro Dios.
P: Es digno y justo darle gracias y alabarle!

Es verdaderamente digno y justo darte gracias, Divino Creador, Hacedor de nuevos caminos.
Formaste esta diversa creación con tu creatividad y alegría y la llamaste buena.
También a nosotros y nosotras, nos creaste con amor y ternura para que nosotros y nosotras seamos tu semejanza e imagen en este mundo.

It is truly just to give you thanks, Divine Creator of new ways.
You formed this diverse creation with your creativity and joy and called it good.
You also created us with tender loving care so that we could be your image in the world.

Pero, nos desviamos del camino, Oh Dios, y comenzamos a olvidarnos de cómo se mira tu imagen en nosotros/as y apartamos nuestros ojos de ti.

But, we strayed from the way, O God, and we began to forget what your image in us looked like and we turned our eyes from you.

Gracias sean dadas a ti, Oh Santo Dios que no te das por vencido con tu creación. Tu forjas caminos nuevos donde no hay caminos. Levantaste a tus siervos y siervas y forjaste un nuevo pueblo lleno de esperanza y propósito.
Y así con todos tus ángeles y arcángeles te alabamos cantando este himno eterno:

Thanks be to you, O Holy God, that you do not give up on your creation. You forge a new pathway where there are no pathways. You lifted up your servants, both men and women and forge a new people filled with hope and purpose.
And so with all your angels and archangels we praise you with this unending hymn:

Santo, santo, santo, Dios Omnipotente
Cielo y Tierra te alaban tambien
Bendito el que viene en tu nombre, O Dios
Hosana, Hosana, en las alturas
Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Heaven and Earth praise you the same
Blessed is the One, who comes in God’s name
Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest
(Seis Chorriao – Puerto Rico 2019Ó L. Muñoz)

Santo eres tu y santo es aquel que vino a enderezar caminos y preparar sendas de amor y paz. Jesús, el jornalero de justicia. Jesús, el bracero de libertad. Jesús, el caminante que anduvo con los despreciados y marginados, con los hazme reír y los que no eran contados. Ese mismo Jesús hoy camina con nosotros y nosotras, hombro a hombro, mano a mano, forjando el Reino de Dios donde creamos equidad y celebramos la diversidad en un solo cuerpo santo.

Holy are you and holy is the one who came to make straight the paths and to prepare highways of love and peace. Jesus, the day-laborer of justice. Jesus, the strong arm of liberation. Jesus, the sojourner who walked with the despised and marginalized, with the laughable and the ones who were not counted. That same Jesus walks with us today, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand forging the Reign of God where equity is created and diversity celebrated in one holy body.

Por su mensaje inclusivo, este Jesús fue traicionado, torturado y entregado a la muerte. En la noche de su traición, se reunió con sus discípulos, hombres y mujeres, para celebrar la Pascua. Tomó el pan, lo bendijo, lo partió, y lo compartió, a sus discípulos diciendo; “Este es mi cuerpo partido por ustedes y por el mundo.”

Así también tomo la copa y dijo; “Esta copa es el nuevo pacto hecho en mi sangre.”

For his inclusive message, this Jesus was betrayed, tortured, and given over to be put to death.

On the night of his betrayal, Jesus met with his disciples, men and women to celebrate the Passover Feast. He took the bread, blessed, broke, and shared it with his disciples saying; “This is my body broken for you and for the world.”

Then he also took the cup and said; “This is the cup of a new covenant made in my blood.”

Y ahora, Oh Dios, acepta este sacrificio que te entregamos a través de tu gran misericordia que has mostrado en Jesucristo por nosotros y nosotras en unión a todos y todas tus santos que han forjando caminos de justicia y paz en tu nombre:

And now, O God, accept this sacrifice which we offer to you through the great mercy that you have shown in Jesus Christ for us in union with all your saints that have forged new pathways of justice and peace in your name:

Cristo ha muerto, ha resucitado, Cristo aquí esta otra vez!
Cristo a muerto, ha resucitado, Cristo vendrá otra vez!

Christ has died, Christi s Risen, Christ is with us again!
Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again!
(Mariachi Vals)

Derrama tu Santo Espíritu sobre todos y todas que estamos aquí y sobre este pan y esta copa. Haz que sean para nosotros y nosotras el cuerpo y la sangre de Cristo para que seamos ese mismo cuerpo para el mundo. Haznos, un cuerpo unido, un cuerpo comprometido, un cuerpo forjando nuevos caminos de paz y justicia. Por medio de Jesucristo, a Ti sea toda gloria y honor por siempre. Amen.

Pour out you Holy Spirit over all those in this place and over this bread and cup. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ so that we can be that same body for the world. Make us one united body, one committed body, one body forging new pathways of peace and justice. Through Jesus Christ, all glory and honor and yours forever. Amen.

Y ahora, con la certeza de ser familia de Dios oremos
Now with the assurance of being family, siblings all of God, let us pray:

(Padre, Madre, Dios) nuestro que estas en los cielos,
santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu reino. Hágase tu voluntad,
como en el cielo, así también en la tierra.
El pan nuestro de cada día, dánoslo hoy. Y perdonamos nuestras deudas,
como también nosotros perdonamos a nuestros deudores.
Y no nos dejes caer en tentación, mas líbranos del mal;
porque tuyo es el reino, el poder y la gloria, por todos los siglos. Amen.

Compartiendo el Pan y la Copa/Breaking of Bread and Cup

Porque hay un solo pan, así nosotros, siendo muchos somos un solo cuerpo en Cristo. El pan que partimos es la comunión del cuerpo de Cristo.

Because there is one bread, we too, though we are many are one body in Christ. The bread that we break is the communion of the body of Christ.

La copa por la cual damos gracias es la comunión de la sangre de Cristo.

The cup for which we give thanks is the communion of the blood of Christ.

La mesa está lista! La Fiesta está preparada! Vengan todos y todas con alegría a la mesa del Señor!

The table is ready! The Feast is prepared! Come with joy to the table of the Lord!

Oración al Término de la Comunión/Post-Comunion Prayer

Eterno Dios, Te damos gracias por este misterio santo
que has entregado por nosotros y nosotras.
Ayúdanos a vivir en este mundo como tu pueblo siempre comprometido a forjar nuevos caminos, cambiar los destinos, cerrar brechas de diferencia y desigualdad y
unidos haciendo justicia, creando paz. Amen.
We give you thank, Eternal God, for this holy mystery given to us.
Help us to live in this world like your people
always committed to making new ways, changing direction and destinies,
and closing the gap of indifference and inequality
as united, we continue to do justice and make peace. Amen.

Bendición y Envío/ Benediction and Sending Forth (Predicador y Diácono)

Llegamos ante ti, Señor, con humildad
a pedirte rebeldía.
Queremos vivir comprometidos/as con la justicia.
No vendernos ante nada ni ante nadie.
Queremos resistir la tentación de buscar una falsa paz
de la comodidad y la ceguera.

Haznos inconforme con el error, la injusticia, el odio,
Insatisfechos con la farsa del mundo,
pero con un gran deseo de trabajar por mejorarlo.

Haznos indómitos de tu Reino,
que es la fe y justicia,
dignos de recibir aquellas palabras tuyas:
"En el mundo tendréis aflicción;
pero confiad,
Yo he vencido al mundo".

We come before you, Lord, in humility to ask you for revolutionary indignation.
We want to live committed with justice.
We will not sell out to nothing or no one.
We want to resist the temptation to securing false peace
which comes from comfort and blindness to the world.

Make us unsettled with error, injustice, and hate,
Unsatisfied with the falsity of the world,
but with a great desire to work for its betterment.
Make us indomitable of your Reign
that is the faith and justice
worthy of receiving the words you have said:
“In the world you will have affliction.
But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

(Autoría desconocida, traducción en Ingles por L. Muñoz)
Liturgia preparada por L. Muñoz

World Communion 2021 – Music Suggestions

The liturgy for the Prayer of Great Thanksgiving provided here includes some wonderful music by Lydia Munoz. This music is in the style experienced in many Latin American churches both in the United States and elsewhere. In addition to this music embedded in the liturgy, below you will find a list of music suitable for World Communion Sunday that helps invite the world to be at the table with your community.

Opening Songs:

• O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing/Mil Voces para celebrar UMH 57/59
• Praise, Praise, Praise the Lord (processional) TFWS 2035
• To God Be the Glory UMH 99
• Make Us One TFWS 2224
• Bind Us Together TFWS 2226

Centering Songs:

• O-So-So (Come Now, O Price of Peace) TFWS 2232
• My Prayer Rises to Heaven UMH 498

Communion Songs:

• Te Ofrecemos Padre Nuestro (Let Us Offer to the Father) TFWS 2262
• Amen, Siakudumisa (Amen, We Praise Your Name O Lord) TFWS 2067
• I Come with Joy UMH 617
• Bread of the World UMH 624
• Una Espiga (Sheaves of Summer) UMH 637
• For the Bread Which You Have Broken UMH 615
• Somos Uno en Cristo (We Are One in Christ Jesus) TFWS 2229

Closing Songs:

• One Bread, One Body UMH 620
• Send Me, Lord UMH 497

Benediction:

• Shalom UMH 667

Communion - Iona Community

Invitation to the Communion Table

(Practical Instructions)

Jesus was always the guest.

In the homes of Peter and Jairus,
Martha and Mary, Joanna and Susanna,
he was always the guest.

At the meal tables of the wealthy
where he pled the case of the poor,
he was always the guest.

Upsetting polite company,
befriending isolated people,
welcoming the stranger,
he was always the guest.

But here,
At this table,
Jesus is the host.

Those who wish to serve him
Must first be served by him.
Those who want to follow him
Must first be fed by him.
Those who would wash his feet
must first let him make them clean.

For this is the table
where God intends us to be nourished.
This is the time
when Christ can make us new.

So come, you who hunger and thirst
for a deeper faith,
for a fuller life,
for better world.

Jesus Christ,
Who has sat at our tables,
Now invites us to be guests at his.

Communion Prayer

Holy God,
We praise you,
for you are the One from whom we will return.

You conceived the universe,
wove the world together,
and hold all life in your hand.

You watch us waking or sleeping,
You keep every tear that we shed,
You hear every prayer we make,
You know both our best and our worst,
And you will not let us go.

So with rain, wind, and sunshine,
With all that moves in time with its Maker,
we praise you.

We praise you
for Christ’s life, which informs our living,
for his compassion, which changes our hearts,
for his clear speaking,
for his disturbing presence,
his innocent suffering,
his courageous dying,
his rising to life, breathing forgiveness,
We praise you and worship him.

Merciful God,
Send now,
in kindness,
your Holy Spirit
to rest on
converting us
from the patterns of this passing world,
until we conform to the shape of the One
whose food we now share. Amen.

Breaking Bread

Among friends, gathered round a table,
(taking and breaking bread)
Jesus took bread and broke it and said,
“This is my body, broken for you.”

(holding the cup)
Later he took the cup and said,
“This is the relationship with God
Made possible because of my death.
Take it, all of you, to remember me.”

Christ, whom the universe could not contain,
Is present to us in the breaking of this bread.
Christ, who redeemed us and called us by name,
Now meets us in the sharing of this cup.

So take this bread and this cup.
In this meal God comes to us
So that we may come to God.

Prayer after Communion

Leader: In peace let us pray:

ALL: O God, we give you thanks
for uniting us as the Body of Christ
and for filling us with joy at this table.
Lead us toward the unity of your church,
And help us treasure signs of reconciliation.
Now that we have tasted the banquet you have prepared for us,
May we one day feast together in your heavenly city.
Through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
Ever one God, world without end. Amen.

From VOICES TOGETHER, First Edition- Published by MennoMedia (2020) Harrisburg, Virginia.
These Communion resources from the ecumenical Iona Community in Scotland are intended for use on any occasion.

Communion Preparation Via “Pre-Intinction”
A Report on a Practice During the Pandemic

By Mark W. Stamm, OSL
Professor of Christian Worship and Chapel Elder
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, SMU
September 6, 2021

How should we receive Holy Communion at this point in the COVID-19 pandemic? That was the question facing me at as we arrived at fall term 2021 and the resumption of in-person worship at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University (SMU). Our Community Worship program had existed entirely online since mid-March 2020, and we had opted not to celebrate the sacrament virtually. We had observed various ritual alternatives across that period, specifically “A Liturgy for When We Cannot Meet” designed by some of my colleagues in the Order of Saint Luke,[1] and the Love Feast practiced according to its early Methodist ethos, that is, as a feast of testimony and praise that may involve some eating and drinking, but no formalized act of consecration such as one finds in the Lord’s Supper.[2]

All of those services worked reasonably well within our relatively small Zoom congregation. As an added benefit, working online allowed persons in our extension programs to participate in Community Worship, and that with responses in real time. Of course, many local churches had similar experiences with expanded community made possible by worshiping online, and as with many of you we are committed to remembering what we learned and to a continued exploration of its implications. As a beginning measure for our context, I’ve recommended that we continue to conduct two services a month via Zoom.

Nevertheless, we Christians stand under the “Do this in remembrance of me” commandment given by Jesus (I Corinthians 11:24), with our understanding of that commandment shaped according to the classic ritual forms and rubrics of the church. Moreover, SMU had decided that instruction in Dallas would be held on campus and primarily in person for the 2021-22 Academic Year, and since Perkins Community Worship is part of that work, it was time for us to figure out a way to celebrate Holy Communion in Perkins Chapel, and thus this report that I have been asked to share with you.

My practice here has been influenced by Wesleyan teaching, in particular as expressed in This Holy Mystery, A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion,[3] and by the advice offered within Care-Filled Worship and Sacramental Life in a Lingering Pandemic[4] as prepared by the Ecumenical Consultation on Protocols for Worship, Fellowship, and Sacraments in whose process I have been an active contributor and participant. My decisions were also significantly influenced by the praxis of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, TX, whose extended table ministry helped me receive the means of grace during the earliest days of the pandemic. I took guidance from all of these influencers, but the particular practice that we are developing is ours and we presume that it will remain information within our context.

On the preparation of the elements for the celebration of Holy Communion:

The communion wafers can be prepared by placing a small amount of grape juice on them prior to consecration, that done using a dropper. This preparatory task should be administered by the chapel elder along with a Deacon, Clergy Associate or some other appropriate designee each with properly clean hands. One might think of this preparation as an intinction done prior to the Great Thanksgiving as compared to other typical practices of doing intinction (i.e. from the chalice, that done during the distribution following the Great Thanksgiving).

The wafers can be placed on the altar remaining there through the Great Thanksgiving, then offered to those who present themselves to receive. This method accomplishes the following:

1. As with the previous process of intinction, full consecration of both bread and wine/juice is affected, and that on the altar through the prayer of the gathered church, under the hand of the elder.
2. It allows for the receiving of Holy Communion in both kinds, that is, in the bread and the wine/grape juice.
3. It avoids using prepackaged elements, which may malfunction. It also avoids the trash created by the packaging, and thus seems to me more environmentally sound.

[1] “A Liturgy for When We Cannot Meet,” 2020, prepared by Elizabeth Moore, OSL, Dwight Vogel, OSL, and Beth Fender, OSL. https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gbod-assets/generic/A-Liturgy-for-When-We-Cannot-Meet.pdf

[2] “The Love Feast,” The United Methodist Book of Worship (Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992), 581-84.

[3] “This Holy Mystery, A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion,” The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church, 2016 (Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 2016), 725-775.

[4] https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Care-filled_Worship_and_Sacramental_Life_in_a_Lingering_Pandemic.pdf

Other Resources

from The Africana WORSHIP BOOK, Year B - Discipleship Resources Copyright 2007.

THAT WE MIGHT BE ONE: A CONFESSION

Jesus prayed that we might be one.
One in Spirit,
One in mission,
In union and communion with each other and with you.

Today, God we confess fumblings and failures in accomplishing unity, as we set aside yet another day to remind ourselves of the task. On this World Communion Sunday, give us eyes to recognize your reflection in the eyes of Christians everywhere. Give us a mind to accept and celebrate our differences. Give us a heart big enough to love your children everywhere. We thank you for setting a table with space enough for us all!

Amen. (By Safiyah Fosua)

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

Could it be that the question of communion is closely tied to another question, “who is my neighbor?” Who is my neighbor for whom I am willing to go out on a limb, to suffer, or even to die for? With whom will I dare to laugh, to listen for God, or learn to love? Are you my neighbor? Would you loan me a loaf of bread at midnight? Would you dig through the rubble of a 9/11, a tsunami, or a Katrina to look for me? Would you wade through waist high grass looking for my lost child? Some did, but would you? We live in times when we could all use a good neighbor.