3rd Sunday in Advent

The Community Feasts With Joy: Liturgy and Bread Words for Holy Communion

INVITATION TO THE TABLE

Beloved friends, the bread has been baked; the cup has been poured; the table has been set. The community gathers to join heart to heart and to feast together at this banquet of love and joy.

At United University Church, we believe that Christ’s table is always open to all who come. It does not matter whether you come from the right family, travel in the right circles, live on the right side of the tracks. It does not matter whether your status is high or low, whether your bank account is large or small, or whether you sleep beneath vaulted ceilings or beneath the vault of heaven. It does not matter whether you run with ease, walk with a cane or travel in a wheelchair. It does not matter whether you speak English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Korean, or Gujarati. It does not matter what shade of brown your skin is colored. It only matters that you are here. And because you are here, Christ invites you to join heart to heart around this table. This is the feast of the kin-dom of God.

We come to this table as children of God.  We are not here because of who we are or what we have done.  We do not earn a place at this table through our worthiness; neither are we denied a place because of our unworthiness.  We come because have been invited by Christ.  We come to join heart to heart in love.  We come to be made whole in the family of God’s people.

PRAYER OF GREAT THANKSGIVING

May the Spirit of God be with you!

And also with you!

Let us lift up our hearts.

We lift our hearts to God.

Let us give thanks to the one who brings us joy.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Ruler of the world, they tell us that you are coming in wrath to purge the evil and refine the good. They tell us that you are coming as a consuming fire to destroy all that is sinful. They tell us that you are coming to purify the earth from all that defiles.

Judge of the world, we sometimes stand in terror at the prospect of your arrival. We are like snakes that scatter in horror at the sound of your coming, for we know that we cannot withstand your anger. It is a fearful thing, we have been told, to fall into the hands of the living God. So, we desperately wonder where we can we flee to hide ourselves from your fury.

Lover of the world, we know that we are your people, created in your image. Though we have defiled that image with our selfishness, fear and hatred, we hear you calling to us in mercy, offering the promise of forgiveness and restoration. You invite us to repentance and show us the way of generosity and faith. You offer us the cleansing power of love. It is your love that overcomes our terror. It is your promise of redemption that draws us close. It is your offer of transformation that brings us hope for the birth of joy.

This is why we join the whole creation in singing your praises:

Singing the Sanctus

  Holy, Holy, Holy Lord

    Words: Traditional; Music: Iona Community (Scotland)

    Published as # 2256 in The Faith We Sing

Saving God, we thank you for your living presence among us. We thank you too for the privilege of joining together in this community to worship you and to grow in love for one another.

We thank you for Jesus whose coming was foretold by the Baptist. We remember John’s words to the crowds that had gathered around him for baptism:

I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming: I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. That one will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

When Jesus came in fulfillment of John’s words, he forged a new community from the most unlikely of people. He healed their diseases, forgave their sins, taught them the truth, entrusted them with a mission, loved them intimately, and instructed them in your way.

There were those who rejected his message and who plotted against him. Threatened by his proclamation of your kin-dom, they made plans to arrest, torture and kill him. How could they know that his message would survive the cross to which they nailed him? How could they know that the power of resurrection was already at work? How could they know that his death would unleash a torrent of life? Their brutality would not stop the forward progress of your justice. Their act of murder would not prevent your saving love from its work of transforming your world.

That is why we gather today at this table to recall Jesus’ love and faithfulness toward your people. On the night when he was betrayed to death he gathered with his friends to celebrate the Passover meal, and to re-enact the story of his people’s liberation from slavery. He gave that ancient ritual new words and new meaning when he took the bread of freedom, broke it, passed it to his friends, and said:

Take this bread and eat it.  This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.

So too, the cup of hope, when Jesus blessed it in traditional fashion and passed it to his friends, he said:

Drink from this, all of you.  This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sin.  Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

We gather today at this table, remembering that you answered the brutality of crucifixion with resurrection. By trusting you, Jesus gave us an example of faithful love. By going with you to the cross, he showed us the way to real life. May we, therefore, follow his example, and by our own acts of faithfulness, bring this news of great joy to a world tormented by violence, fear and death.

Nourish us now and strengthen us through this sacramental meal. Transform and redeem us by the power of your Holy Spirit. Help us to stand strong as joyful witnesses of your love and truth.

Pour out your Spirit upon us.  As we feast upon this bread and drink from this cup, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in love for all the world.  Amen.

Beloved, these are the gifts of God given to bring joy to all of God’s people. Come now – whoever you are – be part of this family, sit at this table, share in this feast, celebrate this joy.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

As the people come forward to eat the bread and drink from the cup, they are invited to bring pieces of paper on which they have written their prayer concerns and praises and to place them into a basket located on the table.  The people are invited to read the joys and concerns written by others and to respond to them silently or aloud by praying either “Thanks be to you, O God,” or “Hear our prayer, O God.”

SINGING DURING COMMUNION

  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Stanzas 1, 3, 5)

    Words: 12th Century Latin; Music: 15th Century French

    Translation: John Mason Neale & William Sloan Coffin

    Published as # 211 in The United Methodist Hymnal

UNISON PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

We have felt true joy at your table, O God!  In the company of family and friends, we have eaten the bread and drunk from the cup.  Now, may the taste of these common foods linger on our tongues.  May the warmth of this companionship fill us with lasting joy.  Though we leave this place to go into an uncertain world, may we remember that we are home to each other in you.  And in that memory, may we always be faithful witnesses of your love. Amen.

4th Sunday in Advent

BREAD WORDS

The strong message of the Lectionary texts for the 3rd Sunday in Advent is that God is surely coming!  The way is being prepared by John's "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."  In this week's passage from Luke, John has chided the throngs who have come to be baptized, telling them that their geneology is insufficient to save them from the consequences of their past behaviors.  "You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance."  (Luke 3:7b-8a)  "And (so) the crowds asked (John), 'What then should we do?'  In reply he said to them, 'Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.'...As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah."  (Luke 3:10-11, 15)  John assured them that one more powerful than he would be made known to them.

The visual images that emerged from the four Lectionary texts are "hearts."  And the heart image is not solitary and isolated.  The passages refer to hearts in the plural, as in the above text.  The sharing of clothing with one who has none and the sharing of food with those who are hungry are gestures of the heart.  Relationship is created.  We feel the comfort of being at home. 

This is the prophetic vision:  "And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.  At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you."  (Zephaniah 3:19b-20a) 

In the passage from Philippians are more words of assurance of life lived in heart-relationship with God:  "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phillipians 4:6-7)

The recipe for the Communion bread for this 3rd Sunday in Advent is a sweet and simple one, flavored with cardamom:

1/2 cup butter

2 cups milk

4 teaspoons dry yeast

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

5-6 cups unbleached flour

(The instructions for making the bread may seem intimidating by their very length.  Just remember that it takes many more words to describe what a single photo will clearly show.  Pictures of the shaping of the bread follow the text.)

Pour 1 cup warm milk into a large mixing bowl and let it cool sufficiently so the yeast may be sprinkled over it to dissolve.  To the remaining cup of warm milk, add the butter and let it melt some.  While this mixture is  cooling, add the sugar, cardamom, and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture;  stir for about 2 minutes.  Allow both mixtures to stand for about 10 minutes, and then combine them, adding the salt and more of the flour.

When the dough is too stiff to stir easily, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, scraping the bowl as clean as possible.  Knead the dough for about 8 minutes.  (During this time, I try to empty my mind of any thought but of the soft, resilient, fragrant dough.  Then I imagine how wonderful it would be to share this lovely bread--and the message of Love it bears--with EVERYONE!) 

Grease the bowl and return the dough to the bowl, inverting the dough one time to grease all surfaces.  Let the dough rise in a warm place for about one hour.

After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it into 5 pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope about 20-inches long.  They will resemble "a brood of (5) vipers."  On a large, greased baking sheet, arrange the five "snakes" in a ring of over-lapping "U" shapes.  Each of the "U" 's could be coiled into itself to make 5 individual heart shapes;  but to reflect the willingness of hearts to be united, the "arms" of each "U" can be linked to the "U" 's on either side of it.  (Please refer to the photos below.)  The ends of the linked "arms" of each individual "U" can then be coiled toward the base of the "U" which can be shaped to a point, thus creating a ring of 5 linked hearts.  (Because this bread is being used as an Advent wreath, the bottom "points" of the 5 hearts are truncated to accommodate the round space for the Christ candle.  A greased ceramic cup is inverted in the center so that the dough can rise and bake around it.) 

Let the shaped dough rise for 45-60 minutes and then bake at 375-degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown.  Allow the bread set for 5 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool.  The room will be filled with the aroma of the fresh bread.  The fragrance of the cardamom may be unfamiliar but it's compelling, rather like the allure of the extraordinary events of which John the Baptist has spoken.

Copyright United University Church, 2006

Comments

[Susie]

I just wanted to say that I made this communion bread following the recipe and directions on this page and was pretty happy with how it turned out. Though I like to cook, I am not a baker. I have made bread a handful of times before but nothing like this shapely, symbolic bread. This was actually the 2nd Sunday I tried this communion bread. The first Sunday also turned out okay. With this 2nd one I felt a little more confident and relaxed.

I would encourage everyone who likes cooking, baking, or participating in worship services, to give this a try. It is a really wonderful experience on many levels. The actual tangible process of making the bread is amazing - to see it go from the first tentative waking of the yeast to the wonderful, hot aroma of freshly baked bread is not to be missed.

The experience of making bread that is so grounded in the text of the week and the worship experience is also a great way to experience the lessons. You can contemplate the meanings as you put together the carefully coordinated recipe that follows the text, the shape that highlights key elements of the text, and finally, the finished product which becomes part of the actual worhsip experience - first as the Advent Wreath and then as the communion bread. If you are a person who is very grounded in your body - this is a great way to connect physically and spiritually to the worship experience.

Thanks to the author of this blog for this great idea of communion bread making! Very nice experience!