Witness to Grace

Each week, whether we celebrate Holy Communion or not, we gather around Christ’s table, the table of the reconciliation of all creation. As we focus on Stewardship from Thanksgiving, I invite you to remember both the promise of this gift of reconciliation and the vocation that we have within it—to worship, witness and serve as God’s people for the sake of God’s world. The following litany from Brian Wren captures that promise and vocation. It is a meditation on 1 Corinthians 11:17-29 which includes the Narrative of Institution, the telling of the story of the beginning of Christ’s thanksgiving meal.

What do you bring to Christ’s table?
We bring bread,
made by many people’s work,
from an unjust world
where some have plenty
and most go hungry.

At this table all are fed and no-one turned away.
Thanks be to God.

What do you bring to Christ’s table?
We bring wine,
made by many people’s work,
from an unjust world
where some have leisure
and most struggle to survive.

At this table all share the cup
of pain and celebration
and no-one is denied.
Thanks be to God.

These gifts shall be for us
the body and blood of Christ.
Our witness against hunger,
our cry against injustice,
and our hope for a world
where God is fully known
and every child is fed.
Thanks be to God.
(From Wendy Robins, ed., Let All the World, USPG, 1990)