Setting the Table

Grain is gathered from the field;
threshed and milled for flour.
We are formed from the grain of God’s harvest.
Flour is mixed with water to produce basic dough.
The water of baptism unites us.
Yeast is added to transform the mixture.
The vision of God’s realm draws us onwards.
Oil softens the dough and makes a new texture.
The Holy Spirit anoints us as the body of Christ.
A little salt improves the taste.
Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth.
The bread is kneaded and shaped, moulded and baked.
It is God who makes us a holy communion.
Grapes are harvested and crushed for juice.
You are the vine, we are the branches, O Christ.
Juice and skins are mixed with yeast for fermentation.
God’s reign is coming. God’s hope is here.
There is a time of waiting; then a time of pressing.
God’s new life presses forth through the sediment of our lives.
And finally, the feast is here!
Let us celebrate the feast of our life in God.

Based on an idea by Simei Monteiro & Lindsey Sanderson, “A Communion Meditation” in What Does the Lord Require? Compiled by Francis Brienen, Canterbury Press, 2000.