Choose the sections that are appropriate to your context and tradition. For example, if communion is part of a longer service, it may be more appropriate to use only parts of the liturgy.

Gathering at the table

Behind locked doors, Christ comes with peace.
We come to the table of the risen Christ, who meets us where we are.

Wounded love stands among the fearful and speaks hope.
Breathe peace into us again, and make us alive with mercy.

This is Christ’s table.
Not a reward for the certain,
but grace for the questioning.
Not a prize for the unafraid,
but bread for those who come as they are.

We come with joy and uncertainty, with longing and need.
We come for peace, for mercy, for living hope.

The Peace

Peace is spoken in the very place where fear has shut the door.
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.

(Share peace in ways that honour boundaries – words, a nod, a wave, a hand on heart.)

The Great Thanksgiving

The Spirit is here.
The Spirit is with us.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the God of love.

Let us give thanks to the Holy One.
It is right to give thanks and praise.

It is right, and a joyful thing,
to give you thanks, God of resurrection and mercy.
You do not leave your people trapped in fear.
You do not turn away from wounded hearts.
You come close with peace,
with breath,
with new life.

You are the One who does not abandon us to death.
You are our refuge and our hope.
You raise up what fear has pressed down.
You bring joy that is deeper than denial,
and hope that can live alongside scars.

In Jesus, you stand among your friends
not with blame,
but with blessing.
He shows his wounds.
He breathes the Spirit.
He sends the fearful into the world
with peace, forgiveness, and courage.

And so, with angels and ancestors,
with all who have found hope in wounded love,
with all who long for peace in troubled rooms,
we sing the song of heaven:

Holy, holy, holy One,
breath of all that lives, fire of all that loves,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes to heal and to set free.
Hosanna in the highest.

Thanksgiving and story

Blessed are you, Holy One.
In Jesus you came among us –
sharing our life,
bearing our pain,
loving us to the end,
and rising with wounds still visible.

When the disciples hid behind locked doors,
Jesus came and stood among them.
He did not shame their fear.
He spoke peace.
He showed them the marks of love’s cost.
He breathed the Spirit into their anxious hearts.

When Thomas struggled to trust what others had seen,
Jesus met him too.
Not with scorn,
but with invitation.
Not with dismissal,
but with presence.

Here is the mystery we celebrate –
that resurrection does not erase the wounds,
but transforms them.
That faith is not forced certainty,
but trust growing in the presence of Christ.
That mercy meets us in our fear,
our questions,
and our need.

Words of Institution

On the night before he gave himself for us,
Jesus took bread;
he gave thanks, broke it, and said:
“Take, eat. This is my body, given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the meal was ended,
he took the cup;
he gave thanks, and said:
“Drink from this, all of you.
This is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many,
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it,
in remembrance of me.”

Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

Prayer of the Spirit

Pour out your Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and cup.
Make them for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ:
alive in hope,
gentle in mercy,
steadfast in peace,
brave in love.

Come into the places in us that are locked tight with fear.
Breathe peace where anxiety has taken hold.
Meet us kindly in our questions.
Make us witnesses to resurrection hope in a wounded world.

Give us grace to trust without pretending.
Give us courage to carry peace beyond this room.
Shape us into people who forgive,
who make room for questions,
who honour scars,
and who practise mercy with open hands.

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honour and glory are yours,
God of promise and presence,
now and always.
Amen.

The Prayer Jesus taught

As Jesus taught us, we pray:
(Use your community’s preferred wording/version.)

Breaking the bread

We break this bread
to share in the body of Christ.
Though we are many, we are one body,
because we all share in one bread.

The gifts of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.

Sharing the bread and cup

(Words such as these may be used during the distribution.)

Peace of Christ – for you.
Hope for the journey.

(If people receive a blessing instead of the elements: “May Christ be close to you; may love hold you.”)

Prayer after Communion

God of resurrection and mercy,
we thank you for meeting us at this table.
You have fed us with grace,
and breathed hope into us again.

When fear closes us in, speak peace.
When questions remain, keep us near to love.

Send us out as people of Easter faith –
to practise mercy,
to make room for doubt and hope,
to carry peace into anxious places,
and to live as witnesses to risen love.
God of life,
now and forever. Amen.

Sending

Go in peace – not because every fear has gone,
but because Christ stands among us still.
We will carry peace. We will practise mercy. We will live in hope.