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

God hears the cry, even when words are hard to find.
We come to the table of Christ, where anguish is not turned away.

God calls us away from harm and towards life.
Teach us trust that protects, love that refuses violence, and care that makes room.

This is Christ’s table.
Not a reward for those who never question,
but bread for those who bring their questions with them.
Not a prize for the perfect,
but welcome for those who come as they are.

We come with lament and longing, with faith and with fear.
We come for bread, for courage, for love that holds us.

The Peace

Peace is not silence in the face of harm.
Peace begins where life is protected, truth is honoured, and fear is held with care.
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 life and promise.
You receive the prayers that tremble.
You honour lament that asks, “How long?”
You stay close when faith is strained,
when the path is unclear,
when fear presses hard,
and when hope feels far away.

Your voice does not call us into harm.
Your love does not hunger for sacrifice.
You are the One who provides another way,
who interrupts death,
who protects the vulnerable,
and who calls your people back to life.

In Jesus, you came among us as love that refuses harm.
He welcomed the small and those pushed aside.
He blessed acts of care as simple as a cup of cold water.
He met fear with presence,
power with truth,
and violence with self-giving love that exposes violence
rather than blessing it.

He entered death,
not because death was your desire,
but to break its power
and lead us into life.

And so, with angels and ancestors,
with all who have cried, “How long?”,
with all who have found a way opened in the wilderness,
with all who protect life in your name,
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 showed us what faith looks like
when fear and harm are near.

He did not demand silence from the suffering.
He did not bless cruelty, coercion, or making the vulnerable pay the price.
He welcomed the child, honoured the frightened,
and received the smallest acts of care.

He taught that welcome matters.
A cup of cold water matters.
A life protected matters.
No act of love is too small for your reign.

Here is the mystery we celebrate –
God receives our lament,
Christ stays close to the vulnerable,
the Spirit gives courage to protect life,
and love opens another way.

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:
honest in lament,
careful with power,
protective of the vulnerable,
alive to grace.

When people are afraid, meet them with tenderness.
When harm is hidden by holy words, give us courage to tell the truth.
When obedience is used to silence questions, teach us to protect life.
When small acts of care are dismissed, remind us that a cup of cold water matters.

Shape us into a people who refuse the logic of sacrifice
when it asks the vulnerable to pay the price.
Let this table teach us another way:
bread shared for life,
the cup shared in hope,
community shaped by protection,
and welcome practised in ordinary acts of care.

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.)

Christ’s love – for you.
Bread for the hard places.

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

Prayer after Communion

God of life and promise,
we thank you for meeting us at this table.
You have fed us with bread for the difficult places,
and held our lament without turning away.

When we are afraid, keep us close to love.
When life is threatened, make us brave to protect it.

Send us out to practise careful courage –
to honour questions,
to protect the vulnerable,
to offer small acts of care,
to seek truth without cruelty,
and to trust the love that opens another way.
God of life,
now and forever. Amen.

Sending

Go in peace – not because every question is answered,
but because God stays with us in the asking.
We will protect life. We will offer care. We will follow the way of love.