GREETING (Adapted from Exodus 3:14-16)
I Am Who I Am, you have spoken
from the bush, the prophets and your Son!
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
has come to rescue those in bondage to sin!
Let us bow down before you, I Am,
and lift up prayers and songs of thanksgiving!
HYMN 635 “Because Thou Hast Said”
PSALM 147
PRAYER
(Consider some of the following concerns of people for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)
Jesus – the bread of life Those hungry for bread
Jesus’ gift of living bread Those who feed the hungry
Opportunities to receive the living bread Jesus’ words of spirit and life
The desire for the living bread Those hungry for the bread of life
The abundance of the living bread Those offering the bread of life
The good taste of the living bread Experiences of holy communion
The way living bread satisfies Breaking bread together
Eternal life in the living bread Breaking bread in love
Believing Jesus is the living bread ____________________________
How Jesus nurtures us ____________________________
How Jesus satisfies our every need ____________________________
THE LORD'S PRAYER
SCRIPTURE LESSON
(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)
Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.
Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.
Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.
Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.
PRAYER
God who provides our daily bread, do it again.
Feed us the bread of life.
Jesus told the crowds that unless we eat his flesh,
we will have no life in us.
Those words offended many who followed him,
and they turned away.
His words are of no offense to us today, God.
We think, “Communion.”
There is no offense as we eat the body Jesus gave.
“It’s spiritual,” we say.
Are we fools to think we can remove the offense?
We forget why Jesus died.
It is our sinning that forces Jesus onto the cross.
That was our cross, not his.
The one who sins should face the consequences.
Anything else is offensive.
Jesus was full of only your goodness and love.
He did not deserve to die.
Sacrificing the best for the worst is very offensive.
We reject that policy!
But this is exactly what you have done for us, God.
Christ instead of us!
Your perfect goodness should never be consumed
by our never-ending sin!
Offensive? Yes! Vulgar? Yes! Wrong? Well…
it really is our only hope.
We have come to believe and know your Holy One,
who is our life eternal.
Jesus’ death is offensive, but where else can we go?
He had to die for us.
We just do not want to be the cause of his death,
and yet we are guilty.
We would choose some other, less offensive, way
but there is none.
Jesus is the bread of life, come down from heaven.
We will consume him.
Jesus makes us strong and feeds us with eternity.
We will eat his flesh.
We need Jesus in us to keep us on the path to you.
Fill us with him, God.
Forgive us our sinning and bless us with obedience.
We love our Savior.
In his self-giving love, we receive his life and peace.
Feed us again, Father.
And give us a taste for communing with him forever. Amen.
SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)
HYMN 599 “Break Thou the Bread of Life”
CLOSING PRAYER
Your greatness, I Am, is our joy and our hope,
for you have sent your Son to be our shepherd,
the true vine and bread of life, the world’s light,
the gate, opening to grace, shutting out danger.
He has become to us the resurrection and life,
our way, our truth and our life forever and ever.
May our thoughts, words and deeds all this day,
faithfully reflect his presence and compassion. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
