Seeking Lent: A General Communion Liturgy
This Lent, we are engaging in the spiritual practice of seeking—with honest and faithful questions as our guide. If you are using our Seeking bundle, you will see that our Words for Worship resource includes Communion liturgy for Easter Sunday. Below is a general Communion liturgy, inspired by our Seeking theme, that could be used for any Sunday in Lent. Because our large ecumenical community encompasses different rhythms and rituals for Communion/The Eucharist, we hope you can use this as template, adapting the liturgy for your context.
INVITATION TO THE TABLE option #1:
The Things We Seek
Friends, if we are honest with ourselves and with God,
we are all seeking something.
Some of us long for a place to belong.
Others seek permission to be who we are made to be.
Some of us are hungry for connection,
hungry for justice,
or hungry for a glimpse of the Divine.
No matter what it is your soul longs for,
there is good news to be found here.
Friends, this is Christ’s table.
We are the guests.
He is the host.
There is a seat here with your name on it.
Thanks be to God for a love like that.
INVITATION TO THE TABLE option #2:
Stop the Search
Friends, if your seeking has led you here,
if your weary heart followed breadcrumbs all the way to this sanctuary,
then I have good news:
you do not have to seek anymore.
This table is God’s Table.
So if you came here looking for justice,
then rest in the comfort that all will be fed here.
If you came seeking beauty,
then let your spirit marvel at the beauty of a community coming together.
If you came seeking a brush with the Divine,
then know that God is present in this ordinary meal.
So kick off your walking shoes.
Let your weary heart stop the search.
We are standing on holy ground.
This is God’s Table.
All are invited.
Come.
GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
God of the lost and the found,
surely it is right for us to give our thanks and praise;
for day after day we look for you,
and day after day we find you:
in the laugher of children,
in the sun rising over the horizon,
in the flowers of spring.
Our seeking does not go unanswered,
and for that we are grateful.
So first and foremost, we come to you in prayer to say thank you,
for when we’re seeking beauty,
you give us mountains and freckles, green eyes and brown eyes.
When we we’re looking for reason to hope,
you give us rainbows after the storm, and candles flickering in the window.
When we’re seeking peace,
you give us three part harmony and the sound of the rain.
And when we’re seeking justice,
your life reminds us that everyone is welcome at your Table, and none shall be turned away.
For all these reminders we are deeply grateful.
And yet, gracious God, our seeking does not stop.
For even though your fingerprints are all over this world,
we are not yet at your promised day.
So in addition to our gratitude, we also pray today for conviction.
Do not let us get comfortable with half-hearted seeking.
Do not let us grow numb to the suffering of this world.
Make us relentless in our pursuit of justice—
relentless in our consoling of the grieving,
in our welcoming of the stranger,
and in the feeding of the hungry.
Like a dog with a scent,
may we walk toward your kingdom,
never giving up, never wandering off the path.
And as we see and as we seek, pour out your Spirit on this ordinary bread and cup.
May this meal be the nourishment we need to continue seeking you in the world.
Until your promised day, we will pray.
Until your promised day, we will seek, saying:
Our Father…
Continue with the Lord’s Prayer in the language and wording most familiar to you.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
God of manna and mustard seeds,
we came to this Table hungry
and we leave feeling full—
full of hope,
full of promise,
full of what could be.
For we not only found glimpses of you at this Table,
but we caught a glimpse of the way things could be:
in a meal where all are welcomed and all are fed.
Is there anything holier than that?
So thank you for nourishing our curiosity
alongside our spirit and our conviction.
May we always seek you the way you seek after us.
With grateful hearts we pray, amen.
Credit info:
You are welcome to use or adapt these words for worship, with credit. When using these prayers for worship, please use the following credit line: “Prayer by Rev. Sarah A. Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org.” If you adapt the prayers, please include the following credit line: “Adapted from a prayer by Rev. Sarah A. Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org.” Refer to our licensing guidelines for more information: sanctifiedart.org/licensing-terms.
Rev. Sarah A. Speed
Founding Creative Partner
Sarah (Are) Speed (she/her) is the Associate Pastor for Young Adults and Membership at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. Sarah feels called to welcome people into the church by using her energy and passion for beautifully scripted words, raw and relevant liturgy, and hands-on worship experiences to engage our longing for God and the need for justice in this messy world. Writing is Sarah’s most beloved spiritual practice. You can find her daily poems on Instagram and on Facebook at: @writingthegood | writingthegood.com.