Service of Word and Sacrament – Holy Thursday

Gathering

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Let us acknowledge the sovereign and unceded lands and waters
of First Nations people …

Placing the sticks from Gadigal land
and using the chat function to acknowledge Country …

We pay our respects to First Nations people
who may be present.

We pay our respects to Elders past and present,
and recognise the work of younger Indigenous leaders
in the community.

We support the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

There is no reconciliation without justice
and the telling of truths hard to hear.

There is much good work to do.

GRACE

Sisu,
tapuaki’i mai me’a kai,
mo’ui lelei famili kotoa.
’Emeni.

(Jesus,
bless our food,
for good health with all our families.
Amen.)

We enjoy a light meal.

GREETING AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The grace of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the friendship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.
And also with you.

OPENING PRAYER

We hold in our prayers …

Today we begin the Great Three Days
of Jesus’ suffering,
his death and resurrection;
the journey from the supper table to the cross,
from the cross to Easter dawn.

We are followers in his way,
receiving his truth,
encountering his life.

We give ourselves freely to the demands of these Three Days,
confident that those who die with Christ
will surely live with him.

CONFESSION

Let us be still
and open to the Spirit
of grace and truth …

Silence.

FORGIVENESS (2 Corinthians 11:9)

Hear the word of the Apostle Paul:

“God said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

Jesus says, Your sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

COLLECT

God,
you save the lowly and bring goodness to all.
Help us to love one another,
even when it is costly,
that we might be a community of compassion.
In the name of Jesus,
who shows us how to serve
with dignity and courage.
Amen.

Word

GOSPEL John 13:1-17,31b-35

The good news and power of God.
Praise to you, O Jesus Christ.

HOMILY

INTERCESSIONS

Silence for prayers … using chat function and prayer cards.

God, in your grace,
hear our prayer.

Silence for prayers …

Faithful God,
these are the prayers of your Church.

We offer them, trusting and hoping in you.

Hear and help us, challenge and change us,
through Sisu Kalaisi our Sovereign.
Amen.

Table

It was at this time
when everything came to a head.

One whole life,
offered for others,
amid fractious disciples,
power struggles,
jockeying for position.

On this day
we too take bread and wine,
and receive the gift …

GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

God is here.
God’s Spirit is with us.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to God.

Let us give thanks to the God of love.
It is right to offer thanks and praise.

Thanks and praise, glory and honour
are rightly yours, O God …

We give thanks …

You are holy, O God of glory,
and holy is the face of your Beloved.

In Jesus, your word and your breath
have come to dwell with us,
light for the world
and hope for your people …

Therefore we praise you:
Holy, holy, holy God,
wisdom, strength and hope,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of our God.
Hosanna in the highest.

INSTITUTION

We remember Jesus …

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us …

Keep us close to Christ who teaches us to pray:

Abba God in heaven, glory to you!
Your rule of love renews the earth.

In your name, we take part in that renewal
helping, and not harming,
caring, and not coercing …

We pray that we might receive with thanks
the bread we need,
the money we need,
the warmth we need …

We pray that forgiveness and freedom
flow through our lives.

Teach us that in sharing life
we live life to the full …

Remind us that evil is subtle.
Still, we are not trapped by it,
but confident
that love is stronger than hate,
justice other than revenge,
true peace the work of your Spirit.

BREAKING OF THE BREAD

LAMB OF GOD

THE COMMUNION

SONG

Virginia and family

Bread broken, wine shared; Jesus, here,
Taking our lives, opening our hearts,
making us whole,
Setting our loving free.

Take all our dreams, all that we are,
All that we could ever be.
Lord of all life, we want to be yours,
We take bread and eat.

Open our minds, open our hearts,
Let love set us free within.
Lord of all life, we want to be yours,
We pour wine and drink.

Make us alive, filled with your hope,
Living what’s really true.
Lord of all life, we want to be yours,
We know this is you.

The body and blood of Christ, given for you.

Basin

FOOTWASHING

“Now Jesus teaches his disciples what he had learned from the woman who washed his feet” (Margaret Mayman).

“A community formed and sustained by mutual and equal friendship is ultimately about ‘being Jesus’, ‘feeding, healing, and raising the dead’; in being, in the words of the book of Wisdom, friends of God, and prophets” (Margaret Mayman).

Friends in Christ, I invite you to come forward,
that we may remember Christ’s teaching,
that what is done for us is also to be done for others.

Songs by Virginia and Sini … silence.

Sending

PRAYER

It was on this day,
when everything came to a head;
a life offered for others;
a ministry of healing and teaching,
of witness to the reign of God.

It was on this day that Christ gave us these gifts:
the breaking of bread, his body;
the pouring of wine, his blood;
the washing of feet, our feet,
and the feet of others.

In this is the call to love one another,
as Christ has loved us.

In this holy meal is the Good News
that there will always be a new dawn,
a Third Day,
no matter how many Good Fridays there are.

PEACE

The peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.

We bow to each other …

No Blessing is given here; it waits until the end of the Easter Vigil
(dawn on Easter Day).

Christ was faithful/loving to the point of death,
even death on a cross.

God is love.
There is love to share
and there is more to love.

Go in peace. Amen.

We depart in silence.

Acknowledgements
Collect by Miriam Pepper.

Lord’s Prayer paraphrase by Andrew Collis.

‘Bread broken, wine shared’ (AOV 2/155) © Robyn Horner 1994.
Lyric reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE, License # A-737036.
All rights reserved.