Eucharistic Prayer from Salal + Cedar

God be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to God our Creator.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

We give thanks to you for Jesus, whose first bed was a feed trough. He was baptized in the Jordan, tested in the wilderness, he traveled in fishing boats and told parables of farmers and seeds, labor and wages, yeast and bread.

We praise you here in the Bow and Elbow River watersheds, where both city and farm, wilderness and industry are side by side. We praise you at a time when the body of earth is broken again and again.

We give thanks for our place in the story of salvation. Our ancestors journeyed with you in creation and migration. They depended on the land, were displaced from the land and displaced others from their lands. They knew you in tents and cities, on mountains and by wells, in families and in dreams, and through wilderness prophets who spoke of lodgepole pines and listened to crows.

Together with angels and ancestors, chickadee and magpie, bear, moose and trout, aspen and larch, we join our voices with all creation in this ancient honour song (said):

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

On the night before he died, Jesus took bread, food of the poor, the work of field and hearth, he gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his friends saying: Take and eat, this is my body, given for you, do this to remember me.

Again after supper he took the cup of wine, fruit of the land, gave thanks and gave it to his friends saying: This is my blood, which is shed for you. When you do this, do it in memory of me.

Remembering Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and awaiting his coming kingdom, we offer you this bread and this cup.

Creator, send your Spirit on these gifts so that we know Jesus in them and are gathered together with everyone who shares this sacred meal of justice and community. Fill us with the courage and love of Jesus that we may strive for justice and peace, respect the dignity of every human being, and safeguard the integrity of creation. All honor and glory are yours, Creator, Christ and Spirit, now and forever. Amen.


--Eucharistic Prayer adapted from Salal + Cedar, Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. Salal + Cedar's website is here.

Lenten Communion Invitation from Iona

Like a tent in the wilderness 

the table of God stands open and ready 

as a place of sanctuary and safety, 

of hospitality and healing. 

So come, 

all you who are tired and travel-stained, 

footsore and famished; 

come with your fellow travellers 

and find companionship and comfort; 

for here, Jesus – 

who knows what it is to wander, watch and wrestle 

in desert places – 

waits to meet us and welcome us in, 

offering us rest and restoration, 

solace and strength, 

for the journey still to come.

-- Pat Bennet, from Walking the Wilderness: A Communion Liturgy for the Season of Lent (pdf purchased from Wild Goose Publications)

Blessing for a Pregnant Woman

The following may be used either privately or at a public service.

 

O Lord and giver of life, receive our prayer for N. and for the child she has conceived, that they may happily come to the time of birth, and serving you in all things may rejoice in your loving providence. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

 

When appropriate, any or all of the following may be added:

Blessed are you, Lord God. You have blessed the union of N. and N. Amen.

Blessed are you, Lord God. May your blessing be upon N. and the child she carries. Amen. 

 

Blessed are you, Lord God. May this time of pregnancy be for N. and N. months of drawing nearer to you and to one another. Amen. 

 

Blessed are you, Lord God. May N. and N.’s experience of birth be full of awe and wonder and the joy of sharing in your creation. Amen. 

 

Blessed are you, Lord God. Let the fullness of your blessing be upon those whom we bless in your Name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

-- From the Book of Occasional Services, 2018, pp 139-140

Litany of Penitence, from the Book of Common Prayer

Litany of Penitence 

The Celebrant and People together, all kneeling
 Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

The Celebrant continues 
We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord. 

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord. 

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord. 

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord. 

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great. 

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection. 

The Bishop, if present, or the Priest, stands and, facing the people, says 
Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn from their wickedness and live, has given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel.

Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Peace is then exchanged.

Blessing of the Hands

Blessed be the works of your hands, O Holy One.
Blessed be these hands that have touched life.
Blessed be these hands that have nurtured creativity.
Blessed be these hands that have held pain.
Blessed be these hands that have embraced with passion.
Blessed be these hands that have tended gardens. 
Blessed be these hands that have closed in anger.
Blessed be these hands that have planted new seeds.
Blessed be these hands that have harvested ripe fields.
Blessed be these hands that have cleaned, washed, mopped, scrubbed.
Blessed be these hands that have become knotty with age.
Blessed be these hands that are wrinkled and scarred from doing justice.
Blessed be these hands that have reached out and been received.
Blessed be these hands that hold the promise of the future.
Blessed be the works of your hands, O Holy One.

-Diann Neu, from the book Earth Prayers