A creative communion service for intergenerational/youth-led worship #embodiment #unity #abundance #tableofplenty #simple 
Based on John 17:20-26

I was asked this week if I could create a communion liturgy for a youth-led service that would reflect Jesus’s prayer for unity among his disciples and, perhaps, provide the opportunity for people to serve one another. Immediately, the idea of large soft-baked pretzels and big cups of juice being poured out of a large jug sprung to mind.

Why? Well, I think it’s because one of the things that really irks me about a traditional communion service is how the sharing in the one loaf often means we get a meagre piece of pre-cut stale bread which says nothing to me of the abundance found at the Lord’s table – in the meal nor in the sharing with one another. I also loved the idea of the knot shape of a pretzel serving as a visual symbol of being tied together. Finally, I wanted this sharing to be the end of the service – the blessing of taking and breaking and talking with one another as we go out into the world with that which sustains us ….

It contains all the liturgical elements of a traditional communion service: thanksgiving, breaking, sharing, and sending in simplified language appropriate to the context.

And so:

You will need:
~ a large jug and enough glasses or plastic cups for each person
~ big soft-baked pretzels - which can be shared in couples and family groups as people are comfortable
~ to prime folk for their response: May we be one.

---

One. May we be one:

At this table
Jesus gathers his disciples
and shows us how a little
becomes a lot more
when we are joined together
in love.
We are grateful that, through him,
we can be one with God
and one with the world
and one with one another.

One. May they be one.

This was Jesus’s prayer
on the night before he was betrayed,
knowing full well
that his disciples were being pulled
in so many different directions
by their beliefs,
their hangups,
and even their ambitions.

<hold a pretzel up so that the breaded knot is visible>

So he took bread, gave thanks,
broke it and gave it to them saying:
This is my body, given for you,
given for all,
so that you may be whole.

One. May we be one.

<hold up the jug and pour juice dramatically into a glass>

In the same way, after supper,
he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it to them saying:
This is my blood, shed for you,
shed for all,
so that you may be reunited.

One. May we be one.

<place both elements on the table before you and bless them with outstretched arms>

And so, we remember,
in bread and wine
shared with one another,
Jesus’s prayer for us
and his prayer for the world.

One. May we be one>

May the blessing of the Spirit
be upon the gifts of grace
that we receive at this table,
that we may be gifts of grace
to one another
and to the world.

One. May we be one.

<break a pretzel>

The bread we break
is a free gift for the hungry.

<hold up the cup>

The cup we share
is a feast in Christ’s fullness.

<hold up both elements together>

The gifts of God for the people of God.
One. May we be one.

So now, come up to the table as you are ready,
not on your own,
but in twos or threes,
a family of four,
and take a pretzel—
a knot of dough,
a symbol of our lives tied together in Christ
and in the sharing of this sacrament.

Take what you need.
Share it.
Tear off pieces.
Offer it to someone else.
Break it together as families, as friends,
as people becoming a people.

Take a cup,
filled from the same jug –
your own or enough for others too.
See how one source can satisfy many.

And as you eat and drink, talk with one another.
Speak kindness.
Speak truth.
Speak love.

Then go into the world,
speaking these gifts into being,
carrying the gifts you have received this morning,
seeing the gifts of Spirit in all that you meet,
and sent in the unity Jesus prayed for:

One. Make us one.