[ This is the Great Thanksgiving prayer for the Sustainable Grace Series created by Church of the Beloved for Clayfire/Sparkhouse - a fantastic new publishing co. Check them out. ]
TABLE: The Lord be with you
ALL: And also with you
TABLE: Lift up your hearts
ALL: We lift them up to the Lord
TABLE: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
ALL: It is right to give God thanks and praise
TABLE: “We thank you God for most this amazing day:
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is ‘yes’!
We who have died are alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;
this is the birth day of life and love and wings:
and of the gay great happening illimitably earth!
How should tasting, touching, hearing, seeing, breathing any–
lifted from the ‘no’ of all nothing–human-merely-being
doubt unimaginable You?
Now the ears of our ears awake and
Now the eyes of our eyes are opened.”
Therefore, with the sky and all that flies in it,
with the sea and all that swims in it,
with the land and all that runs, crawls and slithers on it,
we join in the song of unending praise:
SING: All Creation cries, “Holy holy holy God”
Earth’s crammed with heaven and every bush afire with God:
But only those who see, only those who see, only those who see, take off their shoes.
TABLE: In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith:
SING: When we eat this bread and drink this cup we claim your death
Lord Jesus, until you come, until you come, in glory.
ONE: This we believe:
ALL: God is the source of all creation,
and all that God creates is good.
ONE: This we believe:
ALL: Earth is a sanctuary,
a sacred planet filled with God’s presence,
a home for us to share with all creatures.
ONE: This we believe:
ALL: God became flesh and blood, a part of Earth,
a human being called Jesus, who lived and breathed
and spoke among us, suffered and died on a cross
for all human beings and for all creation.
ONE: This we believe:
ALL: The risen Jesus is at the center of creation,
reconciling all things to God,
renewing all creation and filling the cosmos.
ONE: This we believe:
ALL: The Holy Spirit sustains life in creation,
groans in empathy with a suffering creation,
and waits with us for the rebirth of creation.
ONE: This we believe:
ALL: We believe that with Christ we will rise
and with Christ we will celebrate a new creation.
TABLE: So now, Holy Spirit, come!
And fall on this bread and wine,
uniting Heaven and Earth in these,
the gifts of God for the people of God.
Come! Everyone come to Christ’s table,
for it is here that you will receive
a taste of the feast that is to come,
it is here that you will receive
energy for the work ahead of you,
And it is here that all Creation is renewed.
