Call to Worship
L: Jesus, thank you. Thank you for giving us a new command—that we love one another.
All: Thank you for showing us how to love by sitting at the table with your betrayer, Judas.
L: Thank you for forgiving us, loving us and pouring yourself out so that we can be with you forever.
All: Forgive us for being like Judas at times in our own lives. Forgive us for trading your presence for the things of this world.
L: We praise you, Jesus, for showing us how to walk through the valley of the shadow of death by your power and grace. We praise you, Jesus for preparing tables in the presence of our enemies.
All: Give us the grace, power, and strength each day to follow where you lead serving others- especially our enemies- with love and humility like you did.
Prayer:
Lord, on this night, take us back to that table where you fed your disciples one last time. Astound us with a new covenant- a new promise- that changes everything. Make the familiar new for us again in the receiving of the bread and the cup, as in them you are mysteriously, yet truly, present to us. It is in your name we pray. Amen.
Scripture Reading Matthew 26:20-29
20 When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; [a] 21 and while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” 25 Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”
Confession and Pardon:
My sisters and brothers, Christ shows us his love by becoming a humble servant. Let us draw near to God and confess our sin in the truth of God’s Spirit.
All: Most merciful God, we your Church confess that often our spirit has not been that of Christ. Where we have failed to love one another as he loves us, where we have pledged loyalty to him with our lips and then betrayed, deserted or denied him, forgive us, we pray; and by your Spirit make us faithful in every time of trial; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Pardon: Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ. But Christ suffered and died for us, was raised from the dead and ascended on high for us, and continues to intercede for us. Believe the good news: in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
All: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! Glory to God. Amen.
The Great Thanksgiving – UMH 13
P: The Lord be with you All: And also with you.
P: Lift up your hearts All: We lift them up to the Lord.
P: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
P: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. From the earth you bring forth bread and create the fruit of the vine and made covenant to be our sovereign God. You fed us manna in the wilderness, and gave grapes as evidence of the promised land. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
All: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
P: Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. When we had turned aside from your way and abused your gifts, you gave us in him your crowning gift. Emptying himself, that our joy might be full, he fed the hungry, healed the sick, ate with the scorned and forgotten, washed his disciples’ feet, and gave a holy meal as a pledge of his abiding presence. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” And so in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
All: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet. Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer – UMH 895
The Bread and Cup
Song – O, How He Loves You and Me – TFWS 2108
Kurt Kaiser
O how he loves you and me! O how he loves you and me!
He gave his life what more could he give?
O how he loves you, O how he loves me; O how he loves you and me.
Jesus to Calvary did go; his love for sinners to show,
What he did there brought hope from despair.
O how he loves you; O how he loves me; O how he loves you and me.
Prayer:
Thank you Jesus, for gathering us around this table and this gift of your never-failing and everlasting presence. As you continue to feed us this spiritual food may we grow stronger in our faith and nurtured to withstand the challenges of life and equipped for the work ahead of us. May God’s grace continue to pour out upon us as we are led by the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Song – Go to Dark Gethsemane – UMH 290
Go to dark Gethsemane; ye that feel the tempter’s power;
your Redeemer’s conflict see, watch with him one bitter hour.
Turn not from his griefs away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
See him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled,
arraigned; O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame or loss; learn of Christ to bear the cross.
Song – Ah, Holy Jesus – UMH 289
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
that we to judge thee, hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee, I crucified thee.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, not my deserving.
Song – Were You There – UMH 288
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Oh, oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Oh, Oh!
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Silence
Dismissal: Go, in peace. May Jesus Christ, who for our sakes became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, keep you and strengthen you this night and for ever. Amen