Alternate texts liturgy w/communion for May 18, 2025 (Easter 5-C)

Texts: Leviticus 19:9-18; Psalm 24:1-6; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

Call to Worship
Come, you who have more than you need
and you who live at the edges of life.
God has more than enough grace
for each person everywhere.
Come, you whose hunger for justice is not fille,
and you who yearn for mercy in life.
The love of Jesus is wide enough
to encompass us all in loving arms.
Come, you who glide like eagles in the sky
and you who totter like babies learning to walk.
The Spirit throws wide the closed doors
to welcome everyone looking for community.

Prayer of the Day
Compassion beyond compare,
as you gathered up the dust
and breathed life into us,
you whispered your hopes
that we would become grace
swaddling shattered hearts,
we would become companions
to those whose loneliness
is ignored by far too many.

Jesus of that upper room,
you put aside your weariness
to wrap love like an apron around you,
kneeling at callused and aching feet
when you should be handed a crown.
And with those simple tools
of a towel and water-filled basin,
you teach us to kneel,
to care for the forgotten,
to love with generosity,
to show mercy to all.

Spirit who is in every breath,
where we look at strangers,
you see a new community,
when we find it too risky to love,
you push us to embrace others.
you whisper for us to go sit
at the table where the loneliness is,
to live peace not just speak it,
and cradle hope in our hands
to give away to everyone we meet.

God in Community, Holy in One,
may love not just be a word,
but become foot rubs,
baths for little kids,
and fresh bread for neighbors,
even as we pray as we are taught,
(The Lord’s Prayer)

Call to Reconciliation
It is no longer a new commandment; we have known it all our lives. Yet we find it so hard to love – ourselves, others, sometimes even God. But God loves us enough to forgive us for all our faults and foolishness. Join me as we tell of how we have hurt God, others, and even ourselves.

Unison Prayer for Forgiveness
   Gardener of holiness and hope, you shower us with abundant blessings, yet we are reluctant to share from the bounty. You seek to plant justice in our hearts, but we often pluck it out before it can take root. Your wish is that we might leave grace at the edges for all who are broken or hungry or lonely, but we tend to harvest it all for ourselves.
   When we fail to love others as ourselves, forgive us, God of our lives. When we trip our neighbors with our judgments, forgive us, God of the forgotten. When we utter hurtful words instead of kind ones, forgive us, God of healing. When we lose our way, continue to point us to Jesus, our Brother, who will walk with us to lead us to serve others, we pray. Amen.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Grace
If God based grace on what we deserve, our lives would be empty. But God’s grace flows into us like rain on drought-baked soil, to nurture the seeds of life, of hope, of love within us.
What marvelous, good news! We are forgiven, we are healed, we are loved. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication/Offering
More than enough, more than we need, more than we should hoard. There are neighbors, strangers, those who need your grace, your love, your hope in their lives, Gracious God. Take our gifts and transform them into all the need. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Invitation to the Table
Come to the feast of grace
prepared for those who hunger for hope.
Come to the table of love
where strangers become family.
Come to the table of justice
where those who have so much
are reminded to share with all
who have little in their lives.
Come to the table of life!

The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
May the God of love be with you.
May you be surrounded by God’s love.
In these moments, let us offer our hearts to God.
May God fill us with that love we share
with our neighbors, as well as strangers.
With all those in this place, we lift
our glad songs of praise to God.
Whether we sing with gusto or in silence
we rejoice in God’s love for us.

There at the edges of chaos
is where you gleaned creation,
open-hearted God,
planting wildflowers in meadows,
illumining the night sky with stars,
teach dolphins to swim.
Into the dust of your artistry
you breathed life,
not treating us as strangers
but as family of your heart.
All that flowed from your
imagination was for us,
but we would rather gather
from the edges of sin.
Longing to keep your gates
wide open for sojourners,
you called us through prophets,
but we closed our ears
as well as our hearts to them.
So, at the right time,
you sent your Child –
Bread, Shepherd, Friend, Life –
who taught us by example
to love one another
as we are loved by you.

And so, with those dear to us
as well as all called beloved by you
we sing of wonder and hope to you:

Holy, Holy, Holy are you, God of the edges.
All creation hopes for the new heaven and earth.
Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the One who gleans hope for us.
Hosanna in the highest!

While you are holy, God,
you are even more loving,
which is why you sent your Child
to be with us, to be one of us.
Refusing to measure grace
by any form of merit,
he poured it out freely
like rain ending a dry spell.
Knowing us better
than we know ourselves,
he gathers up our mistakes,
plows under our grudges,
and plants hope deep within us.
Trusting you without reservations,
he went into the grave’s cold embrace
where you chose to make
all things new, including Jesus,
restoring him to resurrection life.

As we join all in seeking to gather hope
in these times where to love the stranger
as if they were our neighbor is ridiculed,
we speak of the mystery which is our faith:

Christ died, because he loved.
Christ was raised, because he was loved.
Christ will come, because we are loved.

Now, in this moment and in this place,
pour out your Spirit on the gifts
of the bread and the cup, and on all
who will be blessed by the meal.
With the bread which is broken,
feed us with love and justice
so we may care for the vulnerable,
speak out for the forgotten,
welcome the stranger as family.
With the cup of life,
fill us with your grace,
so we may love those
who are hated by so many,
may we become a community
for all the lonely of our world.

And when the moment arrives
of the new heaven and new earth,
gather us with our siblings
from every time and place
around the Table of grace,
where we will sing your praises
forever and ever,
God in Community, Holy in One.
Amen.

Sending
Go now, as God’s people.
May we glean hope from
the edges of our fears
to share it with those we meet.
Go now, as followers of Jesus.
May we love our neighbor
as much as we love ourselves,
and love the stranger even more.
Go now, with the Holy Spirit.
May we gather with everyone
as we are woven into a new community.

© 2025 Thom Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman