Communion, the sacramental act of eating the good news, calls believers to a simple table of complex meaning and experience. Our church wanted to explore more deeply the many meanings of this essential act of worship through a sermon series we called “Committed Communion: Eating More Grace.” We felt this was especially appropriate for Lent because, as Frederick Dale Bruner explains, the Last Supper is “paradoxically surrounded on either side by predictions of betrayal and denial—grace is surrounded by sin” (Matthew: A Commentary, Vol. 2 [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987], 610). In communion we participate in the communion of the Trinity, which is on full display in the holy meal, but in Lent we remember the many ways we have fallen short of being committed to communion with the triune God and our fellow believers. Our goal for this series was not just to teach about communion, but also to exhort all of us to remember what the Lord our God has done for us, to return to communion with God and each other, and to hope for the day of our full redemption.
What follows is a basic outline of the series with a dramatic reading that could be used with the confession and assurance portion of the worship service or as one of the day’s Scripture readings. Each reading includes two individual readers, with the congregation speaking the parts in bold.
In staging the liturgy we used traditional black banners as the backdrop for a rustic but full communion table. Our banners were made by Peggy Baas using shower curtains stretched over boards. The tablescape was designed and set by elder Ruby Meekhof.
Ash Wednesday
Remember Communion in the Wilderness
- Liturgy: Psalm 51:1–17, adapted
- Sermon: Matthew 4:1–11, “Satan Tempts Jesus with Bread”
- Focus: Committing to acknowledge our guilt and to repent
[Torn bread pieces are strewn over the floor. The cup is knocked over.]
Reader 1: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
[Reader 2 begins to gather the bread pieces.]
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. You are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Reader 1: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
[Reader 2 brings the bread pieces to the table.]
You desired faithfulness even in the womb. You desire a pure heart. You desire a steadfast spirit within me.
Reader 1: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
[Reader 2 picks up the cup and brings it to the table. The table is set.]
Reader 2: Therefore teach me wisdom! Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
[Reader 2 lights the Christ candle on the table.]
Reader 1: We bring our broken pieces to the table, yet Jesus will sustain us with this bread, his body. We bring a cup of repentance, yet Jesus will fill it with his blood of salvation.
First Sunday
Remember We Need Communion
- Liturgy: Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16, adapted
- Sermon: Matthew 27:11–26, “His Blood Is on Us and Our Children”
- Focus: Committing to Christ alone as the sacrifice for our sin
Reader 1: There is trouble around me. The serpent is underfoot. The lion pursues me.
[Reader 2 begins at the back of the sanctuary and carries the bread and the cup toward the table.]
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Reader 1: Evil befalls me. They are at my tent.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Reader 1: I need refuge. I need refuge!
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
[Reader 2 arrives at the table and places the bread and cup on it.]
Reader 2: The Father says: “Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.”
[Reader 2 lights the Christ candle.]
Reader 1: Jesus has set a table for us. It is a place of shelter. It is a place of dwelling with the Most High. It is the place for which we have longed.
Second Sunday
We Return to the Body in Communion
- Liturgy: Psalm 115:1–8, adapted
- Sermon: John 6:25–40, “Jesus is the Bread”
- Focus: Committing to being the body of Christ
[Reader 2 fastens signs to the front of the communion table that have names of common idols printed on them in large letters, such as money, politics, power, leisure, success, and food.]
Reader 1: The nations have their idols. Their idols are silver and gold—merely works of their hands. Their idols do not speak to them. They do not listen to them. They do not feel their pain or walk with them.
We feast on bread that does not satisfy. We look for sustenance and comfort where there is none.
[Reader 2 removes the signs one at a time and throws them into a trash bin.]
But our God became human. Our God speaks and listens to us. Our God knows our pain and walks with us.
[Reader 2 continues to remove the signs.]
Reader 1: Our God prepared a table for us, breaking his body and pouring out his blood for us. He welcomes us to a much better feast, one filled with the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
[Reader 2 places the bread and the cup on the table and lights the Christ candle.]
Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
Third Sunday
Made One in Communion
- Liturgy: Psalm 107:2–9, adapted
- Scripture: John 15:5–8; 1 Corinthians 11:17–26, “The True and Undivided Vine”
- Focus: Committing to being one with Christ
We have been wandering in the desert wastelands; we can find no way out.
[Reader 2 picks up an empty plate from the table and raises it above their head.]
We are hungry and thirsty. Our souls grow faint.
[Reader 2 picks up the empty cup and turns it over. They look for any sign of a drop.]
We cry to the LORD in our distress!
Reader 1: The LORD delivers you from your distress!
[Reader 2 fills the table with the elements as the reading continues and lights the Christ candle.]
Reader 1: The LORD delivers you from the desert.
He leads you to a place where you can settle. He satisfies your thirst. He fills your hunger with good things. He has gathered us from the east and the west, the north and the south at his table of steadfast love! His table unifies our diversity. Our wastelands become fertile valleys. Our distress becomes peace. We bear his fruit together!
Fourth Sunday
Hope to Be Made Holy in Communion
- Liturgy: Psalm 32, adapted
- Scripture: Matthew 9:14–17; 1 Corinthians 11:27–29, “New Wine at the Table”
- Focus: Committing to holy living
Reader 1: When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Reader 2: But Scripture says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
[Reader 2 brings the bread and the cup to the table.]
Reader 2: Jesus has prepared a table for all who love him and trust in him alone for their salvation. All who are truly sorry for their sins and desire to live in obedience to him as LORD are invited to come with gladness to the table.
Reader 1: Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
[Reader 2 lights the Christ candle.]
Therefore let us pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach us. You are our hiding place; you will protect us from trouble and surround us with songs of deliverance.
Reader 2: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit, for while they were still sinners, the LORD made a space for them at his table.
Palm Sunday
Hope for God’s Kingdom in Communion
- Liturgy: Luke 19:28–40, adapted
- Sermon: Revelation 19:7–9, “The Wedding of the Bride and the Lamb”
- Focus: Committing to the foretaste of the kingdom
Reader 1: Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
[Reader 2 exits the stage toward the back of the sanctuary.]
Reader 1: Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied:
“The Lord needs it.”
Reader 1: They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
[Reader 2 begins to walk from the back of the sanctuary towards the communion table while carrying the bread and the cup. They place the elements on the communion table.]
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Reader 1: Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus:
“Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
[Reader 2 lights the Christ candle.]
Reader 2: “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Maundy Thursday
Remember the Sacrifice of Communion
- Liturgy: Psalm 116:1–4, 12–19, adapted
- Sermon: Matthew 26:17–30, “The Lord’s Supper”
- Focus: Committing to remembering Christ’s death and resurrection
[The communion table is empty.]
Reader 1: The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD:
[Reader 2 brings the Christ candle to the table.]
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
[Reader 2 brings plates and cups to the table and sets the table as for a meal.]
Reader 1: What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?
[Reader 2 brings the cup and wine to the table.]
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
Reader 1: What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?
[Reader 2 brings the bread to the table.]
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Reader 1: What shall I return to the LORD for all his goodness to me?
[Reader 2 lights the Christ candle.]
I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.
We do this in remembrance of our LORD, who heard our cry for mercy and turned toward us.
Easter
Sent Out in Hope from Communion
- Liturgy: Psalm 118:1–2, 19–24, adapted
- Sermon: Luke 24:36–49, “The Disciples Touch the Wounds”
- Focus: Committing to participating in the joy of the kingdom because we are in the presence of the risen Christ
[The communion table is already set with the elements.]
Reader 1: Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Let his church cry out:
“His love endures forever!’
[Reader 2 brings out decorations for the table. The decorations should be joyous, brightly colored, and maybe even love themed (think Valentine’s hearts). This decorating continues throughout the rest of the reading.]
Reader 1: The LORD opened the gates of righteousness for us; this is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter his kingdom.
We will give you thanks, for you answered us; you have become our salvation!
Reader 1: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone of Christ’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes!
[Reader 2 finishes decorating the table and lights the Christ candle.]
Reader 2: The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
God’s love endures forever!