Living the Liturgy: From Table to Mission
by Chip Andrus
In the common four-fold pattern
of the liturgy (Gathering, The Word, Eucharist and Sending)1
we conclude the section called The Word with the prayers
of the people and then enter the Eucharist with our offering.
However, it is helpful for us to see the whole liturgy (Gathering,
The Word, Eucharist and Sending) as a continuous movement
as apposed to four sections of one event. We may find that
translating the liturgy to the work of everyday living is
better understood as a continuous movement between all the
sections of Lord’s Day worship. The movement between
the Prayers of the People, Offering and Communion are what
we will discuss very briefly here.
The Prayers of the People,
the Offering and the Table move us from petition to expression
of covenantal action to communion and then out into the
world where we live out our baptism through mission articulated
in our prayers and offering. We are nourished for this mission
at the table where we are joined with Christ and all who
break bread in his name, and sent into the world to be Christ
(the foundation of our mission).
The Prayers of the People
are prayers for our world, the church, the nations, the
communities in which we live, those who suffer and so forth.
In these prayers, we intercede on others behave. We petition
God to be at work in the world. We pray for peace in our
world, unity in our church. We pray that leaders of the
nations will seek peace and the welfare of all people. We
pray for our communities, the homeless, those who need medical
care, people who govern us locally. We pray for all who
suffer and recognize those we know by name. We offer all
these prayers to God as people of faith, who believe that
God is alive and working in our world.
We also believe that God works
visibly through us. Consider the prayers of the people and
what we expect to happen. We know that God is already present
and active in the world and we seek to join in God’s
unfolding reign. In our baptismal vows we made a covenant
to be faithful members of the church and to:
Share in its worship and ministry
Through prayers and gifts,
Your study and service,
And so fulfill your calling to be a disciple of Jesus Christ
2
When we pray for peace in world,
is this also not a call to action on our part? If we pray
for peace should we not actively pursue peace as a service
to Christ? When we pray for the welfare of all people, is
this not a call to mission and service? Are we not called
to respond through our gifts of money for mission and also
in service, offering our very lives to the mission of Christ
in the world? When we pray for our communities, the homeless,
the sick are we not articulating the mission we have before
us? Surely we do not pray for such things without making
a commitment to serve those around us! We pray these things
as partners in mission with Christ in the world. Our prayers
articulate how we can offer ourselves in mission to the
world as well as our communities. When we pray for the sick,
do we then not visit them, participating in what God is
doing by offering ourselves in service to Christ? The same
could be said for every petition we make: they articulate
what we most desire God to be doing in the world. While
our hopes and desires do not set an agenda for God: at our
best we articulate what we understand God to be doing in
the world and how we can participate in the mission of Christ.
And in all of this we rely on God's Spirit to guide us.
The prayers of the people and our offering cannot be separated
from one another when we understand our petitions and our
mission to be one and the same.
The Book of Common Worship expresses the act of offering
in these words:
“The Christian life
is marked by the offering of one's self to God to be shaped,
empowered, directed, and changed by God. In worship, God
presents us with the costly self-offering of Jesus Christ.
We are claimed by Christ and set free. In response to God's
love in Jesus Christ we offer God our lives, our gifts,
our abilities, and our material goods, for God's service.
From early centuries in Christian history, the offering
has been the occasion for presenting the bread and wine
to be used in the Lord's Supper…gifts of bread and
wine may therefore be brought to the table in thanksgiving
for God's Word.” 3
We offer our lives, our gifts,
our abilities and our material goods for God ’s service.
The way we offer these things is a way of living out of
and into our prayers.
The offering is also inextricably connected to the Table.
Imagine yourself in the first or second century. You would
not be able to go to the local grocery and buy bread and
wine. In fact, much of your livelihood may be consumed with
growing and producing food and wine. Regardless of one’s
vocation, bread and wine were much more connected to daily
living than they are today. To offer bread and wine may
have been for the early church as valuable as money is for
us today. However, both money and the early church’s
food and wine, are associated with our daily lives. What
we do for a living provides the money for our offering.
The interconnectedness of the offering, table and mission
of the church is expressed in Justin Martyr’s First
Apology:
“After these (the
service, which always includes the sacred meal) we constantly
remind each other of these things. Those who have more come
to the aid of those who lack…What is collected is
deposited with the president, and he takes care of orphans
and widows, and those who are in want on account of sickness
or any other cause, and those who are in bonds, and the
strangers who are sojourners among (us)…” 4
Our offering and the Lord’s
Supper are places where worship intersects with our lives.
They are inextricably connected to one another and our mission
in the world. Our lives, our gifts, our abilities, and our
material goods are all part of the offering we bring to
this table where we meet Christ and are given food for the
journey. In our prayer of Great Thanksgiving at the table
we say:
Remembering all you mighty
and merciful acts,
We take this bread and this wine
from the gifts you have given us,
and celebrate with joy the redemption won for us in Jesus
Christ.
Accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy offering of ourselves,
that our lives may proclaim the one crucified and risen.
5
We ask God to accept our acts
as a living and holy offering of ourselves. The offering
we make is joined with Christ by God’s Spirit in bread
and wine. And we pray:
…Give us strength
to serve you faithfully
until the promised day of resurrection,
when with the redeemed of all the ages
we will feast with you at your table in glory. 6
Nourished at this table with
the body and blood of Christ we are sent out to be the body
of Christ in the world. Our prayer following communion articulates
our sense of mission:
Eternal God,
we give you thanks for this holy mystery
in which you have given yourself to us.
Grant that we may go into the world
in the strength of your Spirit,
to give ourselves for others
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.7
