A Sung Communion for the Season of Advent - Updated - Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Note: I recently updated my "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" text from Singing at the Table for our Advent Lessons and Carols service at Drew Theological School. (You can hear the liturgy at the end of our service here.)

A Sung Communion Liturgy 

for the Season of Advent/Lessons and Carols

(Tune: HYFRYDOL, 87.87 D, UMH #196)

Text: Beth Quick, 2019, 2023. 

Incorporating phrases from “Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” Charles Wesley, 1744,

and “Comfort, Comfort, O My People,” Johann Olearius, 1671, Catherine Winkworth, trans. 

To the table, you’re invited. 

Lift your hearts to God and sing. 

Praise to God, who has created 

All the earth, each living thing. 

God, we lift our hearts in longing

as we trek the Advent road.

Seeking peace, yet still we struggle. 

Crumbling under sorrow’s load. 

Holy, Holy, you are Holy!

Blessed is the One who comes. 

All your works are full of glory.

Join in the unending hymn:

Sing Hosanna! Sing Hosanna! 

Now your gracious kin-dom bring. 

Child of Peace shall come among us.

Let the earth with praises ring!

Come, oh long-expected Jesus. 

Teach us how to work for peace. 

From our fears and wars release us. 

Let us now your justice seek. 

You’re our strength and consolation;

Hope of all the earth you are. 

Source of goodness, well of wisdom:

You’re the joy of every heart.  

On the night he was arrested, 

Jesus shared some bread and wine. 

Thanking God, he blessed and gave it:

Grace for all of humankind. 

“Bread - this is my body given. 

Wine - My life, poured out for you. 

Eat and remember that you are forgiven. 

Reconciled, you are made new.” 

Come, O Spirit, we call on you:

Be poured out upon these gifts 

Take these signs and make them into 

Body, spirit, life of Christ. 

Send us out now to serve your people 

Sharing in Christ’s gracious ways.  

By your strength we work for justice,

God of peace, lead us always. 

Kindle Book Giveaway: Singing at the Table

From 3am EST Friday, August 7th, 2020 until 2:59am EST on Thursday, August 20th, 2020, I'm running a book giveaway on Goodreads. You can find my author page on Goodreads here, and click below to enter to win one of 20 free copies of the Kindle version of Singing at the Table, my book of sung communion liturgies. 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Singing at the Table

by Beth Quick

Giveaway ends August 19, 2020.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

A Sung Communion for World Communion Sunday: For the Beauty of the Earth

For the Beauty of the Earth: A Sung Communion Liturgy for World Communion Sunday

Tune: DIX, 77.77.77 (“For the Beauty of the Earth,” UMH 92)

Gather, friends, from far and near

Gather, friends - you are welcome

Come to the table, join the meal

God invites us, every one.

Sing together, voices raise to our God this song of praise.

Lift your hearts up to the Lord!

God, we lift our hearts to you.

Give to God your thanks and praise.

It is right to give our thanks.

Sing together, voices raise to our God this song of praise.

God, you made us out of love,

Each one different, yet like you

We’re one people, all the earth

Many nations, many-hued

Sing together, everyone! Tell the world what God has done!

Though we are one, we’ve built up walls,

Nurtured fears and pain and strife,

In our anger, turned away

From the gift of God-breathed life.

Holy God, we turn to you. We repent and start anew.

So you sent your holy child,

Come to share your reign on earth

Breaking all our barriers down

Teaching us our sacred worth

Jesus Christ, God’s gift of grace! At the meal we take our place.

Jesus shared a meal with friends

Took and blessed and shared the bread

“This, my life, I give to you

Remember when you eat again”

We remember, we give thanks, for the meal of love and grace.

Jesus took a cup of wine

Shared with friends fruit of the vine

“In this cup forgiveness find,

Gift of mercy, gift divine.

We remember, we give thanks, for the meal of love and grace.

Pour on us your Holy Breath.

Pour your Spirit on these gifts.

Make them into Christ for us.

Make us Christ for the whole world.

God of all, to you we raise this our song of grateful praise.

Text: Beth Quick, 2018.

A Sung Communion Liturgy for World Communion Sunday: For the Beauty of the Earth by Rev. Dr. Beth Quick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A Sung Communion for the Season after Pentecost/Ordinary Time: Blessed Assurance

A Sung Communion for the Season after Pentecost/Ordinary Time:

Blessed Assurance TUNE: ASSURANCE (UMH #369)

Lift up your hearts, friends, time to give thanks!

Time now to gather, our voices to raise!

Called to the table, hearts turned to God,  

Come to meet Christ here, come now to praise.

Refrain: This is God’s table; come find your place.

Table of blessing, table of grace.

This is God’s table, this is God’s gift.

We are invited; come to the feast!

In God’s own image, we come to life.

God offers to us abundance and grace.

But we sought rather for power, success,

Losing our way and losing our place.

*Prophets and poets, judges and kings,

God working through them, a message to bring.

We did not listen, we would not hear.

We closed our hearts to all God would share.

Refrain: This is God’s table; come find your place.

Table of blessing, table of grace.

This is God’s table, this is God’s gift.

We are invited; come to the feast!

So God sent Christ in the fullness of time

God-come-among-us, human, divine

Christ lived among us, he shared the good news:

God’s kin-dom for all, God’s kin-dom for you.

Refrain: This is our story, this is our song,

praising our Savior all the day long;

this is our story, this is our song,

praising our Savior all the day long.

During the supper, Jesus took bread

Thanking and sharing, disciples he fed.

“This is my body, given for you.

Eat and remember when this you do."

After the supper, Christ shared the cup

‘This is my life - it’s poured out for you.

Sign of forgiveness, sign of God’s love,

Given to all: God’s promise made new.”    

Refrain: This is God’s table; come find your place.

Table of blessing, table of grace.

This is God’s table, this is God’s gift.

We are invited; come to the feast!

Blessed assurance! Jesus is mine!

O, what a foretaste of glory divine!

We come to the table, gift from above,

filled with God’s goodness, lost in God’s love.

Refrain: This is our story, this is our song,

praising our Savior all the day long;

this is our story, this is our song,

praising our Savior all the day long.

*Rather than a strict verse/refrain alternation, this liturgy occasionally uses a repeated verse before returning to the refrain. All refrains are marked. 

Text: Beth Quick, 2018 Incorporating phrases and refrain from “Blessed Assurance” by Fanny J. Crosby.

A Sung Communion Liturgy for the Season after Pentecost/Ordinary Time: Blessed Assurance by Rev. Dr. Beth Quick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

A Sung Communion Liturgy for Memorial Services or All Saints Sunday: Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy: A Sung Communion for Memorial Services,

or All Saints Sunday

TUNE: NICAEA

Written for the Upper New York Annual Conference 2018 Memorial Communion Service.

  

Holy, holy, holy! God, you are most holy.

We lift up our hearts to you. Together, voices raise:

We, your people gather, at the table gather!

God, in thanksgiving, now we sing your praise.  

You, O God, have formed us, shaped us in your image.

Breathed in us the breath of life and gave to us the earth.

Still, we turn away, God. Still, we wander from you.

God, you are calling. Let us hear your words!

God of priests and prophets, God of all disciples,

God of the faithful who have run their course in faith:  

Saints whose lives inspire us, holy friends who’ve shaped us,

God, for this witness, we give thanks and praise.

Holy, holy, holy, God of light and glory

Blessed is the one who co-mes, carrying your name

Holy, holy, holy, you are most holy.

You sent us Christ to usher in your reign.

Gathered at the table, sharing with disciples

Jesus took and broke the bread as he gave thanks to you.

“Take and eat this bread, friends, symbol of my body.

Share and remember these my words to you.”

When the meal was over, Jesus shared the wine

“Drink from this, the cup life, forgiveness shared with you.”

Jesus, we remember. Jesus, we are grateful.

Gift of redemption, covenant made new.

Holy God, we praise you! All the saints adore you.

All their days they walked your ways and followed Jesus Christ.

In this bless’d communion, we are all your people,

Then, now, and always, to eternal life.

Spoken words of consecration:

Holy, Holy, Holy God, pour out your Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts: the fruit of the vine, the bread of life.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we might be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by the love, the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Alternate Sung words of consecration:

Holy, Holy, Holy! God, pour out your Spirit.

Make these gifts become for us the body and the blood.

Make us hands and feet, God. Christ for the world!

We are redeemed, God, made new in your love.

Prayer after Communion:

Sent forth from the table, thankful for the mystery,

thankful for this holy meal in which we share in Christ,

joining with your saints, God, we are Christ’s body.

Sent forth to change the world, giving others life.  

Text: Beth Quick, 2018, Incorporating phrases from “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Reginald Heber.

A Sung Communion for Memorial Services and All Saints Sunday: Holy, Holy, Holy by Rev. Dr. Beth Quick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A Sung Communion Liturgy for Easter Sunday

Sung Communion Liturgy for Easter Sunday

(Tune: REGENT SQUARE (Suggested: “Easter People, Raise Your Voices,” UMH 304))

At the table, Easter people

Gather now, let voices ring

Lift your hearts to God, Creator

Lift your hearts, and praises bring.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Resurrection people, sing!

In God’s image, we’re created

Called to life from breath and dust.

Yet we turn from God, who loves us,

Building walls and breaking trust

God, forgive us! God forgive us! Holy God, deliver us!

Through the ages, God pursued us,

Calling us through prophets bold

Yet we would not heed the message

Or believe the truth they told

God, Hosanna! We, your people, in your mercy now enfold!

In the right time God sent Jesus

God-made-flesh, God face-to-face

Showing us the ways of justice

Healing, preaching, teaching faith

Sing Hosanna! Sing Hosanna! Jesus, Savior, Gift of Grace!

With disciples he shared supper

Cup of life and living bread

Symbols of his body, broken

Signs of his redeeming love

We remember! We remember! Grace and mercy we are fed. 

Pour on us your Holy Spirit,

We, your people gathered here.

Take these gifts of bread and cup now

Make them be as Christ for us

We, your people, we, your people

with the world Christ’s body share!

Let us live as Easter people

Bound no more by death and fear

We are children of God’s kin-dom

God’s redemption time is here

Now we gather, now we gather, gather for this holy meal!

***

Prayer after Communion:

Blessed, Forgiven, God, we thank you

For this Holy Mystery

Send us forth to love and serve you,

With your eyes the world to see.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Easter people we will be!  

Text: Beth Quick, 2017.

A Sung Communion Liturgy for Easter Sunday by Rev. Dr. Beth Quick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.