6:15 PM – Welcome, Logistics and Explanation of the Evening
WELCOME, LOGISTICS AND EXPLANATION OF THE EVENING
Welcome to Dinner Church and Prayers around the Cross at Treehouse! We are thrilled you are here. If it is new to you, not to worry! We will guide you through everything.
Things to know about your time with Treehouse…
You are welcome here and we are blessed by your presence!
Come and go as you need.
Restrooms are all-Gender and located in the hall to the right.
Communion: bread is gluten-free, wine (red) & white grape juice (clear) are available.
WELCOME TO THE TABLE
L: As we gather at this dinner table, we welcome one another to the community we share. Know that ALL are fully welcome in this space.
A statement of welcome:
To long-time Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to the faith. To all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts or do not believe. To people of every age and size, color and culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, and marital status, ability, disability, and challenge. To believers, non-believers, questioners, and questioning believers. This is a place where you are welcome to: celebrate and struggle, rejoice and recover.
Opening Song – All are Welcome
Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where love is found
in water, wine and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Text: Marty Haugen, b. 1950. Text © 1994 GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638. www.giamusic.com. 800.442.3358. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Sharing of the Bread
L: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
L: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them to the Lord.
L: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
L: In this meal is found the greatest promise we have of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Here God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ.
In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks,
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
“Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”
And so tonight, we do the same. We take bread, broken for us, and share it with one another with those sacred words, “The body of Christ given for you.”
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Bread is passed to your neighbor, saying: “The body of Christ given for you.”
Communion Song – Let Us Break Bread Together
Let us break bread together on our knees;
let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
Post-Bread Blessing
Be strengthened this night by the presence of Christ made known to you in the bread and in one another.
Amen.
We’ll spend the first part of our meal in conversation hearing about our week. You are invited to share stories from your highs and lows from the week as well as where you saw Jesus at work in our world.
6:45 PM – The Word
The Lord be with you
and also with you
Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Reflection
Prayer
Sharing the Cup
As we return to the meal that Jesus shared with his disciples on the night he was betrayed, we imagine their hearts burning with in them. We give thanks and praise to God for sending Jesus to always be among us, especially in our darkest moments.
L: Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.”
And so tonight, we take the cup of wine, as our hearts burn with in us and we drink together, sharing those sacred words with one another, “The blood of Christ shed for you.”
Wine/Juice is passed to your neighbor, saying: “The blood of Christ shed for you.”
Communion Song
Let us drink wine together on our knees;
let us drink wine together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
Text: African American spiritual
Post-Wine Blessing
Now that you have tasted the goodness of God in bread and wine, let us be the body of Christ, blessed and broken for the whole world. Amen.
Sending Song – Go My Children
“Go, my children, with my blessing, never alone.
Waking, sleeping, I am with you, you are my own.
In my love’s baptismal river
I have made you mine forever.
Go, my children, with my blessing, you are my own.
“Go, my children, sins forgiven, at peace and pure.
Here you learned how much I love you, what I can cure.
Here you heard my dear Son’s story,
here you touched him, saw his glory.
Go, my children, sins forgiven, at peace and pure.
“Go, my children, fed and nourished, closer to me.
Grow in love and love by serving, joyful and free.
Here my Spirit’s power filled you,
here his tender comfort stilled you.
Go, my children, fed and nourished, joyful and free.
“I the Lord will bless and keep you, and give you peace.
I the Lord will smile upon you, and give you peace.
I the Lord will be your Father,
Savior, Comforter and Brother.
Go, my children, I will keep you, and give you peace.”
Text: Jaroslav J. Vajda, b. 1919 © 1983 Jaroslav J. Vajda
Blessing
L: Receive this Blessing …
All: Amen.
L: Go In Peace, Love ands Serve the Lord
All: Thanks be to God and Weeee Will!