Liturgy for a
Eucharist of Ordination Into
The Great Work of Justice-Compassion
Invitation to
Participate in the Kingdom Community
Celebrant:
There is a story in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 14, about when
Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at
table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of
nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. .
. . Jesus said, ‘Truly, I tell you, wherever the good news is
proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in
remembrance of her.’ And what was it that she did? Knowing
she would probably not have the chance to do so if Jesus were executed
by the Romans – which was highly likely – she anointed his body in
advance for burial. So I invite us – in remembrance of her – to
anoint one another as a symbol of our commitment to do what we can to
live in a community of non-violent justice-compassion, knowing that the
struggle never ends.
[The people anoint one-another with oil]
Invitation to the Meal
Celebrant In
Paul’s first letter to the community in Corinth, he scolds them for
falling out of the practice of justice-compassion, and getting
side-tracked by the normalcy of injustice. He reminds the people
that he received from the Lord what he also handed on to them.
Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed by those who were trapped in
the very same forces of injustice that affected the Corinthians, and
all of us, “took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he
broke it and said, ‘this is my body that is for you. Do this in
remembrance of me.” If the Earth belongs to God, then
participating in God’s distributive justice means a radical denial of
our own self-interest. As we share this bread, we share ourselves
and make no distinction between them and us.
[The people share Bread]
Celebrant Then
Paul says, “In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying
‘This cup is the new covenant written in my blood. Do this as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” Again, in
case we didn’t get it when he broke the bread, Paul’s Jesus says, the
new covenant – the new partnership with one another in God’s Kingdom –
is written in blood.
[Pour the wine and juice]
Celebrant Whenever
we eat this bread and share this cup, we proclaim our participation in
God’s ongoing, continuing work of justice-compassion until it is
accomplished.
[The people share Wine]
Thanksgiving
All: Eternal
spirit of life, The gratitude from which the Eucharist derives its very
name . . . is not just our gratitude toward the Source of all things;
it is also the universe’s gratitude for our presence and for our
efforts at contributing, however imperfectly. . . The Eucharist is also
our hearts expanding and responding generously: “Yes, we will.”
We will carry on the heart-work called compassion, the work of the
cosmos itself. (Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh
(Harmony Books, New York 1999) p. 271.)