A Communion Liturgy in Celebration of Living Love

By Jo Schonewolf

Author’s note: I wrote this communion liturgy for my ordination service, based on the UMC’s Service of Word and Table 1. The liturgy invites both non-Christians and those attending the service virtually to participate in this time in a way that provides radical welcome while affirming their beliefs and practices. 

Those serving outside of a mainline denomination or typical parish setting often find themselves trying to walk a line between living out the specifics of their faith without excluding those who don’t share that faith. This line can be especially difficult to follow in services like ordinations that often bring in guests who love and support the ordinand, regardless of their practices and beliefs. At the same time, I believe that it’s important for Christians, who have an outsized impact on culture in the United States in particular, to be open about what we do and how it shapes our actions in the world; to seek to understand and be understood, rather than allow misunderstandings to divide and exclude. My solution in this liturgy, while not perfect, is an attempt to walk this line by embracing the “weirdness” of Christianity while explaining to non-Christian participants what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how they can participate. 

Invitation

This is not my table. It belongs to no single church, organization, or denomination. This table belongs to a man, sitting amongst his friends, knowing he is about to die. This table belongs to a mentor, desperately trying to impart the knowledge and wisdom and hopes and dreams those with him will need to sustain them after he’s gone. This table belongs to the One who was before all things and will remain with us through all things, the One who invites all who long for connection to join with others around a simple feast of bread and cup. 

Everyone is welcome at this table. I will not now nor will I ever put a barrier between anyone and this community, this communion. 

Christians who are with us today, I invite you to the table. Do what you need to get ready: own who you are, where you are. Recognize what in your life keeps you from communion: disagreements, anger, fears, doubts. Let go of what you can. Free your hands and hearts to receive. Trust that you are loved, and wanted, and welcomed. 

Everyone else here today, I invite you to the table too, if you want to come. Think of it as visiting friends for dinner. Come as you are. Visit with this faithful community, gathered across all of time and space, for just a moment. I hope that whether you come forward to receive or stay in your seat, you too will know that you are loved, and wanted, and welcomed. 

Great Thanksgiving

Bold indicates where the congregation is invited to join together.

May Love be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to Liberation.
Let us give thanks to the Holy.
It is right to give our thanks and praise. 

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,
always and everywhere, to give thanks to you,
Love Enduring, maker of heaven and earth.

You have made us in your gracious, caring image
and breathed into us the breath of life.
When we forgot who we were, and our love failed,
you, Love, remained steadfast.
You delivered us from all that held us captive,
and spoke to us through prophets of all generations. 

And so,
With the people of your heart here on earth
and all those beyond,
we name you Good and join in the unending hymn: 

Holy, holy, holy One, God of perseverance and hope,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
Hosanna in the highest. 

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son, Jesus the Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him
to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives,
and recovery of direction to those who have lost their way,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people. 

Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners like us.
He taught us that we must embrace the poor and the outcast,
and align ourselves with the tormented and troublemakers of history.
Jesus noticed the ones who did not quite fit,
and welcomed them in.
Jesus noticed the ones who fit too well,
and called them to account.
He turned the world upside down,
so that we might one day do the same. 

This is to say,
that by the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your Church,
delivered us from the death-captive, sinful powers of this world,
and made with us a new covenant
by water and the Spirit.
When he ascended,
he promised to be with us always,
Holy Love experienced through Word and Spirit. 

On the night in which he gave himself up for us,
he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,
gave it to his disciples, and said:
“Take, eat; this is my body. I give it to you.
Don’t forget what you’ve learned here.” 

When the supper was over, he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
“Drink from this, all of you;
This is my blood of the new covenant,
a promise of new life,
poured out for you and for many
for forgiveness and freedom from sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it,
because it is in that moment that I will be with you again.” 

And so,
in remembrance of these your world-shaking acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in the only way we can,
poured out in holiness and love,
in union with all Christ has given to us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith. 

Love has died; Love is risen; Love will come again. 

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and cup.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood. 

By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world,
until the end of this age finally arrives
and we share in the banquet that never ends. 

Through your Son Jesus,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all wonder and glory returns to you, ever-present God,
now and forever.  

Amen. 

The Lord’s Prayer

If it is your practice, we invite you to pray the prayer Jesus taught us, in the language of your heart. 

Each prays or not in their own way.

Words of Institution

Because there is one loaf,
we, who are many, are one together,
for we all share in the same need. 

The presider breaks the bread.

The broken bread is a sign of shared life; receive it with hope and share it with certainty. 

The bread is shared with the servers, who take their place 

The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the promise of Christ, brokenness transformed into action, emptiness to fullness, separation to wholeness, and overflowing justice; take, drink, and remember you are not alone. 

The cup is shared with the servers, who take their place.

All is prepared. 

Those at home, receive these gifts: the fruit of the vine and the bread you have before you. 

Those who are here, come and receive the bread of heaven, the body of Christ, and the blood of Christ, the cup of promise. 

Prayer after Communion

Eternal Love, 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 way and name of Jesus our Christ.
Amen.

---

To view the liturgy for the entire ordination service, along with musical selections, click here.

Rev. Jo Urriola-Schonewolf was ordained on August 2nd, 2025, by the Church Within a Church Movement. They are called to administer the sacraments and celebrate the ceremonies of the Christian life to those who have been rejected by the Church, to teach and preach the Good News to the lost and the lonely, and to bind up the brokenhearted in community, solidarity, and care. Read more about their work at ajschonewolf.com.