A Communion Service of LGBTQ+ Solidarity

A Communion Service of Solidarity
written by
Rev. Corinne Freedman-Ellis

The question of who is welcome behind and around this table has been debated recently.
This debate has been painful and divisive.
Most painful of all is that the lives of our LGBTQ+ siblings in faith have become issues and talking points, instead of the gifted and complex and beautiful human beings God created them to be.

So we proclaim, loudly:
Jesus invites everyone to this table.
Gay or straight or anywhere in between.
Cisgender or transgender or anywhere in between.
Certain or questioning or anywhere in between.
God rejoices in you.
You are beloved.
All who seek a reminder of God’s eternal love for us is welcome at this table,
To receive this bread and this cup,
This simple meal.
A meal that has the power to unite, to transform, and to fill us for the journey.

Let us pray.
Creator God, you form and re-form all that is and you call it very good.
Thank you for the hope you have given us through Jesus Christ,
Who lived and died and rose and prayed and taught,
All to convince us that we could love differently.
Bigger.
Closer to the love God has for us.

Come, Holy Spirit.
Transform this meal like you transform all things:
Making the ordinary sacred, and the broken whole.

We pray this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray…Amen.

We remember on the night
when Jesus and the disciples
had their last meal together,
Jesus took the bread, gave thanks,
and gave it to the disciples,
saying “This is my body,
which is broken for you.
Take and eat it, and as often as you do, remember me.”
When we eat this bread, we join Christ in a life transformed by the invitation to be guided by his love.

In the same way he took the cup,
and after giving thanks
he gave it to the disciples, saying:
“Drink this, all of you.
This cup is the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
In the symbol of the cup, we join in God’s dream of love and transformation.

This is the table of God’s abundant love and all are welcome.

Copyright: This liturgy was created by Rev. Corinne Freedman-Ellis and is made available through Process & Faith, a program of the Center for Process Studies. Used by permission.

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Corinne Freedman Ellis serves as Minister of Congregational Life at Macalester-Plymouth United Church, a UCC and Presbyterian Church (USA) united congregation located in St. Paul, MN. She is passionate about youth and young adult ministry and finds great joy in facilitating faith formation and fun for those age groups. Corinne is involved with ISAIAH, a faith-based community organizing group in Minnesota, and is energized by God’s call to love and justice, particularly in the areas of immigration and racial justice. A suburban Chicago native, Corinne, her husband Greg, and their Italian Greyhound Vinnie are happy to call Minnesota home as of May of 2016.