[Musical Suggestion: “The Summons” # 2130 in The Faith We Sing]

[The Summons instrumental begins to play]

One: Great Dreamer, creator of all things, source of all love,

in the very beginning of time you dreamed the world into being.

You spoke over the void and brought forth the light and life of all creation.

You formed us with your very hands, and breathed into the dust,

that we might be a part of your dreams for the world.

This very morning, you are still breathing.

You are still dreaming.  You are still creating.

And you are inviting each one of us to hear your call.

[The Summons vs 1]

We have been a wandering people.

Too often we have walked away from your love and ignored your call,

breaking our communion with You and with one another.

We confess that sometimes our imaginations have been too small.

We have failed to comprehend your dreams for us and your dreams for the world.

But every time we closed a door, you threw it wide with radical grace.

When we were enslaved, you opened the seas and led us to freedom.

When we were starving, you set a feast in the desert.

When we were hopeless, you dreamed a new future through the visions of the prophets.

When we were sinners, you reached out to us in forgiveness, renewing your covenant of love.

Again and again, we wander,

and again and again you welcome us back into your wide embrace,

and call us to be your people.

[The Summons vs 2]

One: Through your son Jesus, your Dream was made flesh, and came to live and walk among us.

He came to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and bring liberation to those who were oppressed. 

He lived with a wild grace and at the table of your love, he healed the hurting, fed the hungry, and welcomed sinners.

And here at this same table, Jesus calls each one of us to walk in his footsteps, living his dream for the world.

So, in remembrance of God’s dream of love at work from the beginning of time and embodied in Christ,

and in the hope that God’s dreams of peace, love and justice are still unfolding, we proclaim together the mystery of faith:

All: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

[The Summons vs 3]

On Jesus’s last night with his friends, he invited them to taste again

of the Kingdom of God.

He took ordinary bread, then he broke it and gave it them, saying,

“This is my body broken for you.”

Then he took the cup, raised it in blessing, and shared it with his friends, saying

“This is my life poured out for you and for many for forgiveness of sins.

As often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, remember me. Remember me.”

[The Summons vs 4]

Prayer of Consecration

Ever-dreaming God, Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us gathered here, that we might dream your dreams for the world. And pour out your Spirit upon these gifts of bread and juice that they may become for us the presence of Christ. By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other and our neighbors, and one in ministry to all the world until the dream of your Kingdom is fully realized on earth. Amen.

[The Summons vs 5]