farmer’s market prayers : sunday 26^th october 2014  ordinary 30a

welcome

blessed be god the word, who came to his own and his own received him not, for in this way god glorifies the stranger…

ALL: Oh God, show us your image in all we meet today that we may welcome them, and you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Christians follow a Master who was known for eating with others, recognised for his distinctive way of giving thanks for food, and who asked to be remembered in bread and wine.

Following in his steps we give thanks for our food; following in the steps of the prophets and teachers of Israel we oppose injustice in its production; we acknowledge that we gather on the land of which the Wurundjeri have been custodians from time immemorial and we look for a world of reconciliation where every family dwells under its vine and fig tree, where needs can be met without greed, and in a spirit of solidarity and sharing.

Leader: All creatures look to you in hope, O God, and you give them food in due season.

Leader: Come now all who thirst

ALL: And drink the water of life.

Leader: Come now all who hunger

ALL: And be filled with good things.

Leader: Come now all who labour

ALL: And you shall find rest.

confession (poc)

Leader: We recall what food means in an unjust world. We remember that one sixth of the world’s population goes hungry each day. We remember the thousands of children who die each day for lack of access to clean water. We remember the labourers, women and men, denied a living wage. We remember the farmers in our own country forced, by the operations of ‘the market’, to sell their produce for less than the cost of production. We remember that, whether we choose to or not, we live at their expense. We acknowledge that we have demanded cheap food and forgotten the price paid in unsustainable ways of farming and fishing, threatening the welfare of others and the very future of coming generations.

We ask for God’s forgiveness and for the renewal of the Holy Spirit

Silence

Leader: Before God, with the people of God,

I confess to my brokenness:

to the carelessness with which I buy and eat and produce my food;

I confess to the ways I wound my life,

the lives of others,

and the life of the world.

ALL: May God forgive you, Christ renew you, 

and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.

Leader: Amen

ALL: Before God, with the people of God, 

we confess to our brokenness: 

to the carelessness with which we buy and eat and produce our food 

We confess to the ways we wound our lives, 

the lives of others, 

and the life of the world.

Leader: May God forgive you, Christ renew you,

And the Spirit enable you to grow in love.

ALL: Amen  

( A Liturgy for Food and Farming, http://www.cws.org.nz/files/Food%20Week%20liturgy.pdf)

ministry of the word (mow)

communion

“Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.”

ALL: Blessed be God forever

“Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands, it will become our spiritual drink.”

ALL: Blessed be God forever

Eucharistic Prayer / Sharing of Elements

response/ sending

We give thanks for those farmers who through their own work of production have shared with us something of your Great Economy of Grace and abundance today at Flemington Farmers Market.  We give thanks for…

God of our future and our present,

Help us to enable

Life’s great feast to happen here and now,

To open hearts and hands, baskets and pockets;

To share bread with our neighbours

To share peace with our neighbours,

So that in the most ordinary of miracles

All are fed.

Amen

[Joy Mead, adapted; Holy Ground, ed. Paynter and Boothroyd, Wild Goose Publications, 2005: p.80]