Yearn communion prayer

lift up your hearts
we lift them up to god
lift up your heads
we lift them up to god
lift up your voices
we lift them up to god
lift up your hearts
we lift them up to god

god of watching thank you
You gave us life, love and freedom
your watchfulness is steady
your love is unfair

thank you that when we reject your friendship
leave home
spend our inheritance
find ourselves in exile
are weak and broken, with lives full of regret
your watchfulness is steady
your love is unfair

thank you that when we reject your generosity
resent your welcome of sinners,
find that home is not the place we thought it was
ask you when you have ever thrown a party for us.
your watchfulness is steady
your love is unfair

thank you that you reconfigure the world as an order of embrace
where mercy triumphs over judgement,
so we join with the angels singing
holy holy holy
lord god almighty
heaven and earth are full of your glory
hosanna in the highest

the answer is in a story
and the story is unfolding…

on the night he was betrayed christ took bread, broke it and gave it to his friends saying "take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you." after supper he took the cup saying "drink this all of you. this is my blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. do this to remember me." send down your spirit on these gifts of bread and wine that they may be to us christ's body and blood.

the answer is in a story and the story is being told...
christ has died
christ is risen
christ will come again

through his rising again the world is reconfigured
tucked between the atoms of the places where we walk
the kingdom of god is at hand
the kingdom of god is here
the kingdom of god is home.

so come to the table of christ.

you who see the younger son in you,
who feel confined by home
you who are in exile
you who have fucked it up
you who yearn for home
come to this table, where home is welcoming and home is freedom.
come to the one whose watchfulness is steady and whose arms are open wide

you who see the elder son in you,
who have stayed at home
you who find it all very unfair
you who resent god's justice,
you who have done your duty, and feel undervalued,
you who wish you'd run away, and somehow never managed it
come to this table, where home is generosity and home keeps no record of wrongs
come to the one who is always near, who would always kill the fatted calf for you.