Yours is a Share

Many years ago, Austin Fleming wrote a book called “Yours is a Share” in which he expounds on various liturgical ministries.  Of all our liturgical ministries, the ministry of the assembly is primary.  These words, taken from Fleming’s book, help to explain why.

 

Yours is a share in the work of the Spirit of all that is holy,

for in who you are and in what you do is found the most powerful experience of the sacred.

Yours is the kingdom community whose very assembling

is sacrament of God’s presence in the world.

In the living words, gestures, sacrifice, and meal of your common prayer,

the living God is disclosed as the faithful and redeeming Lord whose tent is pitched among us.

Yours is the ministry of being the beloved and espoused of God.

Yours is the work of telling and handing on the story of God’s mercy.

You are the people who embody the promise of life forever.

For the world you are evidence that the word of judgment is tempered with compassion.

Yours is the ministry of celebrating again and again the Passover meal of the new Covenant.

Yours is the work of gathering at the table which welcomes all

who turn their hearts back to God.

Yours is the ministry to bring bread and wine, to give thanks, to break and share the bread,

to bless and share the cup-remembering Christ Jesus broken and poured out for your sakes.

Come to your ministry from your personal prayer:

it is the home from which you journey to the house of God’s people.

Come prepared to be surprised by God’s word and presence in the assembly of your neighbors.

Come as you are!

Come as sinners who need to find mercy, as the redeemed who need to give thanks.

Come with all that needs to be healed, to the Lord who comes to heal you.

Be faithful in the work you do, for through it the Lord saves his people.