(alternative to Thanksgiving and Praise)
The Lord is here.
God’s Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to offer thanks and praise.
It is the joy of our salvation,
God of the universe,
to give you thanks through Jesus Christ.
You said, ‘Let there be light’;
there was light.
Your light shines on in our darkness.
For you the earth has brought forth life
in all its forms.
You have created us
to hear your Word,
to do your will
and to be fulfilled in your love.
You sent your Son to be for us
the way we need to follow
and the truth we need to know.
A Variation from NZPB pages 491-493 may follow here.
You send your Holy Spirit
to strengthen and to guide,
to warn and to revive your Church.
Therefore, with all your witnesses
who surround us on every side,
countless as heaven’s stars,
we praise you for our creation
and our calling,
with loving and with joyful hearts as we sing/say:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed are you, most holy, in your Son;
On that night before he died
he took bread and gave you thanks.
He broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said:
Take, eat, this is my body
which is given for you;
do this to remember me.
After supper, he took the cup,
and gave you thanks.
He gave it to them and said:
Drink this. It is my blood of the new covenant,
shed for you, shed for all,
to forgive sin;
do this to remember me.
Therefore with this bread and wine
we recall your goodness to us.
God of the past and present,
we your people remember your Son.
We thank you for his cross and rising again,
we take courage from his ascension;
we look for his coming in glory
and in him we give ourselves to you.
Either
With thanksgiving and hope we sing/say:
Glory to you, Lord Christ;
your death we show forth;
your resurrection we proclaim;
your coming we await;
Amen! Come Lord Jesus.Or
And so we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come in glory.
Send your Holy Spirit,
that we who receive Christ’s body
may indeed be the body of Christ,
and we who share his cup
draw strength from the one true vine.
Called to follow Christ,
help us to reconcile and unite.
Called to suffer,
give us hope in our calling.
For you, the heavenly one, make all things new;
you are the beginning and the end, the last and the first,
to whom we bring our songs of everlasting praise.
Blessing, honour and glory be yours,
here and everywhere,
now and for ever. Amen.