Simple On-Line Palm Sunday Liturgy for Holy Communion
(Please note that you will need some bread and a cup of wine/grape juice to be a part of this sacramental meal. Any bread and any juice will be fine.)
Opening Music
Welcome and Greeting
Litany and Prayers for Palm Sunday
Leader: Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
People: Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Leader: Let us pray. Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy into the contemplation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus during this week called Holy. We pray in your love. Amen.
The Palm Sunday Gospel: Matthew 21: 1-11
Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
Leader: It is right to praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you have made us whole. On this day when Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem, he was proclaimed as King of kings by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his path. May we who follow him now grow closer in the Spirit and renew our commitment to share the peace, joy and grace of Jesus as Lord; for he lives and reigns in glory with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Unison: Amen.
Song (tune: We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder)
Lord in heaven, grant us mercy
Christ among us, grant us mercy
Lord in heaven, grant us mercy: Grant to us your peace
Meditation on Palm/Passion Sunday
Sung Response
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
Invitation and Great Thanksgiving
Leader: Lend Christ your table, your bread, your cup and your heart, for, as the disciples told the person who loaned the donkey, “The Lord has need of it.”
A holy dialogue of prayer and remembering using traditional and contemporary words takes place hear ending with the Lord’s Prayer in whatever form you know.
Prayer of Consecration
Leader: We are one bread, one body, and one cup of blessing. Though we are many through-out the earth – and this community is now scattered in many kitchens and living rooms – rest your hands lightly upon these the bread and wine which we set aside today to be a sacrament as we ask God’s blessing upon them.
Unison: Gentle Redeemer, there is no lockdown or restriction on your blessing – and no quarantine on your grace. Send your Spirit of life and love, power and blessing, upon every table where your child shelters in place, that this Bread may be broken and gathered in love and this Cup poured out to give hope to all. O Risen Christ, live in us that we may live in you. Breathe in us that we may breathe in you.
Leader: We remember that Paul the apostle wrote letters to congregations throughout places we now call Greece, Turkey and Macedonia, and they were the first “remote” worship resources. Our online liturgy has a long heritage. The Communion words sent to the church at Corinth were these: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Sharing the Elements
Leader: These are the gifts of God for the whole people of God. Come, for all things are now ready. May we in our many places receive the gift of God, the Bread of Heaven.
People: We are One in Christ in the bread we share.
Leader: May we in our many places receive now the gift of God, the Cup or Blessing.
People: We are One in Christ in the cup we share.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Leader: Let us pray in thanksgiving rejoicing that, by the very act of our worship, we have embodied the truth that Christ’s love is not limited by buildings made with human hands, nor contained in human ceremonies, but blows as free as the Spirit in all places.
Unison: Spirit of Christ, you have blessed our tables and our lives. May the eating of this Bread give us courage to speak in faith and act in love, not only in church sanctuaries, but in your precious world. And may the drinking of this Cup renew our hope even in the midst of pandemic. Wrap your hopeful presence around all whose bodies, spirits and hearts need healing, and let us become your compassion and safe refuge. Amen.
Song and Blessing
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise God all creatures here below
Praise God above ye heavenly host
Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost. Amen.
(This order of worship blends language from the Book of Common Prayer as well as Maren Tirabassi’s “On-Line Palm Sunday Worship.” We have used Public Domain music, too and all are without copyright restrictions.)
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