An open-table communion is offered on the first Sunday of each month, usually outdoors on the west (Hollbrook street) side of the building.

We are a Unitarian Universalist church open to people of all theologies, faiths, and practices. Our roots are in liberal Christianity and a number of congregants connect with Christian symbols, stories, and practices. To nurture this connection, communion is offered on the first Sunday of the month (except September, when it is the second Sunday). We use bread and individual cups of grape juice. A gluten-free rice cracker is also available.

This is an open table, for God does not discriminate.

It is open to those baptized and not, believing and doubting, those who want to follow Jesus, those who are Christian, and those who honor a multiplicity of wisdom sources. There are no requirements; around the table we hold a variety of beliefs about what communion is and who Jesus is to us. We do this to remember.

Communion at First Church may be led by any congregant, and is not always led by an ordained clergyperson. We serve this meal together, trusting the Spirit to be present among us.

​Communion Liturgy

Developed by Rev. Terry M. Burke, adapted by Rev. Elizabeth Bukey

Leader:    

Hear what comfortable words Jesus said:
Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden light.

Ask and it will be given you; seek and you shall find;
knock and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and they who seek find, and to them who knock it will be opened.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you;
not as the world gives, give I to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Confession

All:        
Let us confess our brokenness, our lack of wholeness,
our sins, the many ways that we are less than we are called to be:

I confess to God and to you, my siblings and kindred,
that I have erred in thought, word, and deed,
and that I have not served God and the people of God
with all my heart and mind and soul,
and that I have not loved my neighbor as myself.
Therefore, I ask your prayers for me.

May God have mercy upon us, forgive us, and bring us to more abundant life. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

Leader:       Lift up your hearts.
People        We lift them up to God.

Leader:       Let us give thanks to our God.
People:       It is fitting and right to do so.

Leader:

It is fitting, right, and our expected duty that we should at all times and places give thanks to you, O God.
And especially now, we give thanks for having seen your peace and your love in the face of Jesus.

Therefore, with grateful hearts we join the faithful, who, in all times and places, magnify your holy name, evermore praising you and saying:

All:
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, GOD OF POWER AND MAJESTY: HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF YOUR GLORY. GLORY BE TO YOU, O GOD MOST HIGH.

Leader:
All praise and thanks be to you, Almighty God, for these fruits of the earth, this bread and wine, for the life and knowledge which you have given us through Jesus.

And now as Jesus taught, we pray:

All:
Our Father, Our Mother, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Leader:    
It was not long after Jesus was anointed by a woman at Bethany that he gathered with his friends to eat.

On the same night that he was betrayed he took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,
“Take, eat, this is my body, given on your behalf
This do in remembrance of me.”

In the same manner, he took the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

We offer you this service of praise and thanksgiving,
for you still invite us to share the life of him who shared his life with us, even Jesus Christ, who came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. As the elements of this bread, scattered on the mountains, were brought together in a single loaf, may your people in like manner be gathered from the ends of the earth into one community.

Come, Holy Spirit, come. Bless this bread and this juice that it might be for us holy food. Bless us, that we may be holy people. Gather up the crumbs of our lives and make us new.

Holy food for holy people.

Sharing the bread and cup

Closing Hymn: Amazing Grace

Benediction