This is part of the worship series
"A Closer Look at Worship"
Series Introduction
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Week 4
Sealing the Covenant Relationship
From the earliest days of the Old Testament until now, God’s people have sealed their relationship with God with a tangible, physical, material sign. Most deep relationships are marked by a sign. Marriages are marked by a ring. So too our covenant relationship with God is begun with a sign (baptism), and renewed time and time again with a tangible sign (Lord’s Supper). These actions teach us something about both the relationship itself and the signs.
These signs teach us that our relationship with God is tangible, down-to-earth, material, embodied. It’s not a pie-in-the-sky idea or spiritual concept. Just as wearing a marriage ring changes how people relate to us, so too participating in the sacraments is a tangible witness to the world of our love for God.
Central Idea:
Our relationship with God is confirmed or sealed through specific, physical, material actions called sacraments. Sacraments gain significance only as an embodiment of this deeper relationship.
Scripture Texts
Exodus 24
Consider reading this dramatically, using one reader for the voice of Moses, one for the voice of the Lord, and the third for the part of the narrator.
The meal described in Exodus 24:9–11 has been interpreted as a foreshadowing of the Lord’s Supper by many Christian scholars throughout the history of the church. It is similar to meals eaten after other covenant agreements between people (Genesis 26:30; 31:54).This meal is a sign of divine-human table fellowship.
1 Corinthians 11:17–33
In 1 Corinthians 11, notice that the cup is specifically called “the new covenant in my blood,” referring to the new and unconditional covenant described in Jeremiah 31:31–34 and in Hebrews 8–9.
In 1 Corinthians 11, notice all of the ethical warnings given along with instructions about the Lord’s Supper. Just as faithless living can betray the promises made in a wedding, so too faithless living essentially denies the seal of the covenant relationship between God and us.
In 1 Corinthians 11, notice how many dimensions of the Lord’s Supper are packed into a few verses. The Lord’s Supper is a remembrance, a proclamation, an anticipation, a thanksgiving. It is a single, physical, material action that conveys several overlapping meanings, or several angles or dimensions of the single gospel of Christ.
Key Related Themes
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The Meaning of Worship and the Logic of the Liturgy
In the classic shape of Christian worship, the Lord’s Supper follows acts of praise, confession, and proclamation. It comes near the end of the service, just as an exchange of rings follows the marriage vows in a wedding. This is not an arbitrary placement. It is meant to ensure that we see the sacrament not as an end in itself but as a seal of something deeper, something prior. It confirms and seals the gospel that has been proclaimed, the relationship that has been enacted.
Also, in the classic shape of Christian worship, the Lord’s Supper includes an extensive and exuberant prayer of thanksgiving that traces the whole history of salvation (such as the example included below).This way of praying (which essentially tells God what he already knows!) may seem strange to us. Yet it is an ancient, covenantal form of prayer (see Psalm 105 or 1 Chronicles 16). Most thanksgiving psalms in scripture are like recitals of salvation history; they are prayers that contain a story. They give thanks for God’s steadfast, covenantal love at every step of the way. This covenantal mode of praying is not unlike what happens on a wedding anniversary when a couple recites the highlights of their life together.
Worship Elements
Call to Worship
This series uses four variations on Psalm 8:1–4 as a call to worship. Each week uses a different variation. Using several of these approaches during the series is an excellent way to introduce some variety and yet remain closely linked with the overall theme of covenant renewal.
Variation 4: Use Psalm 89:1–4 as the basis for an opening prayer.
O Lord, we will sing of your great love forever!
With our mouths we will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
We will declare that your love stands firm forever.
In fact, you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
Then already you made a covenant with your chosen one, David.
You promised to continue it forever, for all generations, including our own.
With heaven, we praise your wonders, O God!
O Lord, we will sing of your great love forever!
—Psalm 89:1–4, adapted.
Follow by singing “I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord Forever” Fillmore
A Prayer of Confession
This prayer can be used all four weeks.
Lord, you have called us to worship you.
We gladly gather!
As we praise you, though,
our own inadequacy reminds us
of how we have broken our relationship with you.
Because we have sinned against you,
even our worship fails to be what it could.
We often treat it as a show.
We simply go through the motions,
failing to recognize that you want to engage us on a very deep level.
Renew us, we pray, according to your steadfast love.
Remind us of your covenant faithfulness
and have mercy on us in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Confession and Assurance of Pardon
This confession and Assurance of Pardon could be used for all four weeks.
| Child: | Lord, you are a God who keeps promises. In our prayers and songs we say that we want to be Christians, but then we forget our promises. Our actions do not match up with our words. We say mean things to other people, we hurt their feelings, we think of ourselves first, and, worst of all, we ignore you. Lord, forgive us and hear our prayer. |
| Children’s Choir: | “Lord, Have Mercy upon Us” Kyrie eleison |
| Child: | As a deer pants for water, so our souls long for you, Lord God. We know that we need you. Our lives are like dry streams without you. Please fill our lives with your love, like rain on dry land. Lord, hear our prayer. |
| Children’s Choir: | “Lord, Have Mercy upon Us” Kyrie eleison |
| Child: | Alleluia! Christ has died. Alleluia! Christ has risen. Alleluia! Christ will come again. Alleluia! Amen! |
| Hymn of Joy: | “¡Oh, qué bueno es Jesús/Oh, How Good Is Christ the Lord” Puerto Rican folk hymn |
| —Adapted from A Child Shall Lead: Children in Worship, Choristers Guild, 1999, p. 85. Other similar resources with language appropriate to young children are available in this sourcebook. |
Two Prayers For Illumination
These prayers could be used for all four weeks.
Prayer 1
God of mercy, you promised never to break your covenant with us.
Amid all the changing words of our generation,
speak your eternal Word that does not change.
Then may we respond to your gracious promises
with faithful and obedient lives;
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Prayer of Illumination, #6, Book of Common Worship, p. 91.
Prayer 2
“Lord, to Whom Shall We Go” John 6:68
Eucharistic Prayer
If the Lord's Supper is not celebrated weekly in your congregation, the fourth Sunday would be a wonderful occasion to celebrate it! For this celebration, consider using the following Lord's Supper prayer:
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right and fitting, our joy and salvation,
that we should at all times and in all places
give thanks to you, almighty, everlasting God,
through Christ our Lord.
You laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They shall perish, but you shall endure.
You are always the same and your years will never end.
You made us in your image
and called us to be your covenant people,
but we turned from you,
leaving sin and death to reign.
Still you loved us and sought us.
In Christ your grace defeated death
and opened the way to eternal life.
Therefore we praise you,
joining our voices with the heavenly choirs
and with all the faithful of every time and place,
who forever sing to the glory of your name:
Sing: "Santo, Santo, Santo" Cuéllar
All holy God,
how wonderful is the work of your hands!
When sin had scarred the world,
you entered into covenant to renew the whole creation.
As a mother tenderly gathers her children,
as a father joyfully welcomes his own,
you embraced a people as your own
and filled them with longing
for a peace that would last
and for a justice that would never fail.
Countless generations have hungered for the bread of freedom.
From them you raised up Jesus, your Son, the living bread.
We give you thanks that our Lord Jesus,
on the night before he died, took bread,
and after giving thanks to you,
he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
"Take, eat. This is my body, given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way he took the cup, saying:
"This cup is the New Covenant sealed in my blood,
shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me."
Your death, O Christ, we proclaim.
Your resurrection we declare.
Your coming we await.
Glory be to you, O Lord.
God of all power, send your Holy Spirit upon us,
that in sharing the bread we may share in the body of Christ,
and that in sharing the cup we may participate in the New Covenant.
Grant that being joined together in Christ Jesus,
we may become united in faith.
And now, with the confidence of the children of God, we pray:
Our Father in heaven...
Blessing
This blessing could be used for all four weeks.
May the God of peace,
who through the blood of the eternal covenant
brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep,
equip you with everything good for doing his will,
and may he work in us what is pleasing to him,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
—Hebrews 13:20–21 NIV
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
“Taste and See” Moore
A communion song relating our approach to the table with God’s covenant pledges.
“What Feast of Love” Dufner
A communion song celebrating the free gift of God’s salvation sealed in the Supper.
“According to Thy Gracious Word” Montgomery
A reflective communion hymn that evokes a covenantal theme in its “two-way remembering.”
“Eat This Bread” Batastini, Taizé
Using the stanzas (not found in most hymnals) enables God’s promises about and from Jesus to be heard. For use during communion.
“Holy, Holy, Holy, Is the Lord of Hosts” Prince
A meditation song that leads well into the traditional “Holy, Holy, Holy,” to be sung during the Lord’s Supper.
“Now the Solemn Feast Is Done” Seerveld
A celebrative post-communion hymn that links our feasting at the table with our service in the world.
“Take, O Take Me as I Am” Bell
The salvation sealed to us in the sacraments goes into shaping our lives and service. A fitting response to a commissioning at the close of worship.
“Go, My Children, with My Blessing” Vajda
Even as we leave worship, this closing benediction reminds us that we are God’s own.
“Hallelujah, We Sing Your Praises” South African Traditional
A Joyful South African “sending out” song at the end of the Lord’s Supper service.
Small Group Discussion Starters: Week 4
- “From the earliest days of the Old Testament until now, God’s people have sealed their relationship with God with a tangible, physical, material sign.” Name some of these Old Testament signs.
- Today, the covenant relationship is sealed with the signs of baptism and Lord’s Supper, and “these actions teach us something about both the relationship itself and the signs.” What do the sacraments say about God’s entrance into tangible, everyday life? What does this then say about the worship event?
- “Sacraments are an unapologetically material activity. We use tangible water, wine, and bread. Sacraments speak not despite these material things, but because of them.” Does your church emphasize or minimize this materiality?
- “In the classic shape of Christian worship, the Lord’s Supper follows acts of praise, confession, and proclamation.” Consider the Supper’s purpose in order to explain this sequence.
- How much do you look forward to the concluding blessing or benediction? Read together Hebrews 13:20–21, not only as a prayer but as God’s promise and gift of blessing to you as individuals and as a congregation. Encourage your group to memorize this blessing.
- Conclude this series by reflecting on these comments from Witvliet’s observations (see series introduction): “Notice how this (covenant) approach does not suggest that we, by ourselves, can make worship happen. This relationship with God is a gift! It is Christ’s work through the Spirit in our hearts and in the life of the congregation. No liturgical technique will make this relationship happen. The ultimate success of a worship service depends on something that worship leaders can’t engineer or produce, our (collective) personal relation with God in Christ.”
Revised Common Lectionary
Years A, B, C: Holy Week—Maundy Thursday
