Christmas Eve Communion Prayers

For those who will be sharing in the Lord's Supper tonight, I have written prayers for the bread and cup.  If these should prove useful for you, you are invited to make use of them.

For the Bread:

We come this Christmas Eve to you O God, the giver of every good and perfect gift, to give thanks for your provision of the bread of life, Jesus the Christ.  We give thanks because you have sustained us by your Spirit for the journey that we take with you.  Even as you sustained the Hebrew people with manna in the wilderness, you offer us your son, our savior, Jesus the Christ.  As we take this bread, we do so in remembrance of his life, of his death and of his resurrection, which provides us with life in its fullness.  Amen.

For the Cup:

We give thanks to you our God for the gift of the cup of our salvation.  We come to remember and receive the healing and hope that is promised in the story of Christmas.  We come in the knowledge that in the one we call Emmanuel, you are present with us.  As we take this cup, may we fully experience your saving grace, reconciling us to you and to your creation.  May these elements of bread and juice convey your presence to each and all of us, so that we might go forth into the world as bearers of your light.  Amen