Eucharistic Prayer: Uncommon Oneness

Kenneth Claus
A black-and-white image of three Polaroid photographs, slightly overlapping one another, on a wooden table with visible grain. The faded and slightly blurry photos look like they are casual shots of a few people sitting on risers in a high-school or college gym, and they give the impression of having been taken long ago.

O One, for whom words to describe are always inadequate, we give thanks that you may be often found in the most common, the most basic of human experience. Particularly we give thanks for the common meal: that which has sustained us as individuals, as families and as faith communities. Among the many who exemplify Your Presence, we give thanks for Jesus, of Nazareth, who used the meal to gather all kinds of people to become One in You and You in them.

On the night of his betrayal, Jesus used the meal to share of himself and You… asking that as we break common bread and share a common cup we experience an uncommon Oneness.

We ask that in this meal, we again experience what this Jesus would have of us all - a sense of You that unites us in faith, hope, peace and blessing, with You and with each other.

May we remember those who cannot be with us, both near and far, and those who remain on another shore but who, too, have rejoiced at the power of healing and love that comes from bread and cup.

Bless us, we pray, as we go on our separate ways, reminding us that in all, through all, You remain Present. Amen.

A sepia-tone photo of a broken loaf of bread and a glass of red wine