Guidelines For Preparing Communion Prayers

We find two main patterns for the prayer of thanksgiving at Communion services. One focuses primarily on Jesus' words of institution at the Last Supper, as reported by Paul; the second employs the words of institution, but embeds them in the story of God's saving action. With these main outlines in mind, worship committees in churches that lack prescribed liturgies can construct prayers of consecration that are faithful both to the broad tradition of the church dating back to the apostolic times, while also remaining faithful to their own tradition. Instructions There are two ways of constructing services of the Eucharist (the thanksgiving) or the Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. One way might be called the warrant form. Warrant means authorization. What is essential in this form is to cite the authorization for the conduct of the Supper, which very frequently comes from 1 Corinthians 11:23-27. A statement about the memorial character of the event and the spiritual preparedness…