Kountze Memorial Lutheran

(402) 341-7761

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

The Eucharistic Prayer

In this latter half of this Pentecost season (September and October 2014), we will be using a Eucharistic Prayer that includes responses from the congregation. These responses will be included in the worship bulletins. Please join with full and joyful hearts in these responses!

The Eucharistic Prayer (from the Sanctus/”Holy, Holy, Holy” up to the doxological conclusion, “To you O God be all honor and praise…”) is both ancient in form and diverse in content. The ELW provides several options from the Church’s tradition, including some written by Luther himself. These are options that may be selected by the presiding pastor to reflect the liturgical season and the context of the specific liturgy.

When used, the whole text is a Trinitarian prayer addressed to God the Father in which we remember with joy and thanksgiving what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us through the Holy Spirit. Though the pastor may have the only speaking part, he or she is in prayer with and on behalf of the whole community. So, the Eucharistic Prayer is the prayer of the whole assembly; it is your prayer and mine.

To better reflect this, we will be using a Eucharistic Prayer that invites the congregation to join in verbally with the presiding pastor at prompted times:  to proclaim the mystery of faith, to remember the saving purpose in which Christ initiated this joyful sacrament and to invoke the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our assembly. Let us “Sing praise to The Lord and give thanks for his saving work among us!”

–Pr. H. Ashley Hall