As we go now from this table

As we go now from this table

Having shared your holy meal,

May our lives be made your witness,

Showing your good news is real. 

As we go out, still we carry

Sacrament as sign and seal.

 

We are challenged to remember,

Through the humble bread we broke,

All your deeds and all your living,

All the sacred words you spoke.

May your call be marked upon us

Like a painter's strong brush stroke.

 

Also marked upon your memory

Is the cup we poured and shared. 

All your sorrows and your sufferings,

All the ways in which you cared;

Let the cup help us remember, 

Let us not be unprepared.

 

As we sing this song of parting

Like you sang with all your friends,

May we know there will be one day

Your new song that never ends.

Till that day may our song witness

To your love that heals and mends.

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, August 2024.

MUSIC: Tune TRINITY, Peter Cutts, 1983. Copyright 1983 Hope Publishing Company.

 

 

In thinking about the sacrament and the songs that go with it, it struck me that most of them seem made to come before the meal, and then a few that proceed all the way through it; I couldn't think of many that followed after the sacrament as a kind of parting hymn of the table. It seemed like a hymn that reminds us of what we take with us from the sacrament could be useful. And yes, with World Communion Sunday not too far off, the sacrament was on my mind perhaps a little extra.

On a separate note, as much as I try to avoid using hymn tunes under copyright, I think this is the third or fourth hymn text of mine that has attached itself to this tune, which I have not even had opportunity to sing in worship very often. Honestly, my right hand does not know what my left hand is doing...

 

Take and eat

"Take and eat this and remember me."

Bread he gave, both blessed and broken, as an everlasting token:

"Take and eat this and remember me."

 

"Take and drink this and remember me."

Jesus gave the cup, revealing covenant and new life sealing:

"Take and drink this and remember me."

 

Take and live this and remember him.

Show his death till his returning, blessed hope of all our yearning.

Take and live this and remember him.

 

 

 

Text: Charles Spence Freeman, March 2023, after 1 Corinthians 11:24-26.

Music: Suggested Tune RANDOLPH, Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

 

The confluence of two separate but overlapping events - a presentation on this hymn tune and preparation for a service using this scripture - somehow merged the two into one in my head, so to speak, and then into print. Could be a useful Maundy Thursday hymn.

 

When Christ's own body comes to table

When Christ’s own body comes to table,

When all God’s children gather there,

The grace of sacramental living

Is given freely, everywhere.

 

Now bread we break and wine we offer,

Though not our own, but Christ’s we give.

In nations found the whole world over

God’s people take this feast and live

 

In every place, at every table,

Our Lord presides at every feast.

No gates, no walls are there to hinder

All those who seek, from great to least.

 

As now we gather, we look forward

To days to come, when we shall see

Our Christ alone at one great table 

To serve God’s children, loved and free.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, September 2021, toward World Communion Sunday

MUSIC: Tune ST. CLEMENT, Clement Cottewill Scholefield, 1874.

 

 

Not much to say besides the aim for something that points somehow to why World Communion Sunday might matter.

There are no walls around this table

There are no walls around this table,

No fence to climb, no gate to bar.

The One who calls us all is able

To welcome all from near and far. 

See how Christ calls us all together

To take the bread and share one cup!

He draws us in the Spirit’s tether

To hold us fast and lift us up.

 

As Jesus shared at that first table

With those he called and then called friends,

So now he leads us to enable

All folk to share this meal that mends.

There is no guard or sentry posted,

No keeper there to block the way; 

There’s just one table that is hosted

By One who bids us come and stay.

 

And there’s no border ‘round this table; 

All whom the Spirit calls may come. 

Whatever color, love, or label,

Our Lord calls all and not just some.

There are no walls around this table,

No fence to climb, no gate to bar. 

The One who calls us all is able

To welcome all from near and far.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, June 2021.

MUSIC: Tune WAYFARING STRANGER, American folk melody. 

A week of listening to headlines about religious authorities of differing-yet-similar types working as hard as they can to exclude some people – even from the table – produced this admittedly radical statement about who exactly is welcome at the table, and who I as pastor have the authority to turn away.

When we gather at the table

When we gather at the table

            Eating what is true and real,

Fellowship with all God’s people

            Makes the blessing for the meal.

Love for Christ and one another

            Makes the feast a sign and seal.

            (Makes the feast a sign and seal.)

As we dine on all God’s bounty,

            Meats and grains and fruits God sows,

Never let us take for granted

            Everything that in Christ grows,

Creatures all of God’s own making

            And whose every breath God knows.

Let us not forsake the workers

            Who put food upon our plates,

Those who toil at grueling labor

            Yet for whom no justice waits;

May we strive that they see mercy,

            Not be callous to their fates.

Teach us, Lord, to eat with conscience,

            Knowing that in Your good will

What we eat and who we eat with

            With Your blessing You will fill;

Nourish us to feed each other

            All with good and not for ill.

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, 2012

MUSIC: Possible tunes:

CWM RHONDDA, John Hughes, 1907 (the repeated final line as shown in the first stanza would come into play here).

TRINITY, Peter Cutts, 1983 (I encountered this one to the text “God is One, unique and holy”; I particularly like the fit of this one but it's Copyright 1983 Hope Publishing Company).

REGENT SQUARE, Henry Thomas Smart, 1866.

A scene from a Coalition for Immokalee Workers action at a Publix supermarket in Florida; the third stanza was inspired by the work of CIW and other organizations seeking economic justice for the workers who perform the labor others won't, yet are often treated as less than human, with poverty wages and abuse as a regular part of their lives.  Learn what CIW is doing at ciw-online.org