This year, my internship congregation is doing a special liturgy for Christ the King Sunday. In the “Word” portion of the traditional four-fold ordo, we are tracing the liturgical year from Advent to its culmination in Christ the King, the church’s “New Year’s Eve” if you will, in a pattern of reading-reflection-hymn.

The following Eucharistic Prayer is intended to reflect these shifting seasons, liturgically and ecologically, with scriptural imagery of light and darkness, warmth and cold. The language of the prayer also draws on the RCL readings appointed for Christ the King in Year C (Jer. 23.1-6; Ps. 46; Col. 1.11-20; Lk. 23.33-43).

I have written this Eucharistic Prayer especially for Augustana Lutheran Church, Omaha, NE, but I want to make it available as a resource for others. If you do use this prayer, please use it as printed here and with attribution to the author.

Blessed are you, O God, for your light
that is with us in every generation,
through every season,
among all peoples,
in every time and place.

O God, you are light.
Your Spirit hovered over the murky abyss at creation.
At your word there was light—
sun, moon, and stars to separate the day from the night,
and to mark the shifting seasons.
Blessed be God forever.
Blessed be God forever.

O God, you are fire.
By a flaming pillar, you led your people Israel through the wilderness.
In a fiery furnace, you stayed with your faithful ones in Babylon.
In the upper room, you poured out your Spirit on the apostles in tongues of fire.
Glory to God forever.
Glory to God forever.

O God, you are light.
In Jesus your Christ, the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
bringing the life that is the light of all people,
the light that shines in the darkness.
Blessed be God forever.
Blessed be God forever.

In the night in which he was betrayed…

Remembering his ministry among the outcasts,
his healings among the unclean,
and his death among the wretched,
so too we remember the brightness of his resurrection,
as we boldly proclaim the mystery of our faith:
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Send now your Spirit in this place:
Bless this meal of grape and grain,
that it may be given for our nourishment.
Bless too this assembly gathered here,
that so filled with good things at this table
we might become the body of Christ.

As nights grow longer and days become colder:
Warm our hearts with the fire of your gospel,
and send us out as light to a weary world,
as we look to your coming among us
in Christ, the firstborn of all creation.

And so with all your saints in Paradise,
the church on earth, and the whole of creation,
we praise you, O God, our light,
our refuge, and our strength.
To you be given all honor and glory,
blessed and holy Trinity,
now and forever.
Amen.