You can't please all the people all the time, and when it comes to hair, well I reckon I can't please anyone much of the time!  Since it began to make its reappearance roughly eighteen months ago, I have lost count of the number of times I've been told to grow it/cut it/leave it curly/make it straight/ dye it/don't dye it and goodness knows what else.  Eighteen months in, it still reverts to curly at the first hint of damp, and even after its two previous serious chops, the curls fought back quickly.  Today, a few weeks later than intended, it finally got chopped again.  Some people will think it's to short.  Some people will think it's too straight.  Some people will think it's too long.  No-one can think it's too curly (though despite the severe chopping, it is already fighting back :-) ).  Anyway, I like it - though will like it even more when it's grown a bit longer (I did NOT like the use of clippers to tidy up the hairline on my neck, not one iota).

Before:

After:

Here are the words I used on Sunday, feel free to borrow them if you find them useful/helpful.  You may need a few tweaks for local custom and practice on serving, but this reflects typical Baptist experience.

Invitation

We gather round a table, set for a meal

Clean linen and sparkling silver, fresh baked bread and outpoured wine

We gather round a table, having come ill-prepared

Our hands unwashed, the dust of the day clinging to our clothes

We gather round a table, as members of one family

Brothers and sisters of heavenly parentage,

Children of God

Siblings in Christ.

The Story & Distribution

Why are we here? 

Why do we take tiny crumbs of bread and teeny sips of wine?

Why do we pretend this is a feast when everything is a token?

Here is why.

Late one spring evening, at the time when everyone was celebrating God’s goodness a very long time ago, Jesus and his friends had one last meal together.  They borrowed a room and enjoyed a good meal as they sang old psalms and prayed lovely prayers.

Then Jesus did something odd

As he picked up some bread, he said a prayer, then he broke it and said ‘when you eat bread think about me, because just as this bread is broken, my body will be broken.’

They didn’t understand.

But no-one dared ask what he meant.

So they took the bread and ate it.

And so will we!

Prayer over bread

Thank you God for bread, even this tiny little taste reminds us of the food you give us each day.

Thank you God for Jesus, help us to think about him whenever we eat bread.

Amen.

[Bread served and eaten]

After everyone had eaten their tea and was feeling pleasantly full, Jesus did something else odd.

He picked up a goblet of wine and said ‘when you drink wine, think about me, because just as this wine has been poured out, so my life blood will be poured out, and there will be a new bond between people and God.’

They didn’t understand

But no-one dared ask what he meant

So they took the cup of wine and drank from it.

And so will we!

[wine distributed]

Prayer over wine

Thank you God for wine, even this tiny little sip reminds us of the joy you give us each day.

Thank you God for Jesus, who calls us his brothers and sisters if we follow his way

Help us to think about him whenever we drink wine.

Amen.

[wine drunk]

After the meal was over, Jesus and his friends sang a song together before they went out, and so will we.

(c) Catriona Gorton 2012