Dance Me To The End of Love

Dance Me To The End of Love is a liturgy inspired by the music of Canadian Poet and Songwriter Leonard Cohen. It was first used on October 12, 2012 at Church of the Redeemer in Toronto, Ontario and written by Brian Walsh.

As with all our resources, if you choose to use this elsewhere, please credit the original author, and provide a link to its source.

Throughout the liturgy, the words of the leader / celebrant are in plain text, and the words for the congregation are in bold. All songs are meant to be sung together.

Prelude: Dance Me to the End of Love

(from the album Various Positions)

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic ’til I’m gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We’re both of us beneath our love,
we’re both of us above
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I’m gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand
or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

The Gathering of the Community

(Please stand if you are able)

The Lord be with you,
and also with you.

Let us pray.

Holy is your name, holy is your work,
holy are the days that return to you.

Holy are the hands that are raised to you,
and the weeping that is wept to you.

Holy is the fire between your will and ours,
in which we are refined.

Holy is that which is unredeemed,
covered with your patience.

Holy are the souls lost in your unnaming.

Holy, and shining with great light,
is every living thing,
established in this world and covered with time,
until your name is praised forever.

Holy is your name, holy is your work,
holy are the days that return to you.

(from “Holy is Your Name,” Book of Mercy)

[The Congregation May Sit]

Opening Song: Show me the Place

(from the album Old Ideas)

Show me the place where you want your slave to go
Show me the place, I’ve forgotten, I don’t know
Show me the place for my head is bending low
Show me the place where you want your slave to go

Show me the place, help me roll away the stone
Show me the place, I can’t move this thing alone
Show me the place where the word became a man
Show me the place where the suffering began

The troubles came, I saved what I could save
A thread of light, a particle, a wave
But there were chains so I hastened to behave
There were chains so I loved you like a slave

Show me the place
Show me the place
Show me the place

Show me the place, help me roll away the stone
Show me the place, I can’t move this thing alone
Show me the place where the word became a man
Show me the place where the suffering began

The Proclamation of the Word

A Reading From the Prophets: Amos 5.6-15

Gradual Hymn: Everybody Knows

(from the album I’m Your Man)

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you’ve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows …

And everybody knows that it’s now or never
Everybody knows that it’s me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you’ve done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe’s still pickin’ cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there’s gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you’re in trouble
Everybody knows what you’ve been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it’s coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows …

The Gospel

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Mark.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Reading: Mark 10.17-31

The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Sermon

Hymn of Response: Ain’t No Cure for Love

(from the album Various Positions)

I loved you for a long, long time
I know this love is real
It don’t matter how it all went wrong
That don’t change the way I feel
And I can’t believe that time’s
Gonna heal this wound I’m speaking of
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure for love

I’m aching for you baby
I can’t pretend I’m not
I need to see you naked
In your body and your thought
I’ve got you like a habit
And I’ll never get enough
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure for love

There ain’t no cure for love
There ain’t no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they’ll never ever find that cure for love
There ain’t no drink no drug
(Ah tell them, angels)
There’s nothing pure enough to be a cure for love

I see you in the subway and I see you on the bus
I see you lying down with me, I see you waking up
I see your hand, I see your hair
Your bracelets and your brush
And I call to you, I call to you
But I don’t call soft enough
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure for love

I walked into this empty church I had no place else to go
When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul
I don’t need to be forgiven for loving you so much
It’s written in the scriptures
It’s written there in blood
I even heard the angels declare it from above
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure,
There ain’t no cure for love

Prayers of the People

(from “Not Knowing Where to Go,” Book of Mercy)

Not knowing where to go,
I go to you.

Not knowing where to turn,
I turn to you.

Not knowing what to hold,
I bind myself to you.

Having lost my way,
I make my way to you.

Having soiled my heart,
I lift my heart to you.

Having wasted my days,
I bring the heap to you.

Blocked by every thought,
I fly on the wisp of remembrance.

Defeated by silence,
here is a place where the silence is more subtle.

And here is the opening in defeat.
And here is the clasp of the will.
And here is the fear of you.
And here is the fastening of mercy.

Blessed are you,
in this man’s moment.

Blessed are you,
whose presence illuminates outrageous evil.

Blessed are you,
who brings chains out of darkness.

Blessed are you,
who waits in the world.

Blessed are you,
whose name is in the world.

Musical Reflection: If it be Your Will

(from the album Various Positions)

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will
If it be your will.

The Peace

(please stand if you are able)

The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.

[We pass the peace to each other]

Offertory Hymn: “Coming Back to You”

(from the Album Various Positions)

Maybe I’m still hurting
I can’t turn the other cheek
But you know that I still love you
It’s just that I can’t speak
I looked for you in everyone
And they called me on that too
I lived alone but I was only
Coming back to you

Ah they’re shutting down the factory now
Just when all the bills are due
And the fields they’re under lock and key
Tho’ the rain and the sun come through
And springtime starts but then it stops
In the name of something new
And all the senses rise against this
Coming back to you

And they’re handing down my sentence now
And I know what I must do
Another mile of silence while I’m
Coming back to you

There are many in your life
And many still to be
Since you are a shining light
There’s many that you’ll see
But I have to deal with envy
When you choose the precious few
Who’ve left their pride on the other side of
Coming back to you

Even in your arms I know
I’ll never get it right
Even when you bend to give me
Comfort in the night
I’ve got to have your word on this
Or none of it is true
And all I’ve said was just instead of
Coming back to you

The Celebration of the Eucharist

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right to praise you, Father,
Lord of all creation;
in your love you made us for yourself.

When we turned away
you did not reject us,
but came to meet us in your Son.
You embraced us as your children,
and welcomed us to sit
and eat with you.

In Christ you shared our life
that we might live in him
and he in us.
He opened his arms of love
upon the cross,
and made for all
the perfect sacrifice for sin.

On the night he was betrayed,
at supper with his friends
he took bread, and gave you thanks;
he broke it and gave it to them saying:
Take, eat; this is my body
which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.
We do this in remembrance
of Jesus:
his body is the bread of life.

At the end of supper,
taking the cup of wine,
he gave you thanks, and said:
Drink this, all of you;
this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you
for the forgiveness of sins;
do this in remembrance of me.
We do this in remembrance
of Jesus:
his blood is shed for all.

As we proclaim his death
and celebrate his rising in glory,
send your Holy Spirit
that this bread and this wine
may be to us the body and blood
of your dear Son.
As we eat and drink
these holy gifts
make us one in Christ,
our risen Lord.

With your whole Church
throughout the world
we offer this sacrifice of praise
and lift our voice to join
the eternal song of heaven:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

And now as our Saviour taught us,
let us pray,

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory
are yours, now and for ever. Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread

We break this bread,
Communion in Christ’s body
once broken.
Let you Church be the wheat
which bears its fruit in dying.
If we have died with him,
we shall live with him;
if we hold firm,
we shall reign with him.

These are the gifts of God,
and they are for the people of God
Thanks be to God.

The Communion

Communion Hymn: Come Healing

(from the album Old Ideas)

O gather up the brokenness
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow

The splinters that you carry
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace

O solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

O see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart

O troubled dust concealing
An undivided love
The Heart beneath is teaching
To the broken Heart above

O let the heavens falter
And let the earth proclaim:
Come healing of the Altar
Come healing of the Name

O longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Prayer After Communion

(please stand if you are able)

Let us pray,

In a world of betrayal,
you keep faith.

In the depths of our brokenness,
you come healing.

In the midst of our darkness,
you are the shining light.

When we turned our backs on you,
you never walked away.

In the face of death,
you rolled away the stone.

Burdened by our guilt,
you are the gate of mercy.

And even though it all went wrong
we’ll stand before the Lord of Song,
with nothing on our tongues but,
“Hallelujah.”

And may the blessing
of the Creator of the universe,
the Word that became one of us,
and the Spirit that enlivens all things
be with you this evening,
this week,
and forevermore.
Amen.

Dismissal

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Postlude: Lover Lover Lover

(from the album New Skin for the Old Ceremony)

I asked my father
I said, “Father change my name”
The one I’m using now it’s covered up
With fear and filth and cowardice and shame

Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover, lover
Lover, lover come back to me
Yes and lover, lover, lover, lover
Lover, lover, lover come back to me

He said, “I locked you in this body
I meant it as a kind of trial
You can use it for a weapon
Or to make some woman smile”