Reflections from A Thanksgiving Past:
Each year our church holds a service on Thanksgiving morning, which includes hymn-singing, the offering of public thanks and a brief sermon. The sermon from two years ago has stuck with me and has given me occasion for much meditation over the past 24 months. I'll try to pass on the main ideas in hopes that it will be helpful for you as well. Pastor Meyers encouraged us and instructed us to give thanks, by tying our thanksgiving to the Lord's Supper - also called "The Eucharist" - from the Greek word, eucharistos, which means "gratitude" or "thanksgiving". In the Lord's Supper, we give thanks for the bread, the wine and the body & blood of Christ. In these three we see reflections of the KINDS of things for which we should give thanks.
Bread is ordinary...common...necessary. It provides sustenance for our bodies and represents our daily needs - those things for which we often forget to ask or to return thanks...those provisions which we so easily take for granted in everyday life. Yet our Lord taught us to pray for "our daily bread," and the Eucharist teaches us to give thanks for the provision of our daily bread. What is meant by daily bread? Food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, transportation, work, money, along with every necessity for sustaining life. We must remember to give thanks for these ordinary gifts of God which come to us so often by way of others' hands.
Wine is a luxury. It requires wisdom to make...the study and practice of years...the long-term cultivation of vines...diligence, vigilance and the labor of skilled men are all essential for producing good wine. Wine isn't a necessity which provides bodily sustenance, but a luxury which provides gladness of heart and rest. It represents all the abundance that is beyond our daily needs and for our enjoyment. We should remember too that this means for lightening our spirits didn't have to be created in a form that was pleasing to the eye, nose and palate...it could have been inhaled, injected or come through tasteless mush. Instead, God designed the means itself bring us pleasure! In giving thanks for the wine, we should recognize all the luxurious provisions by which He blesses us: easy access to The Word of God, freedom to pray and worship publicly, wise and faithful pastors and elders, medical advancements, technology, music, art, literature, architecture, kind neighbors, just laws, righteous judges, etc. We must remember to give thanks for the abundance of gifts which God bestows on us for our pleasure, enjoyment and peaceful existence.
The body and blood of Christ are mystical. Do not panic! By that, I am not positing some bizarre religous or philosophical idea. The breaking of Christ's body and the pouring out of His blood, that is to say, His suffering and death, in some mysterious way are FOR US. His suffering and death redeem us, bring us back to God, transform us. This is indeed a great mystery! In a similar way, which also remains mysterious, our suffering and dying are also for the world. God uses our suffering and death to transform others. You've heard the saying, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church"? It's true. When the people of God give themselves up to be broken and poured out, it brings life and redemption and healing. Remember too that Paul says in Colossians 1, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church." Because Paul knew his suffering was for the sake of others, he gave thanks for and rejoiced in it. We should do so as well!
Disclaimer: These words are not, by any means, intended as a comprehensive theology of The Eucharist!! They only represent one of many ways that weekly participation in The Supper can transform our way of thinking about life...one simple application among many!
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