The Great Thanksgiving

Consider this my return to blogging. I have gotten away from it, but hope to get back to sharing some of my sermons and other writings in this space. This is my sermon for worship on Nov. 23-24, 2013 at Chippewa United Methodist Church. The accompanying scripture lessons are: Acts 2:46-47, Psalm 100, and John 6:25-35. The sacrament of Holy Communion was celebrated following this sermon. Audio should be up at chippewaumc.org today or Tuesday.

INTRODUCTION

    There’s a story often told of a little girl who was brought forward to participate in the sacrament of Holy Communion. As the first Communion server broke off a small piece of bread and placed it in her hand, the girl looked down at the bread, then back up at the server, and cried loudly enough for everyone to hear: “I want more! I want more!”

    Oh, that we would all approach Communion in the same way, begging for more bread of heaven, more of the body of Christ, to be passed along to us. Instead, we adults are usually content with just a small piece of bread, just big enough to dip into the cup and consume all in one bite. Sometimes, I wish we would approach the Lord’s Table in the same way as that little girl: expecting more, wanting more, pleading for more Jesus.

THANKSGIVING

    It is interesting to think of these things as we prepare to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. No holiday on our calendars, whether Christian or civic, is centered around a meal the way Thanksgiving is. Everyone has their own traditions for Thanksgiving, but the Thanksgiving dinner is the main event. There are even traditional foods that are expected to be served. For one day a year, dinner is the most important thing on everyone’s schedule.

    Yes, Thanksgiving is all about the meal. How big will the turkey be? Get out the fancy tablecloth! Put the extra leaf in the table! Fetch the extra chairs from the basement! And make sure there is enough food for everyone! Thanksgiving is an important holiday because it is the unofficial kick-off to what we know as the holiday season, which continues through Advent, Christmas, New Year’s, and Epiphany. It is a season that encourages us to gather with family and friends for important meals, meals where the food we eat is important, and the way we linger at the table for hours is even more important.

BREAKING BREAD TOGETHER

    The tradition of sharing family meals is nothing new. As we read in Acts, early Christians broke bread in their homes and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. This practice reminds us that the earliest Christians were still essentially a sect of Judaism, which is a faith tradition with an even longer history of sharing ritual meals with family and friends.

    But I believe that sharing meals, “breaking bread together,” is not only a religious exercise. There is a reason the phrase “breaking bread” has entered the common lexicon as a slang term for family, friends, or business associates eating together, often for the purpose of developing a closer relationship or working out an agreement. Breaking bread is a symbol of spiritual or social relationship.

    Many of us will break bread with those whom we love around a Thanksgiving dinner table later this week. And today, we will break bread with each other as we celebrate Holy Communion, which is also sometimes called “The Lord’s Supper.” In doing so, we break bread with God as well, entering into God’s presence as we receive the bread and wine at the table set for us.

PREPARING THE TABLE

    Now at any meal, the table must first be prepared. Think about the preparation required for your Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. First, you have probably already invited people to come and told them when to arrive. Then, you have prepared the food and set the table. Even then, people do not magically appear in their seats and begin to eat. There’s always that moment when you have to go around telling everyone that “It’s time; dinner is ready. Come have a seat at the table.” Then, the final preparation is made with the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving.

    So it is with the sacrament of Holy Communion. You were invited into worship today at a particular place and time. Food has been prepared for us - this bread and wine did not magically appear, but someone had to take grain and turn it into bread and take grapes and turn them into the unfermented wine we have here.

    Final preparations are still made when we are called to the table and the prayer of blessing and thanksgiving is spoken over the meal and all who are gathered. In fact, we call this prayer, “The Great Thanksgiving.”

“THE GREAT THANKSGIVING”

    There are many theological meanings to the sacrament of Holy Communion, and one of them is to give thanks. One of the words you may have heard used for Communion, “Eucharist,” comes from a Greek word that means “giving thanks.” When we celebrate Communion, we convey our gratitude for the goodness of God and for God’s unconditional love for us.

    It is clear that giving thanks is an important theme in the liturgy called “The Great Thanksgiving” which we will share in a few moments:

• Almost immediately in the Great Thanksgiving, we are invited to “give thanks to the Lord our God,” because “It is right to give our thanks and praise.”

• Then the pastor proclaims: “It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.” What we are doing in this “Great Thanksgiving” is something we are supposed to do “always and everywhere”: give thanks.

• In the Great Thanksgiving, we express joyful thanks for God’s action throughout history: creation, covenant, salvation offered through Jesus Christ, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.

• In the Great Thanksgiving, we recall that the first thing Jesus did with the bread and cup were to give thanks to God.

• Finally, “we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving” - a “Great” Thanksgiving, indeed.

When we have finished these prayers of thanksgiving and blessing, we are finally ready to eat the meal that has been prepared. And with whatever method we choose to eat and drink, we receive bread and wine, body and blood, bread of heaven and cup of salvation. We have a Thanksgiving dinner at which Jesus Christ is the host.

    Being the host is a familiar role for Jesus. He was one who had made such a habit of welcoming sinners and eating with them that he was criticized for it. But if Jesus could not welcome sinners to his table, then who could he welcome? Are we not all sinners in need of God’s grace? And do we not all find that grace and peace here, at the table of our Lord?

In this way, the sacrament of Holy Communion is no different than any other meal. Henri Nouwen once said that Communion, like any other meal, is an invitation by the host to affirm and celebrate life together. Isn’t that why we invite people to dinner, to affirm and celebrate life together? In Communion, Jesus invites us to affirm and celebrate life with him and with our neighbors, and because of this, everyone should feel welcome at this, the Lord’s table.

CONCLUSION

Today, Jesus invites us to celebrate a Great Thanksgiving in this sacrament of Holy Communion. But many of the elements of this meal are also present in our Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday, and I’m not talking only of bread and wine. Will your Thanksgiving celebration have all the necessary elements of a Great Thanksgiving as we celebrate today? Will you:

• Welcome all persons around your table
• Give thanks to God always and everywhere
• Give thanks for God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer?
• Give thanks for the unconditional love and grace that God gives?
• Celebrate and affirm life together, a life rooted in the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ?

    United Methodist pastor and author Will Willimon reminds us that in Jewish tradition, “when the blessing is said at the table, the table becomes a holy place and eating together a sacred activity.” As you sit down at your Thanksgiving tables this week, someone will likely say a prayer of blessing before you eat. When the prayer of blessing is given, your table then becomes a holy space, and eating together becomes a sacred activity where Christ’s presence is made known.

And as you eat together, remember that little girl who cried loudly upon receiving communion, “I want more! I want more!” She, more than any adults around her, knew the truth about the bread being placed in her hands. It was bread come down from heaven, and her cries were actually cries of thanksgiving. We are often most thankful for the things that stir up a hunger within us. May we all be hungry for the bread of heaven, and remember to give thanks to God, always and everywhere for that gift. And may our Thanksgivings all be Great Thanksgivings. Amen.