Every Eucharist is a thanksgiving. It is what the word means.
I remember reading a very moving passage from a liturgical theologian (must have been Gregory Dix, I think) about the different events that had been marked by the sharing of bread and wine in thanksgiving. It is celebrated week by week in high places and grubby places. It is celebrated at death beds and when kings and queens are crowned. It is offered in thanksgiving at harvest and in remembrance of souls who have passed.
Each Eucharist I celebrate teaches me something new. That is the nature of liturgical formation. Each time fresh. Each time something that God offers back to us, increasing the knowledge that we have in justice restored, hope revealed, holiness amongst us and resurrection life itself.
Today I celebrated a Eucharist in circumstances which were new to me but which felt old and traditional all the same. A new addition to the range of things that human beings have wanted to mark with the sharing of the bread of heaven and the wine of new life. Today it was in celebration of a Civil Partnership between two people whom I have come to know through my work.
Duncan wrote last week of his sense of holiness in being with a couple as they vow to be with one another for life. I know that feeling well, yet every time it surprises me just a little. The most intimate of moments a couple ever have, but shared with their families and friends and in the awesome presence of the living God. Today was no different.
As I helped the two men through their vows and then served communion to them and their friends in thanksgiving, I knew the Eucharist of old. And I knew the Eucharist afresh. I know Christ at that meal every time. Today it was knowing him holding the beloved disciple in his arms as he shared with his friends on his last night and as he has done at every Eucharist since.
People like me have been waiting for services like the one I celebrated today for so long.
Christ the beloved one has been waiting much longer.
I am pleased to hear about this. If and when my partner and I have a civil partnership, it would mean so much to me to have a priest there to bless it, and it breaks my heart that my own church might deny me that.
As a Christian and as a priest I understand the wonder of the Eucharist to permeate everything we do with the presence of Christ, so I am not surprised to hear of the wonderful way this touched you, and the gift of Christ Really Present (once again as promised)
I often think of that psalm as I elevate the Host. He reached down from on high and touched me. Never does it fail to work.
Thank you for ministering to these two guys in this way at this wonderful time, and sharing this with us. No doubt at some personal cost.
Truly what one reads here is what the great Bonhoffer described as “cheap grace”.
People so comfortable in their sin they could not imagine what type of liberation Christ could truly offer them ,and instead bury everything in a feelgood language that reaches out for Glory but demands a rupture with Nature and reality .
Love covers a multitude of sins,and how St Paul must wince at your understanding of his words.
God’s blessings on you buddy as you continue tobe open to God’s grace and to, as any good priest would, share it with all.
I grew up in southern West Virginia, USA. It was fairly common for couples to get married soon after a pregnancy had happened. One of my friends was pregnant with twins, I was setting next to my uncle. The priest started the fertility prayer and my uncle said out loud, “Good God, she’s carrying two, how many more do you want her to have?”
Everyone, including the priest had a good laugh.
Thanks for the post Kevin, I liked the seniment and also the warmth of seeing the eucharist through the leases of important occassions. Just for fun: when I just started college, one of my friends from high school got pregnant, with twins. As was the custom where I grew up, a hasty wedding was planned.
The groom and the bride were kneeing at the rail while the priest prayed a prayer for fertitlity, my funny uncle turned around to me and said out loud, “what does he want? They are aready getting two, does he want a dozen?” Everyone on my side of the church starting laughing, which I am sure the bride and groom woul d have also done if they had heard him.