eucharist with a small “e” by miriam therese winter (Orbis Books £8.99)
Miriam Therese Winter is a professor of liturgy, worship and spirituality, but does not let that get in the way of asking us to imagine a spirituality rooted in doing what Jesus did. In this imaginative book, she challenges those who look to Jesus for inspiration to do as he did rather that, perhaps, what they churches have taught us to do.
This is a book which starts out with an agenda – to imagine and enact eucharist with a small “e”. For the author, this means being empowed to continue what Jesus began, identifying with those who are hungry and thirsty or who are sick and in prison and then working with and for them as thanksgiving to God. She is a woman who knows that eucharist comes from a common Greek word (meaning thank you) that can be heard at every table and not only at the altar of God. Indeed, one can guess that she sees every table as the altar of God. Or god.
This basic idea is very rich. Eucharist is to be seen in the ordinary. Eucharisticness is a way of being, not something that one receives packed into a taste of bread and a sup of wine. Eucharist for Jesus, as for Professor Winter is so much more than that, and in this book that is explored with great imagination and creativity. This is spirituality at its most imaginative and as such to be welcomed by all who long for a Godly understanding of the here and the now.
Review by Miriam Western
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Published in inspires the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church
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