The Eucharist

 

“The church is the only community in the world that has as its central symbolic act, an act that is called, “Thanks.” The Eucharist. You know Eucharist is Greek for “Thanks.” 

And participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world.

And I think that the neighborly economy can only be funded by gratitude. It is all a gift! I did not make any of it, produce any of it, it is a gift! But the extraction economy wants to think, “It’s mine!” “I made it, I own it, I can do what I want, I don’t have to be grateful to anybody.”

Which leads me to think that participation in the Eucharist is the most subversive thing we can do.

But notice what the long history of the church has done to the Eucharist. It has siphoned off its danger into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood. The African Americans in the United Church of Christ calls the Eucharist “The Welcome Table.” All are welcome, no restrictions. All are welcome because there is more than enough.”

-Walter Brueggemann

25 September 2022 ~ Holy Eucharist at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Cathedral Road

 

630 East Cathedral Road Philadelphia, PA 19128

215.482.6300 Church office

434.242.6633 Rector's cell

Click  HERE to visit our YouTube Channel

Follow us on our Social Media Accounts

   

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

Surely, it is God who saves me

Canticle 9 The First Song of Isaiah
Isaiah 12:2-6 Ecce, Deus

Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;

Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Surely, it is God who saves me

Canticle 9 The First Song of Isaiah
Isaiah 12:2-6 Ecce, Deus

Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;

Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Bread

“Bread is the welcoming sight and aroma on a dining table that says, “sit down and stay a while”. It’s the first course, though never counted as such, designed to be broken, buttered, dipped, and shared to temporarily satiate even the heartiest of appetites before the meal arrives. It is the communal element, part earthy and part sacred.”

-Tracy C. Yancey

Bread

“Bread is the welcoming sight and aroma on a dining table that says, “sit down and stay a while”. It’s the first course, though never counted as such, designed to be broken, buttered, dipped, and shared to temporarily satiate even the heartiest of appetites before the meal arrives. It is the communal element, part earthy and part sacred.”

-Tracy C. Yancey

Walter Brueggemann on The Eucharist

“The church is the only community in the world that has as its central symbolic act, an act that is called, “Thanks.” The Eucharist. You know Eucharist is Greek for “Thanks.” And participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world.

And I think that the neighborly economy can only be funded by gratitude. It is all a gift! I did not make any of it, produce any of it, it is a gift! But the extraction economy wants to think, “It’s mine!” “I made it, I own it, I can do what I want, I don’t have to be grateful to anybody.”

Which leads me to think that participation in the Eucharist is the most subversive thing we can do.

But notice what the long history of the church has done to the Eucharist. It has siphoned off its danger into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood. The African Americans in the United Church of Christ calls the Eucharist “The Welcome Table.” All are welcome, no restrictions. All are welcome because there is more than enough.”

-Walter Brueggemann

Reflection on The Eucharist by Walter Brueggemann

“The church is the only community in the world that has as its central symbolic act, an act that is called, “Thanks.” The Eucharist. You know Eucharist is Greek for “Thanks.” And participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world.

And I think that the neighborly economy can only be funded by gratitude. It is all a gift! I did not make any of it, produce any of it, it is a gift! But the extraction economy wants to think, “It’s mine!” “I made it, I own it, I can do what I want, I don’t have to be grateful to anybody.”

Which leads me to think that participation in the Eucharist is the most subversive thing we can do.

But notice what the long history of the church has done to the Eucharist. It has siphoned off its danger into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood. The African Americans in the United Church of Christ calls the Eucharist “The Welcome Table.” All are welcome, no restrictions. All are welcome because there is more than enough.”

-Walter Brueggemann

Reflection on The Eucharist by Walter Brueggemann

“The church is the only community in the world that has as its central symbolic act, an act that is called, “Thanks.” The Eucharist. You know Eucharist is Greek for “Thanks.” And participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world.

And I think that the neighborly economy can only be funded by gratitude. It is all a gift! I did not make any of it, produce any of it, it is a gift! But the extraction economy wants to think, “It’s mine!” “I made it, I own it, I can do what I want, I don’t have to be grateful to anybody.”

Which leads me to think that participation in the Eucharist is the most subversive thing we can do.

But notice what the long history of the church has done to the Eucharist. It has siphoned off its danger into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood. The African Americans in the United Church of Christ calls the Eucharist “The Welcome Table.” All are welcome, no restrictions. All are welcome because there is more than enough.”

-Walter Brueggemann

Article: "Who gets fed?" at Episcopal Cafe

My latest article, "Who gets fed?" was also posted today over at the Episcopal Cafe:

Who gets fed?

By Peter M. Carey

At my family’s cottage on Cape Cod, there is a bird feeder place in the middle of the front yard. It has been there for 20 years or so, made of brown metal, on a black pole. It has a kind of a perch for the birds to sit on which “shuts off” the access to bird seed if an animal larger than the average bird tries to get the food. It is designed so that squirrels and blackbirds will not be able to get to the food. Over the years, this bird feeder has been given new life through a black bungee cord which helps to keep it attached to the pole, and also through several stakes pounded into the ground and fastened to the pole, so that it continues to stand more or less upright.

Recently, I was sitting and watching the bird feeder out of the corner of my eye during a Sunday morning rain shower. The birds came steadily to feed. Sorry to say I am no accomplished birder, but I recognized red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, blue jays, robins, an agile blackbird or two, as well as countless little birds beyond my ability to identify. What was also remarkable were two chipmunks who found a way to climb up the pole, onto the perch, and who filled their cheeks with food and then scurried down and into the woods. The chipmunks took turns, it seemed, to grab the food and then sock it away. At times, the chipmunks shared the perch with a bird or two, and at times the chipmunks startled the birds, and at times a bird startled the chipmunks. But, on that Sunday morning, there was plenty of food to go around. I even saw a courageous and agile squirrel hold onto the top of the feeder and stretch down to eat bird food for several seconds before sliding off the feeder. Luckily for the squirrel, the birds are somewhat messy eaters, and there is plenty of birdseed scattered on the ground.

Read it HERE

Father Matthew strikes again...on the sacraments: The Eucharist

Father Matthew strikes again...on the Sacraments:

The Eucharist!

We daily break the body and shed the blood...

To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. When we do it knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, destructively, it is a desecration.

- Wendell Berry
The Gift of Good Land

hat tip to God's Politics at Beliefnet

Thanksgiving and the Oscars

I have not always been a total fan of the Oscars. However, I have found that in the last few years I have really gotten into watching the Oscars - as I am right now. I once had a good friend who just LOVED the Oscars and always watched them with her mom - I coud not get into it at the time, but I have become a recent convert to joining in the spectacle.

I find them to be public liturgy, and they are really an amazing presentation. What I find most inspiring about the Oscars is the "I want to thank the members of the Academy..." The reason is that I think that these offerings are drenched with emotion, and also exhibit that sensibility that we seem to see all too rarely: Thanksgiving.

All too often, the really wonderful ones seem to be cut off by that infernal music -- I know we can't have the Oscars go on all night, but couldn't we offer a few more minutes to gratitude, to thanksgiving?

Offering thanksgiving for all that we are, and all that we have is, and can be, prayer. What if we each thought through what our "Oscar Speech" would be? Who would we thank, how would we thank them, how emotional would we become? And then, I wonder if we all should thank those people, if we should publicly thank those who have meant so much to us.

When I offer youth services, sometimes we ask the kids to come up with the "Asking" (petition) prayers and the "Thanking" prayers, and the kids offer up the earthy, real, and deep prayers emerging from their lives -- and they offer up wonderful prayers of thankgsgiving.

I love hearing the words of thanksgiving at the Oscars, and I think we would all do well to actually "Thank the Academy, and ....." more often.

Some reflections on Anglicanism from the Seabury-Western Dean

Some helpful and interesting reflections on Anglicanism (in response to a letter in The Living Church) from the Very Rev. Gary Hall, the dean and president of Seabury-Western Seminary...

Welcome at the Table
7/23/2007

In his Guest Column, “Careless Communion” [TLC, July 8], the Rev. Ian Montgomery described a commencement he attended at “one of our seminaries” where, from his point of view, everything seemed to go wrong. The eucharistic bread crumbled and fell to the floor, the presider made an open invitation to communion, and the preacher seemed to endorse what the article called the “new Episcopal religion.”

It didn’t take me long to realize that the event Fr. Montgomery described was, in fact, the commencement of the seminary of which I am the dean, Seabury-Western in Evanston, Ill. While Fr. Montgomery ably expresses his reaction to some elements of our liturgy that day, I would like to address a few of his concerns.

Fr. Montgomery writes that “the bread used crumbled badly and was dropping to the floor during the administration of the sacrament.” Nobody who knows Seabury and its liturgical traditions well could seriously think that we are intentionally lax in our treatment of the sacrament. What Fr. Montgomery experienced was the unfortunate consequence of our new policy of using gluten-free bread at all celebrations of the Eucharist. The Seabury community now has several members with Celiac disease (gluten intolerance), and so we have started using only gluten-free bread as an expression of our inclusive hospitality. If you have ever tried to bake gluten-free bread, you know how tricky it can be. I regret that the recipe used at commencement produced friable bread, and we will work to make sure that the experience is not repeated.

While crumbly bread might seem an apt metaphor for Anglicanism, in reality it’s an expression of a community trying to react pastorally to a new situation — which, in a sense, is what so much of the current conflicts over sexuality, open communion, and inclusive language is about in the first place.

Read the rest of this fine article HERE.