Brueggemann, Nouwen: Lessons From The Eucharist, the Welcome Table: Thanks and Abundance
“The church is the only community whose central symbolic act is called ‘Thanks.’ The Eucharist. Eucharist is Greek for ‘Thanks.’ Participation in the Eucharist is an act of gratitude for the abundance that the creator God gives to the world!”
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.’ That 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, turning it into something about sin and salvation and getting right with God, rather than a meal for the neighborhood.”—Walter Brueggemann.
Brueggemann reminds us of something we so often forget about the Eucharist. Christ called all to the Welcome Table, which should be the center of our worship. Whether weekly or daily, the Eucharist is an experience of abundance. There is always enough bread and wine, and there is always some left over.
Feeding of the 5000
Henri Nouwen puts it this way:
“Remember the big crowd, five loaves, and two fish (Matt. 14:15-21)? Jesus said, ‘Give them something to eat.’ The disciples responded, ‘Lord, five loaves, two fish, big crowd? It doesn't fit.’ Jesus said, ‘Give them something to eat.’ And he said, ‘Throw out your nets.’ They did and caught fish, but not enough to meet their needs. They caught so many that their nets could not hold them all. It is the same with the crowd. Jesus didn't just want to make sure everyone got a little piece of bread. There were twelve big baskets of leftovers! And the boat was so full of fish that Simon didn't know what to do with them.”
Jesus breaks right through our normal logic. He is moving all of reality into the kingdom. Suddenly, the fishermen were no longer living by the world's logic. They had entered the logic of God's house, which is beyond all human logic. They had entered a whole new world.”—Henri Nouwen in A Spirituality of Homecoming (Upper Room Ministries 2012)
The Eucharist is a reminder of a great gift: God’s love for each of us and for all.
Remembering we are giving thanks for God’s great gift of love,
Remembering that this is a table of abundance for all,
Remembering this is an assurance that we have been given a life of abundance through Christ, which can make all the difference in how we receive the Eucharist and
How we live our lives.
Nouwen calls it “kingdom logic.”
Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/