Thanksgiving in June? It's okay, you can take a moment if you need to.
To give thanks--with the emphasis on the action "to give." So, to live out the Eucharist would imply to live out a life of thanksgiving. I find that when I stop--when I pause to drink my coffee with two hands--I often find that I am overwhelmingly thankful... for my life, my family, my friends, for all things that make up my life. Though I would not go as far as to say that I live a life of thanksgiving, a life that thanks God for the day-to-day, step-by-step little things of life. I have moments of such things, but probably not a lifestyle.
As of late, I've been stuck on the Last Supper... on the actions of Christ and what-the-junk He was thinking. I mean, fo'shizzle... there were no questions, no mystery in His mind as to what was about to happen. He was well aware of the impending betrayal, beating, mocking--all things crucifixion, and yet "He took the bread and he gave thanks." Come again?
Jerusalem Jackson Greer said it well in her book, A Homemade Year. "He gave thanks knowing He would be betrayed. He broke the break knowing His body would break much more painfully, and still He gave thanks, and He told us to give thanks, and He told us to keep giving thanks together."
Growing up in the church, and being a Jesus-lover for the vast majority of the moons of my life, I have taken communion loads of time (at the very least, quarterly... for decades) but I have, for so long, had a very dejected sense of the whole thing. It always seemed so empty to me, which then led to guilt, which is like... totally getting it wrong. If you know me, I don't do things I'm not good at. (Seriously, why would you?) And, as simplistic as it sounds, I am not good at communion. I just plain didn't get it. Somewhere along the way, I missed the boat on this whole Eucharist thing! I always put the focus on the "taking," when in reality, it is on the "giving!"
"'Do this in remembrance of me. Eat this in memory of me.' His directions are active, not passive. Do this, he says, and then he gave thanks. We are commanded to take his body and his blood past our lips and into our body and our blood, accepting its nourishment. And we are not commanded to do this alone, but instead to offer our gifts of thanksgiving in the context of community--to come together, sharing in the same meal, the same body, the same blood." (Greer)
Though my kids are young and there is no way they can understand fully what-the-junk all this Corpus Christi is all about, we are trying really hard to set some foundations for them to possibly "get it" sooner than I did! So, we set out to offer thanksgiving to some of those in our little community. Taking an idea again from A Homemade Year, we made jelly and jam, and Silas and I made biscuits from scratch (Oh my! Buttery-salty goodness. That did things for my soul that only bread can do). I mean, how can one break open a warm, salty biscuit, heavily scoop homemade jam on it, and not smile with a heart of thanksgiving!? I mean, seriously... this would be an impossible task!
During the making of biscuits and jams, I asked the kids about the things for which they are thankful. The first responses out their mouths were people (they are tender like that)! Oh, "Miss Marcia's fluffy cat that talks" made the list as well, thanks to MAK's delight in all things ridiculous! It was through that list of people that we came up with whom we needed to share our gifts of thanksgiving. So yesterday, we went around and "Corpus Christi-fied" people in our little community and it was heart-smilingly awesome!
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