Quaker Worship (Part 8): Eucharist/Thanksgiving
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
November 21, 2021
Colossians 3:15-17 (The Message)
15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every
detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
This morning we conclude our Fall Sermon Series on Quaker Worship. Very soon we will be transitioning into the Holiday season, but before we do, I want to take one last look at Quaker worship. It just may help usher us into the holidays in a very significant way.
This past week, I was listening to a book as I took my morning walks, and the author said the following,
“I have sought to call the members of this generation into an awareness that worship means expanding the meaning of their humanity.”
When I heard this, I paused the book, rewound it, and listened to that definition one more time.
If worship is about expanding the meaning of our humanity, it must influence us in the present moment, not just eternally. And I believe this effect comes from a long-standing understanding in the Universal Church of worship being about giving thanks (an appropriate subject for this upcoming week).
As most of you know, I grew up in liturgical and sacramental churches. That means, on most Sundays, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper or what those churches often called the Eucharist.
The Greek word from which the word eucharist comes is eucharista which actually translates in English to thanksgiving.
That is why in many churches that celebrate the eucharist or the Lord’s Supper – you may hear them call it the Great Thanksgiving. This often confused me as a child – why are we always celebrating Thanksgiving at church – and with such micro-portions.
The Great Thanksgiving was usually the part of the service where they moved from readings, prayers, and preaching, to consecrating the elements of bread and wine, gathering around the table (or altar), and sharing in a symbol of their common-union together.
As Quakers, this may seem rather foreign, and it definitely is not a part of our tradition. Friends do not feel it is necessary to utilize the elements of bread and wine in our worship, yet, that does not mean that we do not have a Eucharist among Quakers. Let me explain.
Friend Brent Bill says that Quaker silence or waiting worship is in fact our version of the Eucharist. In his book, Holy Silence, he says,
“We believe that Christ comes in a physically present way in the same way that Catholics believe that when the host is elevated it becomes the literal body and blood of Jesus.”
Thus, the famous Quaker painting, The Presence in the Midst by James Doyle Penrose which you will see hanging in most Quaker Meetings – including ours.
Early Quakers called this “experiencing the Present Christ – or the Present Teacher.” For those coming from a liturgical background, like myself, we find this explanation very helpful.
Yet, we may not all feel comfortable with the “Jesus” terminology, some of us may be more inclined to utilize the Divine, Present Teacher, Inner Christ, Spirit, or even conscience.
Often when centering down into Quaker silence or waiting worship, Friends seek a transcendent experience with this Divine. We hope to experience what we often call a nudging of the Spirit. At times we will find ourselves comforted and at other times we may be uncomfortable, quaking, and even draw to speak out of the silence. We may even sense a calling to act or respond out of that silence.
Brent Bill and his wife describe an experience of this Quaker Eucharist in the following way,
“It was as if something had been lit deep inside and now shown from their faces, we saw ‘grace and truth’ reflected in the people around us…God had worked his way into the deeper parts of our hearts and out to our fingers and toes and noses.”
As I grew up in liturgical and sacramental churches, I found the Eucharist and taking communion with elements very special and important to me – but it always seemed a private event between me and God. Even though it was called communion – the common-union was ONLY between me and God. That did not seem enough.
The Eucharist was to be a communal experience more like we read in the Bible with Jesus and his disciples. They came together in common-union to give thanks and then to go out and change their world. It was more than just having a one-on-one relationship with Jesus.
Actually, the liturgical rite I used to pray each week as an Anglican Priest concludes with words that suggest there should be even more to this communal aspect of the Liturgical/Sacramental Eucharist. I used to read in the closing prayer these words:
“…and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom. And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in…”
Or in more modern language…
“And now, Father, send us out
to do the work you have given us to do,
to love and serve you
as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.”
When I finally added the Quaker belief that there is “that of God in all people” to the Eucharist experience my understanding blossomed and evolved. I now could envision what Brent Bill and his wife had experienced.
God had always been present in the people surrounding me – they are truly the “blessed company” and “holy fellowship” as I said each week in my Anglican days, because they too had God within them.
Actually, that means that if God is within them – they too can be a “means of grace” – a sacrament that connects me with the Divine. In my heart, I realized my neighbor may be able to do that even better than a piece of bread or a drink of wine.
I realized that I did not need the elements of bread and wine to see or experience God, rather I needed to acknowledge the Divine’s presence in those that God had already placed around me in this present moment of my life.
God had already given me all the physical elements I needed – the real query seemed to be, was I willing to see them in this way?
Just maybe, I needed to sit in silence and quiet my own thinking and desires, and allow the Divine to speak to me through those gathered around me.
What I have learned is that when you and I sit with our fellow Friends in silent worship or waiting worship – we are experiencing the Eucharist in a truly communal and sacramental way – communal together and sacramental in that God is present in each of us.
Realizing this only affirms for me why Jesus narrowed things down to two great commandments - to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. These were the basics for the Eucharist and for our worship together.
It also makes more sense why it would be named the Great Thanksgiving. The thanksgiving was to be for more than just what God has done in our lives, but also for us to be thankful for what God is doing in the lives of those around us.
This makes the Eucharist more than just a ritual we fulfill or run through the motions of doing. Rather, it is a communal experience that creates an awareness within and around us of the Divine’s influence, work, and even compassion for our neighbors, whether in our Meeting or without.
And to encompass this awareness in the idea that thanksgiving is essential.
Because having a heart for worship means first, we have a thankful heart – thankful for what God is doing and also thankful for our neighbor and what God is doing within them.
It must start with thankfulness – otherwise it takes us away from true worship, having compassion, and expanding the meaning of our humanity. Just think about it…
When we are not thankful for those whose opinions differ from ours; we criticize.
When we don’t value those different than ourselves; we ostracize.
When we aren’t respectful of other’s values, we marginalize.
Ingratitude is at the root of arrogance, hatred, and rudeness.
Folks, it is the direct opposite of being in a place of humble worship where we seek to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.
When we are not thankful, we don’t just have a problem with our words; we have a problem with our hearts.
That is why my hope is to refocus us to see the heart of worship as thanksgiving.
Giving thanks is life-giving. It breaks down the walls that isolate us from each other and from our world. To be thankful is to see ourselves in relation to what is around us and to understand life as the blessing it is. Thanksgiving is the key to a joy-filled and worshipful life.
And if we are willing to embrace a worship posture of thanksgiving, our hearts will continue to grow softer and not harder, and we will begin to see “that of God all around us.”
So, to close, I want to return to the opening words of our scripture for this morning. Let these words be our charge each week as we enter worship and this week as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness.
Today, as we enter waiting worship or what I would like to call Quaker Eucharist let us focus on having a thankful heart.
· As you center down, take a moment to thank whatever you name the Divine in your life for the blessings you have.
· Keep your ears and hearts open to the nudging of the Spirit - what is the Spirit asking of you this morning?
· And then take a moment to look around and sense your fellow Friends (the blessed company and holy fellowship) around you. How are they a sacrament to you in this Silence?