If you are asked unexpectedly to pray at your family's thanksgiving gathering it might be well to avoid what one man said. Ben Witherington, in a book on the Lord's Supper, tells of a particular thanksgiving dinner at his aunt's house in Statesville, North Carolina. He wrote, "As we were all sitting down, she asked by father to pray impromptu over the meal she had been preparing for many hours. Somewhat flustered and unprepared he prayed, 'Dear Lord, please bless our sins and pardon this food in your son's name. Amen.'" (Making a Meal of It, 17).
It is no surprise that prayer on Thanksgiving day, said with family gathered at a table covered with delicious food, would express heartfelt thanks. But what of other days, in other circumstances? Prayers have a way of getting at the heart of a matter. If you want to know how you feel about life, you might examine your prayers, especially prayers offered when you face a crisis of some kind.
Jesus was very much aware of the crisis he faced when he met with his apostles in the upper room. He knew the danger he was in. What was his prayer at that time? Three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, along with Paul in 1 Corinthians, record what happened at the meal. There are variations in the wording, in the sequence of events, and in other aspects of their descriptions, but one phrase is found to be the same in all accounts. It is simply this" "when he had given thanks...". Whatever the prayer went on to say, at the heart of Jesus' prayer was thanksgiving. Jesus must have been at heart a thankful person.
Through the centuries since then four terms, all based on NT passages, have been used to name this observance. One is "the bread breaking," or "breaking of bread," based on Jesus' words and action in the upper room. Also, we call it "communion," which translates the Greek word used by Paul in reference to it. We also call it "the Lord's Supper," based on the evening meal Jesus had with his disciples in the upper room. The fourth is a term you and I, in our non-liturgical tradition, seldom use but it is probably the most common name used throughout the world: "Eucharist." It comes from that phrase, "when he had given thanks." In doing this, Jesus provided a model, not just for how to observe communion, but how thanks can be a way of life expressed in prayer.
I am not saying that we should start using the word "eucharist" more often, although that would certainly be appropriate, but I am saying that our observance here should express a thanksgiving that carries over into all of life. The former secretary of the United Nations, Dag Hammerskjold, must have had that kind of outlook on life because shortly before his untimely death he said something that could very well be our prayer at this table, or on Thursday at the family table, and at all times of life -- especially times of crisis. He said simply, "For all that has been, thanks; for all that shall be, yes."
