Open with me the Psalter. Psalm 111. Read it. Pray it. Sing it.
What do you see here on the page? You sung it earlier. What did you sing of, when this Psalm poured forth out of your lips? Maybe you’ve heard it sung at church by those beside and around you. What message did you receive, proclaimed into your ears?
We begin, Hallelujah, I will give thanks the Lord.
I will give thanks. To the Lord. I will do so with my whole heart. I will do so in the presence of the congregation. I will do so to the declaration of God’s wondrous deeds. I will do so to the proclamation of His majesty and grace. I will do so in remembrance of His marvelous works. I will do so in the reception of the food of His covenant. I will do so in witness of the power of His saving work! I will do so to the redemption of my soul. I will do so in awe of His name. I will do so, in obedience to the ordinance of His New and eternal covenant. I will give thanks! I will – Eucharist.
That is what you see. That is what you sung. And that is what you heard. You heard of the Eucharist. You heard of the Eucharist. Which means, in Greek (Eucharisto) thanksgiving. But in the Christian church the term Eucharist is more than just thanksgiving. It now applied, of course, to a sacrament. Yes? But the term “Eucharist” for us, speaks of more than a sacrament. Doesn’t it? It is really as you see in your green books, a whole liturgy. It is the GREAT thanksgiving. It is the whole liturgy. It is more than bread and wine and body and blood. It is God’s presence and God’s promise. God’s saving action, His covenant of grace, and His salvation worked out in the here and now.
The Eucharist is the liturgical action of the church – the work of the people, the song of the people, the prayer and remembrance of the people – of God’s saving action, His marvelous deeds, and His precious promises. It is here in the midst of this song of thanks that He comes to make Himself present to His people. You already know this. Don’t you? For let me ask you; what happens every single time we gather for liturgy? Do you know? We come together here around Word and Sacrament. Remembering God’s Work, proclaiming God’s work, declaring His promises and believe that they’re true, just as He said. Here we gather, and we enter into our worship with the invocation of God’s name, as the pastor marks it again upon us all. We raise His name in praise and thanksgiving. Worshipping Him for all that He’s done and all that He is. Then we come to Him in confession, and receive His forgiveness. We hear His Word read and preached. There He makes Himself present again, through His Word. In prayer we bind ourselves closer to Him. In the great thanksgiving we lift up our hearts toward Him. In the Sanctus we praise Him. In the Eucharistic prayer we remember His Works for us, His saving grace freely given toward us. In the verba of His sacramental institution He miraculous makes His flesh and blood present to us and gives Himself for us. All of this in remembrance. All of this, in proclamation. All of this, a reception, and recurring remembrance, and celebration of His grace, and His love, and His saving action. This is liturgy. This is Eucharist. This is Psalm 111
Just as He says, do this in remembrance of me, so we do. Just as He says this is the New covenant in my blood so it is. And this is how He feeds us. He feeds us in this way, in coming to us in our thanksgiving for who He is and what Hes done and what Hes promised to us and what He’s doing right now in His saving -presence for us. This ecuahrist. This liturgy, this act of remembrance and celebration and proclamation – this is our redemption. This is how He saves us. He saves us through this singular act of the great thanksgiving. In which He makes Himself and His grace and His promises present thorough the song that His people sing.
