Our Theologian in Residence, the Rev. Dr. Luigi Gioia, continues a year-long course to dive into all the main areas of theology: Faith, Scripture, Tradition, God, Christ, Salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, and the Church – always with an eye to their relevance for spirituality and for everyday life.
We think of sacrifices as always entailing the spilling of blood, whether literally (in animal sacrifices) or symbolically when applied to Christ’s gift of his life for us. In reality, the most fundamental form of sacrifice for the people of Israel was the meal. It was not the killing of the animal that mattered, but the fact that part of it was eaten by the people and the rest was symbolically ‘eaten’ by God (usually by burning it). It was a way of sharing a meal with God and thus of strengthening the communion with him. More generally, each daily meal was preceded by blessing and thanksgiving: this ‘consecrated’ the daily meal making it a celebration of the covenant God. In the end what ‘makes’ the sacrifice is the blessing and the thanksgiving – and we shall see that this is essential to understand what really happens each time we celebrate the Eucharist (which literally means ‘thanksgiving’).
The Adult Education program at Saint Thomas Church offers sound Christian teaching presented with intellectual vigor, teaching that is grounded in Holy Scripture, mediated by the catholic tradition that is the inheritance of Anglicanism and set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. For more information about our theology program and to receive links for weekly Sunday Theology Talks, please contact Fr. Gioia.
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