1 Peter 1:3: Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

As Pastor Sumpter mentioned in the sermon this morning, Peter’s prayer is a “berakah,” a traditional type of Jewish thanksgiving named for the Hebrew word for “bless.”  Berakah prayers begin with “Blessed be God.”

Like Peter’s prayer, berakah prayers are often memorials of the great works that Yahweh did for His people.  Jews blessed God for creating the world, for redeeming Israel from Egypt, for giving Israel her land flowing with milk and honey.  Peter blesses the Father of Jesus because He has begotten us again when He raised Jesus up from the same ground from which He had taken Adam.

This was probably the type of prayer Jesus used at the Last Supper.  Jews still use berakah prayers at the beginning of meals: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.”  Giving thanks as He offered His disciples bread and wine, Jesus blessed God for creation, redemption, and His love for Israel.

Our Eucharistic prayers at Trinity take this form.  In our prayer, we thank he Father for Jesus’ death and for the gifts that the Father gives us.  But that’s not all.  The Eucharistic prayer sums up everything that God has done for His people throughout the ages.

At this table, we thank God for creation, for the deliverance from Egypt, for the gift of the land, for the glories of the reigns of Solomon and David, for the return from exile, for the incarnation, cross, and resurrection.  All of human history is summed up in this bread and this wine; at this meal, the ends of the ages come.

In Christ all things hold together, and when we thank the Father for Jesus we are thanking Him for everything.