This Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate World Communion Sunday.  It’s something the ecumenical church began celebrating in 1933.  This year, its message feels especially important.

Grammatically, the antonym of “communion” is “division” and, boy, do we see a lot of that around us these days!  Nations are at war.  Communities struggle with violence and injustice.  People are separated by politics, culture, religion, and deeply held opinions.  Sometimes it seems easier to draw a line between “us” and “them” than to remember what we share.

And then World Communion Sunday comes along on the first Sunday of October and we gather around a table.

The table doesn’t ask whether everyone agrees.  It doesn’t ask whether we have the same background, opinions, or understanding of faith.  Instead, it reminds us that there is room for all of us.

That’s one of the beautiful things about Holy Communion.  The bread is broken.  The cup is shared.  And there is enough for everyone.  We come as individuals, but we leave reminded that we belong to God and to one another.

Holy Communion doesn’t magically make the world’s problems disappear.  Instead, it gives us a moment to stop, to breathe, and to remember that fear, hatred, and division do not have the final word.  God does.

When we receive the bread and the cup, we are declaring that God’s love is bigger than the divisions the world has created.  We are reminded that healing begins when we make room for one another and when we refuse to give up on the possibility of peace.

So this World Communion Sunday, let’s come to the table with everything the world has placed on our hearts: the worries, the questions, the disappointments, and the hope that too often feels fragile.

Then, let’s leave the table renewed in our confidence that the future is not just something we wait for.  It’s something we help create through compassion, courage, justice, reconciliation, and love.

We gather at one table.  We share one bread and one cup.  We are many people in our church and around the world.  But there is absolutely enough grace to go around.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic