A Message from Mark

World Communion Sunday

Mark McCormick, General Presbyter

I therefore . . .beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which

you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing

with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit

in the bond of peace: there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to

the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:1-6

Looking toward World Communion Sunday this week, I have been thinking on this statement in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. I have long appreciated the repetitive affirmation of singularity it expresses. Paul affirms a singularity of our faith in a poetic construction that concludes with the conviction that the Source of all that exists participates so fully in our lives as to be above, through, and in all, at any singular moment and in all moments! With this affirmation of unity, Paul encourages the Ephesian church, and us, to order our lives and our relationships in humility and gentleness rooted in our deep understanding that God is involved both in our lives, and in the lives of others who may live their faithfulness in very different ways.

This Sunday celebrates the unity of all Christians, wherever we are, and however we practice. As we celebrate the sacrament of communion this week, we are invited to imagine the community of Christian faithfulness around the world, in all the forms and expressions it may take, as the presence of God above all, through all, and in all. With this vision in our hearts, I encourage us to set aside the divisive rhetoric that saturates the airwaves, turn down the volume on the radio talk that vilifies any who express their faithfulness differently, and contemplate the unifying assertion of the Apostle as we break the bread of heaven and share the cup of salvation.

May our faith be nourished and our hearts be opened to see ourselves as members of the vast body of Christ doing the work of reconciliation and restoration, until he comes again. AMEN.