The word "communion" refers to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. But it can also mean a sharing of something with others. It can refer to intimate discourse with others. I t can mean a body of Christians who share a common faith. We are a communion, a community of faith.
If there is one word that expresses the impact of communion it is the word "connected." This celebration points to our connectedness.
I have recently read two very different books that reminded me of the essential connectedness that we have in life. One is a biography of John Muir, Rediscovering America, by Frederick Turner. Actually, what Muir said came to me first in a slide show that I saw at our church not long ago. The photographer, who presented some outstanding slides of wild animals nature scenes, prefaced a section of his slides with a quote by Muir. That very evening as I read the biography in bed I came across the same statement: When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it hitched to the rest of the world. Everything is connected.
The other book is Mitch Albom's latest, Have a Little Faith. The book grew out of a request by his Rabbi for Albom to deliver the Reb's eulogy after his death. One as they visited the Rabbi began talking about the community he experienced when he was growing up in the Bronx. "Our apartment building was like a family. We watched out for one another," he said.
"I remember once, as a boy, I was so hungry, and there was a fruit and vegetable truck parked by our building. I tried to bump against it, so an apple would fall into my hands. That way it wouldn't feel like stealing. Suddenly, I heard a voice from above yelling at me in Yiddish, 'Albert, it is forbidden!' I jumped. I thought it was God."
Who was it? Albom asked. "A lady who lived upstairs." Albom laughed. Not quite God. "No, but Mitch, we were part of each other's lives. If someone was about to slip, someone else could catch him" (p 62).
Paul describes the church in much the same terms when he says, There are many members, yet one body ... And if one member suffers, all the members suffer it it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it (1 Corinthians 12:20,26). As members of this one body we are connected.
Shortly before this, in chapter 10, Paul linked the Lord's Supper with this connectedness when he wrote: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread (10:16-17).
As we partake today I hope that you will let this observance speak to you of our connectedness.
Twin Oaks Christian Church
November 8, 2009
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