You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.
Isaiah 55:12a (ESV)
While the legal community may anxiously await the first Monday in October when the Supreme Court begins its new term, those of us who follow the liturgical calendar look forward to the first Sunday in October — World Communion Sunday.
There is something truly special about having a day where Christians around the world are all coming to the table. Of course, it can get dicey in that the table of Jesus Christ is like so many other things in the church — we don’t all agree on who gets to participate. So even on World Communion Sunday, we’re not of one accord.
Communion only makes sense for me if everyone is welcome at the table. Jesus instituted the ritual at the Last Supper and said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” No qualifiers (or disqualifiers, for that matter). Just do this. It grieves me every time I hear stories of people not being invited to participate or flat out turned away from the table of Jesus Christ.
Even on World Communion Sunday, not everyone is welcome at every table. But for me, the day is a promise of what we could be … what we should be as a community in Christ. A reminder that all over the world, people who don’t look like us or talk like us or live like us are all coming to the table. They are all invited, just as we are.
If Jesus included the one who was to betray him, who are we to decide who does and doesn’t belong?
Action: Gather round the table of Jesus Christ with people you love and even people you dislike. Get a glimpse of the kingdom. Be nourished for the journey ahead. Go out with joy and be led forth with the peace of the One who always welcomes us to the table in your heart.
Prayer: God of welcome and inclusion, may we go forth with great joy, spreading the Good News that all of God’s children have a place at the table. Amen.
Anne Russ is an ordained pastor with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She has a heart for small church ministry, Christian camping and the power of the Web to spread the Good News of the Gospel. Anne is a fiercely supportive theater mom, a loud laugher and a lover of good stories. She is a displaced Southerner living in New York who pastors through her online platform, DoubtingBeliever.com.
This year’s Path of Peace reflections are designed to help participants explore peacemaking efforts addressing some of the major issues of our time. The theme for the 29 days of the 2022 A Season of Peace is Led Forth in Peace: Critical Areas of Engagement for Peacemakers. With these daily reflections, we are invited to reflect upon ways to practice peace by engaging the following critical areas:
- Climate change
- Nonviolence
- The intersection of poverty and racism
- Immigration/migration
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