Reflecting on World Communion Sunday, Glenn Wagner shares a personal story of how a broken ceramic chalice symbolized the price Christ paid and the redeeming love that holds us together.
GLENN M. WAGNER
Michigan Conference Communications
Nearing my 71st birthday in October, a rough estimate suggests I will have consumed more than 77,000 meals. Some meals are more memorable than others. I confess that many are do-it-myself and fixed-on-the-fly efforts to satisfy the need for calories on my way out the door.
The best meals are shared in community and assist in growing meaningful relationships. I especially cherish meals like church potlucks or extended family picnics, where participants bring something of themselves to share generously with others.
The one meal that matters most to more people on earth and throughout human history is the Christian sacrament of holy communion. Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with some 2.2 billion followers.
This meal is shared daily in some Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian congregations. Many churches observe communion weekly during worship. Others reserve time monthly or quarterly for this observance. Many followers of Jesus will celebrate communion on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week before Easter. Communion reminds us of God’s sacrificial love for us in Jesus and the renewal of our commitment to love one another as Christ has loved us.
Of all the holy communion meals served for the spiritual edification of Jesus’ followers worldwide, one of great significance is celebrated each year on the first Sunday of October: World Communion Sunday. This year, it will be celebrated on Sunday, October 6.
The first practice of sharing communion on World Communion Sunday was in 1933 at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Rev. Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr served as pastor. (Click to learn more about the history.) Because of Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17:20-23, members of this congregation sought to bring churches together to share this sacrament of communion in a public witness of Christian unity for the wider world.
According to Rev. Kerr’s son, Donald, “The concept of World Communion Sunday spread slowly at first and then caught on during the Second World War because we were trying to hold the world together. World Wide Communion symbolized the effort to hold things together, in a spiritual sense. It emphasized that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The Presbyterian Church (US) officially adopted World Communion Sunday as a denominational observance in 1936. In 1940, the Department of Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches (a predecessor body of the National Council of Churches) promoted extending the celebration to a number of churches around the world, and the practice grew.
In The United Methodist Church, the observance of World Communion Sunday is blessed also by a denomination-wide special offering received to support scholarships.
A United Methodist web page dedicated to World Communion Sunday explains, “We commemorate this day by giving generously to support young adults and make a global impact for Christ. Half of the offering benefits World Communion scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and other countries. The remainder provides grants to support training for worldwide inclusion, diversity, equity, and access.” Contributions to support World Communion scholarships can be made by receiving an offering through your local United Methodist church or online here.
Last year, $443,000 was raised to support these scholarships and leadership training initiatives.
A precious communion memory for me relates to the handmade ceramic communion chalice and paten (bread plate) gifted to me by the Northern Illinois Conference of The United Methodist Church on the occasion of my ordination as an elder in 1982 (see image at the top of this article). Over the four decades of my pastoral ministry, I have often used this chalice and plate when administering holy communion.
After a year’s intensive study of the Bible using the United Methodist Disciple program in 2013, the lesson plan invited participants to conclude with a celebration of holy communion. Because one of the members in our group suffered a mild stroke prior to our closing class, our Bible study group agreed that we should hold our last class and communion not in our church building but in the local nursing home where our class member was recovering. Communion together in that setting was especially meaningful to all of us.
Cleaning up after the meal in this new setting, I accidentally bumped into the table holding the elements. I knocked the chalice off the table to the tile floor, where it splattered the remaining juice and shattered the chalice into many pieces. I was sickened at what I had done. I ached over the irreplaceable. Class members helped me pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. I was reminded of a world broken, a church divided, of Christ’s body separated by schism.
Unbeknownst to me, one of the class members who had helped with the clean-up gathered all of the ceramic fragments of my broken chalice and spent hours piecing the sacred vessel back together. He sealed the cracks with glue. When our group reconvened in the fall to begin a new year of study together, I was presented with my chalice, which now reminds me every time I celebrate the sacrament of the price Christ has paid that we should love one another. He was broken for our transgressions. His love has made us whole. Jesus’ sacrificial and sacramental love is intended to remind us of God’s eternal love for the entire world. Communion brings us together and sends us forth to share God’s love with the world like no other meal.
Prayer: God, in a broken world, our continuing witness to your redeeming love around the world is important. May we remember your love for us in the celebration of World Communion Sunday on October 6. And with our financial offerings, may we continue to support your witness and the education of future leaders of your church. Your redeeming love in Jesus is the glue that holds us together. Thank you.
Last Updated on October 9, 2024