^ I wrote this in October of 2019.
World Communion Sunday takes place every year on the first Sunday in October.
The beginning of 2020 seems like a good time to share it again. At our church
we’ll take communion again this coming Sunday. Our communion table is open to
everyone.
^ For some reason I received yet
another nudge from Holy Spirit about writing something that has been on my
heart for quite some time. I have put off writing for a few months because I
was not comfortable with the direction that I was going. These are difficult
days to write about in our world.
^ Then today as often happens with
music I was emotionally moved on a fundamental level by the hymn that we sang
in church on World Communion Sunday 2019. It’s interesting for me especially
because I am in the middle of writing another piece concerning communion that
is and will be quite different from this one. The music is complicated and is
beautiful. I am hoping that we get to sing it again. A link to the song is
right below.
^ Communion Sunday is about communion. What
does communion mean? Unity, empathy, closeness, relationship, intimacy,
spiritual union, close association are all a part of the concept. God is
universal.
^ Christians along with everyone else
are caught up in the ugliness of the world today. Christians are caught up in
immigration. Christians are immigrants in the world today. Christians are
trying to get into our country. They are mixed plentifully in with the people
coming here from the south. They are mixed in with the Muslims trying to come
here from the Middle East. They are predominantly brown. We can’t tell them
apart from the non-Christians. Jesus would have us treat them all the same.
^ They are fleeing for a chance, just a
chance, of a better way of life. Why wouldn’t Christians seek safety in a
supposedly Christian country? Why would they think that they would be met with
so much hate from a nation of Christians? Christians that claim we need prayer
in school and that Christ is now back in a faithless country! Hallelujah!
^ Instead we are tearing families
apart. We are separating mothers from their children. There are parents in such
desperate circumstances that they send just their children. I can’t even
imagine the difficulty of that decision. We are sending some back to certain
death just as this nation did during World War Two when we sent Jews back to
horrible deaths. Some die just trying to get here. Some die after they get
here. Are there a minuscule amount of bad people mixed in amongst all of them?
Yes. Satan is always at work. How we chose to respond to the works of the dark
angel is up to us.
^ This isn’t something that we should
even be arguing about. Our response as a nation should have been to live up to
the words of the lady in the harbor and the righteous ideals that we profess to
believe in as a Republic.
^ My final words are the words of
another.
For everyone born, a place at the
table,
for everyone born, clean water and
bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place
for growing,
for everyone born, a star over
head.
Refrain:
And God will delight when we are
creators
of justice and joy, compassion and
peace;
yes, God will delight when we are
creators
of justice, justice, and joy.
For woman and man, a place at the
table,
revising the roles, deciding to
share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the
power,
for woman and man, a system that's
fair.
Refrain
For young and for old, a place at
the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the
song,
the hands of a child in hands that
are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to
belong.
Refrain
For just and unjust, a place at the
table.
abuser, abused, with need to
forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mind-set of
mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to
live.
Refrain
For everyone born, a place at the
table,
to live without fear, and simply to
be,
to work, to speak out, to witness
and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be
free.
Refrain:
And God will delight when we are
creators
of justice and joy, compassion and
peace;
yes, God will delight when we are
creators
of justice, justice, and joy.
Words: Shirley Erena Murray
Words © 2004 Hope Publishing
Company