Luke 17:5-10; 1 Timothy 1:1-14
Today, the first Sunday in October is World Communion Sunday,nd Christians around the world and around Jesus’ table dare to imagine a new world. A world without anger and abuse; a new world without addictions and neglect; a world without greed and pride; a world without murder and rape; a world without oppression and torture; a new world free from wars and racism and xenophobia; a new world -where-, as Isaiah reminds us in chapter 11- The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. A world where the cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. A world where the infant will play near the cobra’s den and the young child will put his hand into the viper’s nest. Today together we dare to imagen a new world where there will be neither harm nor destruction, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In this new order described by the prophet Isaiah, there will be no hunger. There will be no children going to sleep on an empty stomach; there will be no weapons of mass destruction because we will be real brothers and sister in Jesus Christ.
That unity described by Isaiah was the intention for the institution of World Communion Sunday. “Davitt S. Bell was the church historian at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, and he recalled that Rev. Kerr first conceived the notion of World Communion Sunday in 1930 during his year as moderator of the Federal Council of Churches the predecessor body of what is now The National Council of Churches. The reason of this celebration -Davitt says- was: “their attempt to bring churches together in a service of Christian unity—in which everyone might receive both inspiration and information, and above all, to know how important the Church of Jesus Christ is, and how each congregation is interconnected one with another.” The intention of Rev Kerr when he conceived the idea of World Communion Sunday was Unity.
The name for this Sunday might bring confusion to some because they might believe that we are just celebrating communion as we do every first Sunday of the month, and that is true, we are. We celebrate Communion as we do every month, but this time our celebration goes a little further. We celebrate Communion with the conviction that if we want to unify and change this world, we ourselves have to change first. Therefore, today besides eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus, we will celebrate God’s dream to see His creation living in harmony; God’s dream to see His children loving each other regardless of their differences, because He is the one who created us different. Today we will dare to dream what God dreams.
By now you might be thinking, that is impossible. And I ask you, is not our God, God of impossible? Today millions and millions of Christians around the world are celebrating that, the peace and harmony are possible because we still believe in what Jesus has done in our lives; we still believe in what faithful Christians can do and have done in history when they stop promoting controversial speculations and work together to advance God’s work—which is by faith, as Paul reminded us this morning. Jesus still wants to bring men and women around the world together; He still wants to see His justice roll on like a river and His righteousness like a never-failing stream! as Amos 5:14, reminds us.
Paul told Timothy in verse 4, that advancing God’s work is done by faith and Jesus told his disciples that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed, they could say to a mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey.”That faith is not magic; it is something we have to practice in our life; that kind of faith must be shown thru our love to our neighbor and our enemies. Jesus proved that when we practice our faith, even small as a grain, it works.
For over 500 years Samaritans and Jews were enemies, they could not even walk near each other, do not mention talk to each other. but God’s love and I would say, God’s faith in humankind, faith and love shown in Jesus, broke down all those historical barriers when Jesus took time to talk with the Samaritan woman and exchanged waters. When the woman gave Him water from Jacob’s well and Jesus gave her water from the fountain of eternal life; those barriers were broken down by Jesus when He did not force her to come and worship at the temple in Jerusalem where he worshiped but offered her a neutral place. Not hers, neither Jesus’. But anywhere in spirit and truth.
This is the message Jesus came to preach; this is the message he wants us to share. A message of unity and reconciliation. This is the “the good treasure entrusted to us” as Paul told Timothy. I know that is not easy to believe that we can -with God’s help- change the world.
Jesus stopped just to talk to this woman in Samaria, all other Rabbis rejected people from Samaria and other regions. Rabbis in Jesus’ time expended time, resources, and energy teaching reason why not to accept Samaritans and other gentiles and treat them as second-class persons. Jesus did the opposite. He took time to share and to find a neutral place for both Jews and Samaritans to come together to worship the expected Messiah.
Today we will come to the communion table in memory of Jesus. In memory of His ministry, we will come in memory of His power, love, and dream. We will come to the communion table to celebrate what Jesus has done in our lives and in the lives of others who are not like us; we will come, and we will ask Him to help us to not only know his love, but to guard and practice this love that has the power to transform enemies in friends. When you come to the table ask God to increase your faith, so we can believe that we, with his help can make the difference in this world.
Today when you come to the Table ask yourself, do I expend my time and energy trying to draw people together as Jesus did or I try to look for reason to keep them away and promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work, as people in Ephesus did.?
Today we will come to the communion table in memory of Jesus, and I invite you to commit ourselves to be like Him, to follow his example and to invest more time reaching others instead of rejecting. And looking for neutral places instead of forcing people to be like us and sheltering and locking ourselves in our own opinion.