From Our Pastor, Rev. Gloria Smith
It has been so good to return to the community after my Sabbatical. Returning to see familiar faces and see new faces has been inspiring. I look forward to the time we will share and serve together in the future.
Since I can remember, I have also known of World Communion Sunday and participated in Communion of World Communion Sunday but knowing why we do it was never presented to me in a worship service or by the churches I would be in attendance. This is something we should know as part of our history and as a commandment in our present life.
The origin of World Communion Sunday originated with Rev. Dr. by Hugh Thomson Kerr who ministered in the Shadyside Presbyterian Church. In 1930, while serving as Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, he saw the need for Christian Churches to acknowledge their unity and community with all Christian Churches throughout the World and the Service of Communion was the best symbol of remembrance. So, in 1933, he held the first World Wide Communion Service at his church (as it was originally known).
In 1933, Dr. Kerr invited other churches to join him in making a specific Sunday service, World Communion Service. Few Christians indicated any interest in acknowledging Christian unity and community. Few were interested in acknowledging that they shared they same body and each were but a part of Christ’s body. In 1936, the Presbyterian Church adopted World Communion Sunday as a Liturgical day each year.
The United States was growing increasing distressed and divided as World War II began in Europe. War had been the talk of many communities since Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. As representatives from different denominations gathered at the Federal Council of Churches (later the National Council of Church), talk grew as to how to symbolically draw churches together and remember they are connect in Christ. There was a need for more unity and less division. So in 1940, the Council adopted World Communion Sunday.
Since 1940, the value of World Communion Sunday has taken two routes. The first is that every congregation that participates in World Communion Sunday to take a breath and remember that they are not the center of the Christian World but a small part of Christianity. They are united through the body of Christ. The second route was that World Communion Sunday has become a day like any other Sunday. We name it but do not feel it.
As a congregation we cannot change the way other congregations appreciate World Communion Sunday but our part of the body can come alive.
As we celebration World Communion Sunday on Sunday, October 9th, may our hearts open to the united we share with others of Christian Faith.
Blessings,
Rev. Gloria