The Sacrament of Communion points to the basics of Christian unity.
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After a very cold Saturday morning in northern CT, the Sunday morning warmth of welcome and friendships in the family of God provided a much appreciated contrast. Our Call to Worship taken from First Peter encouraged us to declare God’s praises which we did in song and prayer.
Pastor Kelvin’s message tackled the potentially difficult subject of Christian unity. He pointed out that the human problem of dividing ourselves into “silos” of humanity has always been with us. In Paul’s day the big division was between Jews and Greeks. In the Christian church there are many divisions as well, with the total number of denominations in the world now estimated to be an incredible forty-five thousand.
But the teaching of the book of Ephesians is that God has made abundant provision for the unity of the church. Paul describes seven glues, intrinsic sources of bonding, that hold the Christian church together even across denominational differences.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:3-6
Paul had discussed the “bond of peace” in chapter two as he explained how God had brought together Jews and Gentiles. The death of Jesus on the cross provided one way for both Jews and Gentiles to come to God, thus uniting them in faith.
[Jesus] is our peace…His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two…and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.
Ephesians 2:14-16
So even though different groups have differing practices and doctrines surrounding the sacrament many Protestants call Communion, all are united in celebrating the same truth, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). All are united in their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus as providing the means for our salvation and eternal life. However we celebrate the sacrament and whatever we name it, this is the central fact that we celebrate together.
Pastor Kelvin continued by explaining three more of the unifying factors for Christ’s church.
- The Holy Spirit’s presence in the Church both individually and as a congregation.
- The commonality of the baptismal words following the command of Jesus in Matthew 28:19.
- Our united ultimate hope of the “life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed) because of Jesus’ resurrection.