September 7, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.”  (1 Corinthians 11.33-34a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

Whenever I hear the word “communion,” especially as the didache of sacrament with the Lord’s Supper, my mind focuses on the “common union.” From Luke’s description of the first Christian community in Acts 2.42, we hear the phrase “they had all things in common.” This is the essence of the philosophy of “life groups.” We can hear the description of “in Christ there is no east or west, north or south, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free, rich or poor” coming to fruition in such a community of faith which gathers have “all things in common.” It is at the table of the Lord, on any day of the week but especially the first day of the week as was the tradition of the Church celebrating resurrection, that the message of communion, our common union, is intended to be realized. The capturing of the great commandments to love God, love others, love one another, love the neighbor, love the enemy unfold in the fellowship invoked by the breaking of bread and the sanctification of the body of believers with the sharing of the cup of new promise made in His blood shed for the remission and forgiveness of all sins. It is where the believer and the unbeliever experience the Hebrew “shalom” and the angelic declaration for all the world of “Immanuel, God with us.” This is the environment which the Church should create, manifest and maintain so that the full message of this “common union” is not lost is a variety of images and theologies. As Jesus said, “There is but one way, one true and one life and He is it.” He was not speaking of gaining the presence of eternal and almighty God in Heaven but how to live in community on earth. I dare say, mighty ones of God, I think most churches have missed it and every nation most certainly has. There is no true common union and no mystic sweet communion in the way nations and its citizens live today. And, in conclusion, isn’t that the hope of the Great Commission which Jesus left for us to fulfill and accomplish? “Go, therefore, into all the world and make disciples of every nation in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all I have commanded you and baptizing them into one community.” Is that our goal when we gather together at the table or do we more often simply “check the box” of expectation that we are supposed to celebrate the Lord’s Supper when we worship? That is something Paul says we must consider carefully.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.