World Communion Sunday

In worship this week we continue the sermon series, "Two Words" about the I AM statements in John.  What is special about this Sunday is that we will be focusing on Jesus' statement, "I AM the bead of life," from John 6.  Here he makes the bold proclamation that his flesh is food, and that this food is far more nourishing even than the manna that God had provided their ancestors in the Wilderness.  In a parched, arid land this divine provision kept them alive from day to day.  Those who eat this food Jesus describes don't live for another day, but forever.  John's Gospel doesn't really describe the Last Supper as the synoptic Gospels do, but this passage in ch. 6 is very Eucharistic and one cannot read it without thinking of the Lord's Supper.  In this table, Jesus is both host and meal as we joyfully eat his flesh and drink his blood, represented by the bread and cup.

Particularly significant for this Sunday's worship is that we are reading this passage not just on a Sunday when we will celebrate the Lord's Supper, but on World Communion Sunday.  As you come in worship this Sunday listen for Eucharistic elements in the songs we sing.  Beyond that even, the one-ness of the Body of Christ is emphasized by the liturgies we use.  The profession of faith is adapted from a document called the Belgic Confession.  This confession of faith is from another branch of the Protestant Church and is particularly well-suited for this Sunday because of its emphasis on the universality of the church.  The Church of Christ is composed of all who call on him, who are cleansed by his blood, regardless of nationality.  To further emphasize this, we will replace normal communion liturgy we use with a Korean liturgy.  No we won't be speaking in Korean, but it will be an English translation of the liturgy of the Korean Methodist Church.  The table at which I will preside this week isn't mine, nor is it ours, it is Christ's.  What better way to illustrate that than by borrowing the communion language from another culture.  Culture, language, nationality, matter not at this table.  Here, Christ is all in all.

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