Companion and Compassion

This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, a time for us to gather at the table with Christians all over the world. It has been the tradition of this congregation to have different breads representing different cultures for people to choose for the bread being offered for this celebration. We obviously cannot do that this year, but we can still be at the table, even when we can’t be together.

Sharing a meal is an important thing. There are lots of stories telling us of Jesus sharing a meal with others. There is something that happens when we share a meal with someone else, or break bread with them. We enter into a different relationship with them. Indeed, the word companion literally means “with bread.” A companion is someone with whom you have shared a meal.

That is part of the reason why communion is so significant for us. It is the time in which we can come together and share a meal together as a congregation. It is a time that we are re-membered as one body in Christ and are reminded not just of Christ’s saving actions on our behalf but that we also don’t do this alone.

This leads us to one more significant word: Compassion. Normally when we talk about passion, it means something like having a strong emotion. But, an older meaning was that of suffering, which is why we talk about the passion of Christ. And so compassion literally means “to suffer with.” That too is part of who we are called to be, and something we do as we share a meal together, and as we support one another in the faith.

At the One Board two months ago, I shared that every church says they are welcoming and they are caring, but, obviously, not every church actually does those things. We have stipulated that one of our core values is that we are compassionate and caring, and I think we actually do live into that. Are we perfect? No. There is always room to grow, but one of the things that has impressed me is the way that you do reach out and help each other in times of need, and in times of celebration.

If you are worshipping from home this Sunday, I would encourage you to stop by the church to pick up communion elements, regular or gluten free, so that as we celebrate World Communion Sunday, we may indeed be compassionate companions in this journey of faith.