In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the East end of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania there is a large stone church building on Westminster Place that goes by the name of Shadyside Presbyterian Church. Inside the building there is a circle in the design of a compass set into the marble floor of the chancel. The circle is inscribed as follows: World Wide Communion Sunday was originated in Shadyside Presbyterian Church by Dr. Hugh Thomas Kerr in 1933.

Now when that first World Wide Communion Sunday was celebrated the prevailing global mood was one of anxiety. The Great Depression was in full swing. Nazism and Fascism had taken power in Germany and Italy. There was fear concerning economics, fear concerning politics and fear concerning the future.

And yet in the face of this fear, a group of leaders at Shadyside Presbyterian Church did something real and symbolic by establishing World wide Communion Sunday. World Wide Communion symbolized the effort to hold things together in a spiritual sense. It proclaimed that we are one in the Spirit and one in Jesus Christ.
 Today, seventy-three years later on this World Wide Communion Sunday, we share with one another the simple elements of bread and wine that bind us together in Christ. And it is in this meal that truth is experienced and unimagined possibilities are opened up to us through the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately through the long history of Christianity we have often ignored the truth that we are one, we have ignored the movement of the Holy Spirit. And like spoiled children we have yelled across our denominational fences, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” And yet over the past few years because of the promptings of the Holy Spirit, there have been numerous agreements between and among Protestant communions over table fellowship.

What is essential, as the Apostle Paul taught, is that we discern the body of the Lord before sharing it with one another. For the one that we remember at the table made a direct and annoying point of seating himself with those who were decidedly not welcome at the table.

But John in our Gospel reading seems to have clearly forgotten this point and practice. Let us hear his words again: “Teacher, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” Why would John do such a thing? Perhaps he thought that because he and his friends were with Jesus they were the only ones licensed to do good?

And yet I suspect that John didn’t have enough room in his vision for those he did not know, those who might think, act, who might worship in ways different from himself. Thankfully Jesus says quite clearly, “Do not stop him.” Jesus will not let his followers draw lines, boundaries or walls which only separate and divide.
He warns his followers about the dangers of focusing on the difference that divides rather than the unity that binds. For when we exercise the tactics of division we cause others to focus also on the small thing rather than the unity that we share in Christ. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

In the early days of the Protestant Reformation, Ulrich Zwingli representing our Reformed tradition and Martin Luther came together for theological discussions. There was a great deal that they agreed on but in one thing they could not see eye to eye and that was their understanding of the phrase, “This is my body” (Hoc est corpus meum) from the last supper. And more specifically how to understand the word “is”.

Luther understood the words literally, while Zwingli understood the words metaphorically. Now on a theological level it raised doubts concerning the clarity of scripture. And at the political level, the dispute ensured the separation of the Lutheran faction and Reformed faction of the Reformation.

So in essence we have the Lutheran tradition and the Reformed tradition because many centuries ago agreement could not be found on how to interpret the word “is”. And yet if we look at our text, we draw the conclusion that God loves diversity, God loves difference. It is a principle that is built into creation itself. Diversity yes, but it is grounded in the unity of God.
There is room for a diversity of thought, action and worship which finds its foundation in the unity of Christ. Just because we believe in one God through Christ it doesn’t mean that there is only one truth, one way to worship, one way of life. Over the past few weeks there has been a great deal in the media concerning Christian/Muslim relations since Pope Benedict made his remarks but perhaps our greatest challenge is to engage in dialogue with “evangelical Christians”. Now there is an area filled with much suspicion.

If you go into our respective bookstores, it is as though you are dealing with different faiths rather than different branches of the same Christianity. We each suspect that the other does not know the Bible. We accuse the evangelical church of rejecting academic rigor and using the Bible as a literal proof text. They fear that we see the Bible only as a vague guideline. We distrust their certainty and they distrust our comfort in the midst of ambiguity.

And yet by seeing the sacrament of communion as the symbol of unity by which we form our lives and communities, a dialogue can proceed. For when we all share the meal where Christ is the host we are confronted with ways that go beyond our personal worship styles, or theological scuffles as well as boundaries of geography or language. What we find on World Wide Communion Sunday is a dissolving of those things that divide us. Around Christ’s table together, we profess our faith to world and say, “Come and dine; there is room for all.”
THANKS BE TO GOD, AMEN.