A Table of Unity

In this morning’s sermon we caught a glimpse of the wonderful diversity that characterized the earliest church: Slave and free; Jew and Gentile; prominent and obscure. God integrated folks from such divergent backgrounds into one body, the Body of Christ. And He continues to work in this way today. As you look around this assembly you see a similar diversity, crossing the spectrum of class, gender, and geography. How is this possible? God weaves together this rich tapestry by the power of His Holy Spirit blessing the proclamation of the gospel of His Son. But how are men, women, boys, and girls from such divergent backgrounds formed truly to live as one body? You can perhaps see how He gets us in the door, calling us out of our divergent backgrounds to a common faith in Jesus Christ. But how is this common faith maintained? Well, for the early church the single most unifying practice that nurtured their common faith was their common worship. When folks from such divergent backgrounds gathered perhaps daily, but at least weekly to devote themselves to the means of grace: the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the prayers, God was at work by His Spirit forming them into one body. And the pinnacle, the climax, of these daily and later, weekly gatherings was the Eucharistic feast; the feast spread before you this morning. So sacred was this feast that in the early church they actually dismissed all visitors and catechumens from the service before the meal. They did this believing the words of Paul, “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” It is here at this Table that our unity in diversity is most clearly seen. Come then and join in the communion of the saints in eating this common meal. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!