Together met, together bound by all that God has done,
we’ll go with joy, to give the world the love that makes us one.
– I Come with Joy, a communion hymn
Dear Caldwell,
As we move from Sunday to Sunday this week, we look forward to sharing the Sacrament of Communion in worship Sunday, as we always do on the first Sunday of the month. I’ve been thinking about the broader meaning of that word – communion. In the secular world, it can refer to any gathering of people with a common interest. But in church and in scripture, it takes on added meaning. Communion involves fellowship, sharing, mutual concern, mutual confession and common commitment to life together, all rooted in our faith. It requires love, including love in truth. In communion, there is always invitation to reconciliation.
All of this seems to follow what we’ve been thinking about together in worship for the last couple of weeks – the potential of whole relationship that God extends to us in the Holy Trinity (including the binding power of the communion of the Holy Spirit) and the particular kind of community that is marked by the Apostle Paul’s “triad” of faith, hope and love.
So we bring all of that to the table Sunday – the literal communion table and the communion we experience each Sunday we are together – where and when we are fed for the journey amid our busy-ness in ministry together and in living in an often harsh and exhausting world.
In these formative years for this congregation, our communion together has included so many extraordinary disciples and contributors to God’s work here. I hope you will mark your calendar for Sunday, June 12, as we give thanks for four such leaders and bid them farewell. Tom and Kitty Bohr will move to Chicago at the end of June. Janet Blanchard and Charlie Brown are taking up full-time residence in Black Mountain. We will celebrate their selfless generosity of time, talent and wisdom here with a reception at 10 a.m. before worship in Belk Hall.
Otherwise, as we journey on, I personally am again keenly attuned to the question and legacy of race in America and in Charlotte, in part because I’ve been watching the current production of the TV miniseries, Roots, this week on the History Channel. As with the movie Twelve Years A Slave and other recent productions, it presents the unvarnished truth of “America’s original sin” in a way that can spur constructive, even healing, dialogue.
On that note, there are two opportunities upcoming:
- This Friday, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Harvey B. Gantt Center at Levine Center for the Arts uptown , award-winning fine art photographer Sheila Pree Bright will display her photography and discuss her adventures on the ground documenting the national Black Lives Matter Movement. Click here for more information and tickets.
- Next Tuesday, June 7, at 7:00 p.m. St. Peter’s Episcopal hosts a public dialogue focusing on the book Between the World and Me, including a panel of Harvey Gantt, Fannie Flono, Rosalyn Allison-Jacobs and Oliver Merino. The purpose of the conversation is to examine racial justice, equity, and community through the lens of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ popular book. Reflecting on schools, housing, policing, health, poverty, jobs, economic mobility, and commercial development in a growing Charlotte, how do we build an inclusive, just, flourishing, and beloved community for all of our residents. Light refreshments will be provided. Parking is available in the TransAmerica Building garage at 401 North Tryon; bring parking ticket to St. Peter’s for free parking.
I welcome your thoughts at pastor@caldwellpresby.org on what “communion” means to you – and look forward to sharing on Sunday.
In the meantime, as you go about your days and nights, “may the Lord be with you there.”
In Christ,
John