Special days and emphases
Wood carving by Lie Yee Wan, 1969
Human life in community reflects a variety of rhythms which also affect Christian worship. Among these are the annual cycles of civic, agricultural, school, and business life; special times of family remembrance and celebration; and the patterns of a variety of cultural expressions, commemorations, and events. The church in carrying out its mission also creates a cycle of activities, programs, and observances. While such events may be appropriately recognized in Christian worship, care shall be taken to ensure that they do not obscure the proclamation of the gospel on the Lord’s Day. (Directory for Worship, W-3.2003)
World Communion Sunday
“All who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (I Cor. 11:29)
The first Sunday in October is designated as World Communion Sunday, which celebrates our oneness in Christ with all our brothers and sisters around the world. Paul tells us that we are to “discern the body” when we partake of Holy Communion, mindful that we note our relationship to all our brothers and sisters in Christ in the celebration. One is not to go hungry while another is drunk! (I Cor. 11:21). This is scandalous behavior opposed to the Way of Christ. Thus it is appropriate that World Communion Sunday is also a time when we receive the annual Peacemaking Offering as a way of continuing the ancient Christian practice of sharing what we have with brothers and sisters in need.
A Presbyterian Gift
World Communion Sunday (originally called World Wide Communion Sunday) is a gift of the Presbyterian Church to the larger ecumenical church. The first celebration occurred at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1933 where Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr served as pastor.
John A. Dalles, a PCUSA pastor who has researched the history of World Communion Sunday notes this in his blog entry, reprinted from the October 7, 2002, issue of Presbyterian Outlook:
Davitt S. Bell (the late Clerk of Session and church historian at Shadyside) recalled that Dr. Kerr first conceived the notion of World Communion Sunday during his year as moderator of the General Assembly (1930). Dr. Kerr’s younger son, the Rev. Dr. Donald Craig Kerr, who is pastor emeritus of the Roland Park Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, was sixteen in 1933. He has related that World Communion Sunday grew out of the Division of Stewardship at Shadyside. It was their attempt to bring churches together in a service of Christian unity—in which everyone might receive both inspiration and information, and above all, to know how important the Church of Jesus Christ is, and how each congregation is interconnected one with another. When I asked Donald Kerr how the idea of World Communion Sunday spread from that first service to the world wide practice of today, this is what he replied,
"The concept spread very slowly at the start. People did not give it a whole lot of thought. It was during the Second World War that the spirit caught hold, because we were trying to hold the world together. World Wide Communion symbolized the effort to hold things together, in a spiritual sense. It emphasized that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Celebration of World Wide Communion Sunday was adopted as a denominational practice in the Presbyterian Church (US) in 1936. Churches in other denominations were invited to celebrate with us from the beginning, but it wasn’t until 1940 when the Department of Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches (a predecessor body of the National Council of Churches) promoted extending the celebration to a number of churches around the world that the practice became widespread. Today, World Communion Sunday is celebrated around the world, demonstrating that the church founded on Jesus Christ peacefully shares God-given goods in a world increasingly destabilized by globalization and global market economies based on greed.
Lections for October 2, 2011, World Communion Sunday, NRSV
- First Reading Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
- Psalm Psalm 19:1-14
- Second Reading Philippians 3:4b-14
- Gospel Matthew 21:33-46
Resources for World Communion Sunday
Peacemaking Resources, Prayers for Church Unity, A Litany of Confession, and A Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
Reformation Sunday
Find resources for Reformation Sunday.
Thanksgiving
Find resources for Thanksgiving.
St. Patrick’s Day Morning Prayer Service
A brief service of daily prayer in Lent that includes Celtic music and prayers of St. Patrick
Solemn Assemblies
The 2008 General Assembly passed the following overture calling the church to seek the Lord in special times of prayer and worship known as solemn or sacred assemblies: Realizing that worship is our response to God’s love for us and that we pray for God to “put a new and right spirit within [us]” (Ps. 51:10), we invite each congregation and presbytery of the PC(USA) to gather in times each sets aside for spiritual renewal through intentional gatherings such as spiritual assemblies, which may include personal and community worship, meditation, confession, forgiveness, fasting, and prayer.
Learn more about solemn assemblies.
Worship Resources in Times of Disaster
In times of disaster, we can support the people of the world with our prayers, asking God to save them, shelter them from danger and sustain them in the work of recovery.
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Comments
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Aaron, the idea with World Communion Sunday is not to celebrate the Lord's Supper only once a year, but to be especially mindful of the global and ecumenical nature of the church universal at least once a year, during a regularly scheduled service of communion. I would actually argue that *every* celebration of the Lord's Supper ought to be such an occasion — a "world communion Sunday" — and that might happen as often as once a week. As the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Order says, "The Lord’s Supper is to be observed on the Lord’s Day, in the regular place of worship, and in a manner suitable to the particular occasion and local congregation. It is appropriate to celebrate the Lord’s Supper as often as each Lord’s Day. It is to be celebrated regularly and frequently enough to be recognized as integral to the Service for the Lord’s Day." (W-2.4009)
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Karen, sorry that I'm just seeing this comment. I'm sure it's too late, but for others who are seeking resources for a pastor's retirement, see the Presbyterian Book of Occasional Services (Geneva Press, 1999): Recognition of Honorable Retirement from the Ministry of Word and Sacrament.
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No just no....this is blashemous! The lord supper should be performed once a mouth. not once a year!
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Does anyone have a liturgy for a long time pastor to be used on their retirement from the congregation?