When we gather around the table and break the bread together, we are transformed not only individually but also as community. We, people from different ages and races, with different backgrounds and histories, become one body. As Paul says: "As there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf" (1 Corinthians 10:17).
Not only as individuals but also as community we become the living Christ, taken, blessed, broken, and given to the world. As one body, we become a living witness of God's immense desire to bring all peoples and nations together as the one family of God.
Henri Nouwen, from Bread for the Journey
This verse, which in the NRSV reads, "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread", must be the strongest argument anywhere for the generous, open spirit that recognises all Christians as our sisters and brothers in Christ, one flesh with ourselves, be they Catholic or Baptist, emergent or Anglican, Vineyard or Eastern Orthodox. We are all one in Christ Jesus, and let no man (or woman, though they are generally less contentious) say otherwise!
3 comments:
What a much-needed perspective right now.
Yes.
The enormity of taking in the notion of One Bread, One Body is actually overwhelming and fills me with awe.
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