World Communion Sunday is a day when christians around the world gather the first Sunday in October, at the table of the Lord.

Christians will gather in huge cathedrals, in open-country churches, in mud-thatched sheds, in lean-tos to celebrate together with others from around the world. Persons in some areas will gather in secret, to partake of the Lord’s Supper, for to worship as a Christian, is a violation of local laws, punishable by imprisonment or even death. Yet the Lord Christ invites to his table all who claim his promises of life abundant and life everlasting and all who serve him as his disciples, proclaiming his Gospel to a hurting world.

The psalmist glorified and praised God in the opening verse of Psalm 19. We can imagine the psalmist looking up into the night sky and seeing uncountable stars and the brilliance of the moon; we can picture the psalmist wondering at the variety of animals and vegetation around him or her, from the tiniest creatures to the mightiest of trees.

Yet the real glory of God and the marvel of God’s handiwork are in the incredible variety of persons God has created. We cannot help but marvel at the shapes, the sizes, the colors, and talents and attributes that God has created into the persons God has fashioned. How much more shallow our life would be were it not for the gifts brought to our shores by persons from all over the world. Their skills and abilities, their talents and gifts, have enriched us far beyond our comprehension. And their very commitment to worship and praise God, each group in its own particular way, has enlivened our worship and opened our hearts and minds to new ways to praise and glorify the mighty name of God.

Yes, the heavens and the firmament proclaim God’s handiwork, but on World Communion Sunday, God’s people of every race and hue, language and culture, location and tradition, are the ultimate proclamation of God’s handiwork!

Excerpt from: WordAlive Copyright © 2011 by Abingdon Press.