This past Sunday we just had a community worship service which gathered together people of all ages from our various different worship services to focus on the importance of community. In our story from the Old Testament, the tents of the people of Israel were laid out in order around the Tabernacle, reflecting the order in heaven and in the church where all are gathered together by their focus on the Lord's love for all people. The Bryn Athyn community, clustered around the Cathedral, reflects a similar pattern.
This coming Sunday, we will return to our usual pattern of four separate church services, yet we will continue to be a single community because each of our services is focused on the Lord's love for all people. This common focus will be seen in the Holy Supper that will be offered at each of our services. The bread and wine that nourish our bodies in communion correspond to the Lord's love and wisdom that nourish and sustain our spirits. Though our ritual varies between our different services, the focus on the Lord as the source of our life and salvation brings us together in one.
We can receive the love the Lord offers us only when we pass it on to others, for love can flow into us only as much as it also flows out to others (Secrets of Heaven 5828.3). Consequently, the Lord is present when we love others, and not present where love for others is lacking (Secrets of Heaven 1038). Another way of saying this is that love is only real when it is embodied in useful service (Secrets of Heaven 183.3). When people love one another by meeting one another’s genuine needs, it is a holy moment. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). The love the Lord gives us, like the food He gives, is only effective when we take it in and make it a part of ourselves, so that it becomes the substance we are made of and the energy that moves us, so that what we do for others is motivated by the power the Lord’s gives us.
One key to making our community a genuine communion is to explore our own thoughts and intentions to see if there is any selfishness or contempt that stands in the way of the Lord’s love and compassion flowing through us. If we each come to Holy Supper this Sunday asking the Lord for strength to overcome our own bad thoughts and intentions towards others, we will grow closer to each other as a community in which the Lord is truly present.