Next month in our church we will be doing something special.  It might not seem to be very special — a celebration of the Lord’s Supper, something Christian churches do all the time, some of them every week.

But this particular service is special.  It is World Communion Sunday.  On the first Sunday in October we will be celebrating communion, not just at Farmville Presbyterian Church; but with Christians all over the world.

At least, I think every Christian will be doing this. I have to admit that before I became a Presbyterian at the age of 13, I had never heard of World Communion Sunday.  Maybe I think it is a big deal because our denomination was one of those at the forefront of the establishment of this day. It may be because we couple it with a special offering for peacemaking ministries.

But I love the idea of having one day where we will gather in Farmville, Virginia, with churches all over town, and celebrate communion together. Not only we here, but churches all over the country and all over the world.

Maybe that doesn’t sound like such a big deal if you don’t know anyone outside of the county or the state.  But for many people — myself included — it means something significant.  It means we have a connecting link with friends and family in other parts of the commonwealth, and other parts of the country.  It means we are connected with friends and family in other parts of the world.

For me, I get to do something my good friend the Rev. Dr. Maake Masango is doing in South Africa; another good friend, the Rev. Scott Burton, pastor of the St. Matthews Parish in Perth, Scotland, will also be breaking bread and sharing the cup. Mission workers in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Syria, will be gathered around the table. Not to mention all of those folks who are in our armed forces all over the world — some of them in very dangerous places — that will be doing the same.

In a time and place where we experience so much that divides us — an upcoming presidential election campaign, our views on gun control, abortion, gay rights, as well as that posting on Facebook that still makes us seethe — we need reminders that we are more alike than we may realize.

We need reminders that we are all together, in God’s grace, fed by a love greater than our own.

Rev. Dr. TOM ROBINSON is pastor of Farmville Presbyterian Church. His email address is robin216@embarqmail.com.

(Area pastors interested in submitting devotionals for publication are asked to email us at marge.swayne@farmvilleherald.com.)