2 Timothy 1:1-14
Revised Common Lectionary
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
World Communion Sunday
October 5, 2025
While the practice of World Communion Sunday on the first Sunday of October originated in the middle part of the last century, the Bible tells us that it is good and right for God’s people to share in the meal whenever they gather. The earliest report of Christian worship in the Book of Acts says that those first believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). While the church is and does many things, we are tending to the most basic features of our identity as we break the bread and share the cup and celebrate our communion with Jesus Christ, and, through Christ, our communion with one another and the faithful of every time and place.
The sacraments, communion and baptism, are means of proclamation. The gospel made evident at the font and the table is no less than that spoken of in the pulpit. I’m always grateful to be preaching when communion is being celebrated because I know no matter how confused or hidden or boring the gospel becomes because of my words in the pulpit, at the table, the meaning is completely clear and reliable: take, bless, break, give. This is my body. Pour, share. This is my blood. Remember. Celebrate. Anticipate. In addition to the biblical witness, this may be the strongest argument for frequent communion: to keep before us the gospel in forms most simple and most profound: Christ for you. Christ with you. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Communion also keeps before us the collective nature of faith. Faith is something we do together. The communal elements of the sacrament have deepened in meaning for me over the years. Whether we’re passing trays in the pews or coming forward to receive by intinction. I’m mindful that we are joined together in serving and receiving the bread of life and the cup of salvation.
The gift of faith comes with a context and a community. We receive the gift and we pass it along. I wonder how the gift came to you? In this passage from 2 Timothy, we hear of Timothy’s sincere faith. This faith, however, didn’t originate with Timothy, it came down to him through the generations, from his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. I wonder what stories we would hear if we were able to share how the gift of faith came to us – and how it is we have passed along the gift to others? I think about these things as I receive communion, receiving what God has so graciously given, not just to me, not just to us, but to those before us and beyond us, as well as those after us. We have a place in the circle that keeps growing. We didn’t originate the circle, but we have been included in it.
I remember my earliest experiences of receiving communion at my home church. We used sterling silver trays and glass cups for the grape juice, so you had to brace yourself, especially if you were eight years old. Actually, I never felt the full weight of the tray because there were plenty of concerned hands nearby to keep the tray safely moving down the pew.
Including children in communion is something relatively recent for Presbyterians. While we periodically provide communion workshops for parents and children and we count on parents’ discretion as to when a child is ready to receive, they are always welcome. Some argue against this policy, saying, “Children don’t understand all that is happening at communion.” To which I always reply, “I don’t understand all that his happening at communion either.” We’re all sharing in the meal together not because we understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but because Jesus Christ has called us into the family of God. I wonder how long it took for Timothy to understand fully the gift he had received from his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois?
Surely, a large part of the joy is that we all come. People of all ages are there. People with a variety of experiences and backgrounds. People who have been in the church for a long time. People who are wondering if the church might have a place for them. We come with children and parents, partners and spouses, we come with the memories and the presence of those not physically here. We all come. And the gift of faith is passed along.
Years ago, at an outdoor service on a Labor Day weekend, I was serving communion and people were coming forward to receive. Five-year-old Elizabeth was holding her father’s hand in the line. They made it to the front. I squatted down to get on her level. I offered her a piece of bread, “God loves you,” I said. Elizabeth looked at the bread, considered it, shook her head, and said, “No thanks, I’m still full from breakfast.”
Maybe there was no bread in Elizabeth’s mouth that day, but there was still communion for her, still a sense of belonging to the family of God, still a place in the great chain of faith that runs through the ages.
Lois to Eunice, Eunice to Timothy, and so on, and so on, and today all around the world people gather to break the bread and share the cup and proclaim the goodness of the Lord. Let us receive with much thanksgiving and let us share with great joy.
Questions for reflection for World Communion Sunday
- How did you receive the gift of faith? Who were the key figures in transmitting the gift through the generations of your family?
- What elements of communion are especially meaningful for you? Tell about an experience of the sacrament that was particularly memorable.
- On this World Communion Sunday, what reflections do you have on the global nature of the Body of Christ?
View the corresponding Order of Worship for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.
View other World Communion Sunday worship materials.
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