A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: UNITED IN A DIVIDED WORLD
This Sunday, we celebrate World Communion Sunday, a tradition that began at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh under the leadership of its pastor, Dr. Hugh Thomson Kerr. Kerr’s goal was to bring churches together in a service of Christian unity, highlighting their interconnectedness. It was slow going to get other churches to observe the day.
According to the Donald Kerr, son of WCS 
founder, Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr: “The concept spread very slowly at the start. People did not give it a whole lot of thought. It was during the Second World War that the spirit caught hold, because we were trying to hold the world together. World Wide Communion symbolized the effort to hold things together, in a spiritual sense. It emphasized that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
I fear that too many feel this hope for interconnectedness is false hope. How are we ever to achieve unity in diversity when there is so much desire for conformity in too many of our Christian communities? Too many of our communities of faith want us to think alike, look alike, be alike.
Our sermon title asks this question: How can we be one in a divided world? Well we can’t, because our humanness gets in the way, but God can make us one. Do we trust God enough to make us one? Do we trust that if we open wide our hearts and minds to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit we can be one in our divided and diverse world? Is conformity the goal, or is interconnectedness the goal? To work for and pray that we be connected to one another through Love and Divine Energy, and for the Holy Spirit to weave among us – all of us.
I am reminded of a story by Thomas Merton: “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world. . .
“Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed… But this cannot be seen, only believed and ‘understood’ by a peculiar gift.”
And, that gift only God can give. What if we began to pray for this kind of unity in a divided world? Could we be like Merton? Let’s explore together this Sunday and then celebrate afterwards with a heritage potluck brunch. Bring a dish that is special to you and connect through words, music, food and fellowship. See you Sunday!
Blessings,
Pastor Karen