So varied and yet one

 

In the communion rite used in most Anglican churches, the congregation says: ‘we being many are one body for we all share in the one bread’.  This comes directly from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The translation I use renders it:

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (1 Corinthians 10:17 –  New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic edition). 

We often describe the Church as a “broad church,” embracing countless languages, cultures, personalities, and perspectives. If you stopped one hundred people leaving Mass and asked them a hundred questions about politics, sport and other matters from A to Z, you would likely receive a hundred different combinations of answers. You might even get a significant variation on theological opinions – but that is another matter.

Yet the people have heard the same Gospel (assuming they were listening) and received the same Sacrament. We are called to be of one mind and one heart.  Acts 4:32 describes the early Christian community in these words:

the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

The point is not that we will agree on every detail or interpret the world in identical ways. Rather, it is that we place Christ at the centre of our lives, share what we have, hold fast to the essentials of our faith, and allow our unity to be something visible, practical, and costly. Now, sharing the one bread the Eucharist with so-and-so can be the hardest challenge of discipleship!