August 2021 Touchstones Theme: Communion

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Our August Touchstones theme is “Communion.” Communion is a powerful word and a powerful concept, but many of us dismiss it because of the symbolism of the Christian ritual of Communion, especially given the Catholic Church teaching of transubstantiation in which the bread and the wine used in the sacrament of the Eucharist becomes, not merely symbolically, but in actual reality the body and blood of Jesus. This understanding of the Eucharist was not that of the early Christian Church.

As we have moved away from traditional observances of communion, we have embraced communion as connection and fellowship. Rev. Ray Baughan, a Unitarian Universalist minister, wrote in 1965, “When people turn from the table where bread is broken and candles glow, be sure you have invited them not to your house, but to their own, and offered not your wisdom, but your love.” And Unitarian Universalist minister Judy Deutsch wrote in 1974, “Our stay here is a communion. A communion of people with ideas and feelings to share and with time to learn the ideas and feelings of each other, a communion of people who are seeking to live their lives as fully as possible who welcome this opportunity to live with others, to learn from them, to teach them, who welcome this opportunity to help them, to be helped by them, to have fun with them, and to love and be loved by them. A communion of people who—if they cannot welcome—at least recognize the need for struggle, for anguish, for disappointment, and for sorrow. And—who hope somehow to reach that ultimate commitment that will give their lives tremendous meaning.”

Join us during the month of August as we explore the theme of Communion in our lives!

Exploring Communion

Touchstones Journal

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Ways to Engage Communion