Christian Education

October 2024

By now many of you are aware that my Mom, Janna Prange Simon, died on September 15th. My sister Karan (Scooter) Bundrick and I have felt so loved for and cared for by our church family and we thank all of you.

World Communion Sunday is always the 1st Sunday in October. It also happens to be one of Mom's most favorite Sundays. I find it fitting that we will be having her memorial on the afternoon of World Communion Sunday, October 6th.

Did you know? .... World Wide Communion Sunday, as it was originally called, was first celebrated in 1933 at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr was the pastor of that congregation at that time. According to an article printed in the October 7, 2022 issue of the Presbyterian Outlook written by John A. Dallas; Dr. Kerr thought of the idea for World Communion Sunday when he was the moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1930. As recorded by David Bell, a church historian for the Shadyside congregation, Dr. Kerr's youngest son Rev. Dr. Donald Kerr recalled that the first World Communion Sunday came from Shadyside's Division of Stewardship . World Communion Sunday was meant to bring churches together and inspire and inform congregations on how they interconnected in the Church of Jesus Christ. Dr. Donald Kerr was quoted saying “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.”

The celebration of World Wide Communion Sunday became a Presbyterian Church (US) wide practice in 1936. From the beginning other denominations were made aware of the practice and invited to participate. In 1940 the Department of Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches (present time National Council of Churches) promoted World Communion Sunday to Christian churches worldwide. Source: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/churchcalendar/world-communion-sunday/

I look forward to Providence's celebration of World Communion Sunday. I hope you will join us as we celebrate the sacrament of communion with other Christians all over the world.

Blessing to you and your family,

Rosie Robinson