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Dear Longmont Area Catholics,
Last week the Roman Catholic Bishops voted to draft guidelines to deny Communion to President Biden and other public officials. For individuals and families who are struggling to be in a church that uses Communion to exclude, I want to write to say that there are other ways to be Catholic.
Light of Christ, here in Longmont, is part of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. We profess that the table we gather around is God’s table, and all are welcome to participate in the meal. In this meal, God feeds our souls through the Real Presence of Christ and draws us all into the Body of Christ visible in the world as well. It is a meal of grace shared abundantly with all.
At Light of Christ, we come from many places, differing in age, differing in gender, differing in race, orientation, politics, and even religion. But we come from one world, and we are all made in God’s image. As we come together around God’s table, we discover that our differences are indeed a blessing and our diversity is to be celebrated. The more difference we bring, the more fully we experience the presence of the sacred and holy in one another and in our midst.
We would gladly share this meal and sacrament with anyone, including the current president and the president before him. All are welcome. All are valued. All are wanted. All are cherished.
Our guidelines come from God, the God who is love, and who asks that we love our neighbor as ourselves. We grieve with anyone who has been excluded from sacrament or led to believe that they are not worthy of God’s grace.
During the pandemic as we have gathered virtually, we have learned that not only is the altar table God’s table, but all tables are God’s table. In that vein of justice, we strive to see issues of injustice throughout our world and to work for the flourishing of all. The justice we practice in our sanctuary is sacramental justice. In this practice, we share as boldly as we can that everyone who wants to experience the grace of God through sacrament is welcome.
The blessing of diversity is the blessing at the heart of unity. It is what Communion is all about. Many grains coming together to be one loaf of bread. Many personalities, experiences, and opinions coming together to be one visible Body of Christ in the world today. The night before he died, Jesus took a loaf of bread, he blessed it and broke it before sharing it with others. Today we share bread blessed and broken, as we are people blessed and broken open, that we may share with all the good news that God’s love, God’s grace, God’s sacrament is for everyone.
This is what God’s table is all about at Light of Christ. God’s Table, not our table. Radical inclusion, not exclusion. The assurance of belonging, not isolation. Putting love into the world, not fear. Sharing grace, not shame. All are welcome, wanted, valued, and cherished. And we are Catholic too.
