Sermon Video: Participating in the body and blood of Christ - 1 Corinthians 10:14-17

In his encouragement to the people of the church of Corinth that they should "flee from idolatry", the Apostle Paul appeals to the unity of the Church caused by the participation of its people in the body and blood of Christ.  But what does this "participation" mean, and what does it accomplish?  Through the past two thousand years of Church history, the interpretation of Jesus' words, "this is my blood", "this is my body", has broadened from the literal belief of the Catholic Church (transubstantiation) requiring a ordained priesthood to bring it about (sacredotalism), to the tweaking of this concept by the Lutherans (consubstantiation without sacredotalism), to the spiritual emphasis and rejection of the physical transformation of the Reformed, and finally the symbolic commemoration of the Baptists.  With such a continuum of belief/practice regarding communion (and baptism), is there hope for unity in a world where portions of the Church have been willing to kill and/or die regarding these differences?  Paul ends his mention of communion (in its anti-idolatry context) with a reminder that "there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf."  There can be only one Body of Christ, the divisions of Church History (and current reality) cannot alter that reality.

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