I. WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY

A. Material: Overture 8, p. 477

B. Observation:

The overture as it is written does not so much urge churches to observe World Communion Sunday as such, but it urges our churches to observe it “in place of the present practice of having an 'All Nations Heritage' observance."

C. Recommendation:

That synod not accede to Overture 8.

Grounds:

1. Though there is overlap between World Communion Sunday and All Nations Heritage Week, the emphasis of WCS—namely, to recognize our oneness in Christ around the world—differs from the emphasis of ANHW, which is to celebrate the ethnic and racial diversity within the denomination.

2. Churches which want to observe WCS can do so on their own. In fact, the annual observance of ANHW coincides with WCS.

-Adopted

Overture 8 - Participate in World Communion Sunday

Classis Grand Rapids North overtures the Synod of 1986 to urge the churches to participate in "World Communion Sunday" the first Sunday of October in place of the present practice of having an "All Nations Heritage" observance.

Grounds:

1. The sacrament of Holy Communion is common to all Christian churches.

2. Celebrating Holy Communion on the same Sunday (starting early that Sunday in the Christian churches in the South Pacific, then in the Christian churches around this earth, and ending that evening in the Christian churches in the North Pacific) truly implements our confessional belief in a "universal Christian church" or a "holy catholic church."

3. In the religious context "world communion" is more specifically Christian in connotation than "all nations heritage."

4. It would include the members of our congregations in that vast multitude which the Lord's table draws together across the spans of race, nationality, distance, tradition, and even time!

5. It would in some way achieve what our Lord prayed for in his last hours, and the apostle Paul pleaded for when he was in prison.

Classis Grand Rapids North
John C. Scholten, stated clerk