Yesterday was World Communion Sunday. All across the globe, in hundreds of languages, Christians came to the same table and shared the same bread.

Many years ago, the church I was serving held a joint service with a Korean new church development. They had been meeting in our building for just a few months. We didn't share a language. We didn't share much of a history. But, there was joy in that room. Real joy. The kind that comes from worshiping alongside people who seem so different… and discovering you belong to the same family.

It's easy to miss, but Jesus' great prayer for unity in John 17 comes at the end of the Last Supper. He has just broken bread with his friends. He knows what's coming. And one of the last things he asks of his Father is this: "that they may all be one." (John 17:21)

He wasn't praying that his followers would agree on everything. They didn't then. We don't now. He was praying that they would stay at the table.

Most days we spend a lot of energy on what divides us. The table asks something different. It doesn't ask us to settle every disagreement first. It simply sets a place for us… and for the person across from us.

I wonder, who is sitting across the table from you today?

Prayer: Creative God, you made us in every shape and color and language, and you set one table for us all. Today we pray for those who seem unlike us. Help us to love them as you love them. Keep a place set for them, and for us. In the name of Christ, who makes us one. Amen.

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