This coming Sunday we’ll be meeting around the Lord’s Table in the morning services.  We sometimes refer to this observance as “Communion.”  We do so because Christ is present at the Table and we have fellowship with Him as we meet as His body.  We also refer to this ordinance as Communion because we meet with one another.  1 John 1:1-4 makes it very clear that when we are “in Christ” we are connected to everybody else that is in Christ.  This is a blessing and a responsibility.  I have certainly been bugged by people in the family of God but I have been blessed FAR MORE!  The older I get the more I appreciate the church.  We can allow bad experiences to cloud our thinking and miss the wonder and privilege of being a part of what God is doing in the world today.  OR, we can deal with the problems and keep working and praying for the ideal in a world filled with brokenness and strife.  The blessing has this commensurate responsibility.  We are blessed to bless.  We not only receive blessing; we live to bless.  That is the nature of the communion of saints.  Too many people want the benefit of the church without the responsibility.  That is the default setting of humanity.  However, even Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.  If we are walking in His steps, there will be opportunities to join what He continues to do in this world—seek and save the lost and see them restored to His image.  Welcome to the “communion of saints.”