The first Sunday in October holds a long association with an observance called World Communion Sunday, especially for us American Protestants of the Reformed/Presbyterian family.  In the 1930s, a great Presbyterian pastor and leader of the time, Hugh Thomson Kerr, championed the idea that by taking cognizance of the worldwide or universal nature of the church as we celebrated Holy Communion, we might take strides in eliminating the tensions, suspicions, and, frankly, ignorance, that existed at the time among various Christian bodies in the United States.  The first observance of World Communion Sunday is often dated to 1933 or 1934 at the church Kerr served, Shadyside Presbyterian in Pittsburgh PA.  The movement spread among Presbyterians and in 1940 was endorsed by the Federal Council of Churches, an alliance of Protestant church bodies.  In a time when many churches celebrated the Lord’s Supper only four Sundays per year, this first Sunday in the fourth quarter of the year, seemed the best date, since the first Sunday in other quarters already had other observances attached (January – New Year; April – often Holy Week or Easter; July – Independence Day.)  So we give thanks for the universal church and the fellowship of the Lord’s table on World Communion Sunday, October 6.