Friends: Well, here it is, Common Christianity column #1000. I adjusted the topic due to current “blossoming” Hoosier events combined with the permanence of faith. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1000

January 13, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Faithful Communion

By Bob Walters

“Do this in remembrance of me.” – Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25

(Previously – noting this would be column #1000 – I expressed intent to share some history of this weekly column and blog going back to November 2006. Well, maybe next week for #1001. Instead, here is the communion meditation I delivered Sunday at E91.)    

Let me begin by confessing that my Purdue heart, graciously and warmly, is basking in the reflected glow of Indiana University’s blossoming football success. A long-wandering nation is approaching the Promised Land. Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoosiers.

As our long departed friend and pastor Russ Blowers used to insist: “God loves to see his kids play.”  Christianity is a team sport, a glorious team sport, where every day is Game Day (I promise, that’s the end of the sports metaphors).  But every day reveals our faith, which brings us to what I really want to talk about: faith.

Our Sunday worship and communion rightly express our shared joy of love and testimony and fellowship; of shared faith, hope, and love. Going it alone as a Christian defies the core identity of God, of the Holy Trinity, which is a society, community, and relationship, identified as love.

The Trinity is the mathematical mystery of one equaling three and vice versa, but love – which can’t exist alone – itself is a mystery. And if the 1-2-3 of the Trinity doesn’t add up for you, then let 1 times 1 times 1 – still 1 - multiply our fellowship and your faith.

Faith, you know, isn’t guess-work.  Faith is a vast understanding of the truth.

Faith isn’t measured against absence of doubt; faith is recognizing the brightness of the light of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It is perfectly OK to have human doubt even in the bright light of Jesus.  But don’t confuse “doubt” with “lack of faith.”

There are divine mysteries we do not understand, and earthly problems we cannot solve. I doubt myself all the time; I’m just thankful I don’t have to doubt Jesus. I am fallible; Jesus is not.

Our well-oiled faith pleases God and gives us peace, curiosity, and motivation. It inspires and fills us with truth and love, with grace and peace, with courage and strength, and with wisdom and compassion.

Those are all good things to pray for and to ask God to share with us. We pursue and initiate faithful good works as an outworking of the faith that burns inwardly in our hearts, minds, and souls.

That faith is our communion with God, each other, and Christians everywhere.

Let us contemplate quietly – for a few moments – this faithful communion of the body and blood of our Lord, as the life which fills us now.  Let it remind us of Christ’s magnificent and faithful sacrifice on the cross that restores us to forgiven and eternal relationship with our Creator.

(When communion had been shared, we closed in prayer, including …)

“We pray for this congregation, for our nation, for the witness of Christian faith throughout the world ... and maybe especially in Miami next Monday.”  Amen.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is aware many Purdue faithful do not share his magnanimity toward our friends in Bloomington. As a young sportswriter in Kokomo, Ind., Walters covered Purdue, IU, and Notre Dame football and basketball, including IU’s 1981 NCAA basketball championship in Philadelphia (the day Reagan was shot). Walters, a 1976 graduate of Franklin College, was Purdue’s Assistant SID 1981-1984.