October 2, 2025

Over thirty-five years ago, my wife and I went with a small group of UCC folks to the island of
Cuba to learn about the struggles of the Christian faith there. One of the moving memories I
have from that journey was meeting in a Baptist Church in Santiago de Cuba. We brought some
simple crayon drawings of crosses and churches and the like that our Sunday School children
had made for the children there. One little Cuban girl saw the pictures and broke down in tears.
She cried, “We don’t have any pictures to send back with you!” feeling sad she could not return
the kindness. Another pastor who traveled with us made friends by passing out balloons to
every child he saw all week long. Trade restrictions on Cuba made rubber very scarce, so they
received those balloons as an extra special treat.
Throughout my ministry to churches in Illinois and Iowa, I have been fortunate to take mission
trips to engage with Christians in Mexico, Jamaica, and Ecuador, in addition to that trip to
Cuba. I consider it quite a privilege to be able to reach across national and cultural boundaries
to share kindness with brothers and sisters in the name of Christ. It makes real the words of
Ephesians 2:14 – “For [Christ] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both (ethnic) groups into
one and has broken down the dividing walls of hostility between us.” The Apostle Paul
recognized that whenever people of different cultures are able to make peace, it represents the
peace God made with humans through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Actually, every trip we make to the communion table is the same sort of privilege. While we
receive the communion elements in our church building, we are really sharing a meal that
crosses many national and cultural boundaries to embrace sisters and brothers in Christ from
around the world. We make a special point of recognizing this on World Communion Sunday,
the first Sunday every October.
Tim Sandifer will share in administering communion with me since he is now fully authorized
to celebrate communion among us. We may occasionally participate together in communion
services throughout the year.
Peace,
Rev. Tim Darmour-Paul