September/October 2001
Common Ground
by Joseph Tkach
A friend recently related to me an experience he had as a child. His family had moved to a new town and were looking for a church to attend. "Why can't we go to that one down the street?" my friend asked in all his childlike innocence. "We can't go there," his father replied. "They hold communion every month. It should be done only four times a year."
In the 2nd century A.D., a man named Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. It was the custom in the churches of Asia Minor to observe a Lord's Supper service once a year, on the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, the day on which Jesus was crucified.
Since the Jewish date was determined with reference to the moon, it did not occur on the same day of the week each year. Thus, Polycarp's practice conflicted with the Good Friday/Easter Sunday tradition observed elsewhere.
Yet, during a visit to Rome, this same Polycarp celebrated a Sunday communion service with Anicetus, head of the Roman church! Polycarp didn't regard Anicetus as less of a Christian because he held a communion service on a Sunday rather than partaking of the body and blood of Christ on Nisan 14. In fact, he joined in!
Early Christians recognized that there could be allowances for differences in viewpoints and practices among brethren on non-essential issues. Such peripheral concerns didn't stand in the way of their unity in Christ.
Polycarp and Anicetus understood this. Can we follow their example?!