Communion and Community

Communion and Community follows several earlier publications, Community as Church, Church as Community (Cascade, 2021) and Ministry Matters (Cascade, 2024), and completes a longer look at the congregation as community and communion as its source and sustainer. While the Eucharist creates and supports community, this book explores other forms of communion. Some of the conflict over defining the nature of eucharistic communion will be examined. Personal transformation in communion and community will be observed in Sara Miles’s memoir and in other accounts from Jessica Martin and Hanna Reichel. Other personal experiences of communion and community will also be included, along with an exploration of networks, connections, and individuals, who have become social hubs. Two different congregations will serve as exemplars of the social dimensions of communions that form community. The ancient eucharistic prayer attributed to Basil the Great will be studied closely for what liturgical texts say about communion and community. As with earlier publications, Plekon draws here on his experience as a sociologist of religion and a priest for more than forty years. 6