An international group of Christians have marked the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan by blockading a key military base while sharing holy communion, music and Bible readings.

Eucharistic sharing and the development of goods in community can help to reshape what we mean by globalisation in a divided and unequal world, says a recent consultation of three Christian Communions.

Three Christian traditions have prepared a joint statement saying that their shared Eucharistic vision is an ethical one through which "our churches may seek to transform the dehumanizing effects of economic, social, and cultural globalization."

German Catholics and Mennonites gathered in September for a conference on the “Healing of memories”. Representative of the two Christian traditions are meeting again in Rome right now, and the agenda is once again peace and reconciliation.

Sharing bread and wine is not just an odd church ritual, says Simon Barrow. It is an embodied symbol of a new world coming – one in which we need to be radically changed if we are going to be part of the solution not part of the problem.

Alison Goodlad re-reads George Eliot’s classic ‘Middlemarch’ – and discovers that its provincial narrative has some powerful things to tell us about loving purpose in life, atonement and even Eucharistic living.