Communion was painted in response to a course relating art to spiritual life. This painting combines symbols of some major world religions. The pentagon within a circle and the repeating pentagons within is a Hindu symbol. At the center the seated figure is of four skin colors.
The concept springs from L. William Countryman's book 'Living on the Border of the Holy.' In it he writes words to the effect 'we have to learn to live in communion with our world, especially the people of the world.'