Communionity via Hospitality

Communionity. It's a new word we're exploring, a verb that describes what we're doing and becoming as a church. Every church is marked by it's practices of communion. What if the church reshaped it's practice of communion so that it forged a unity with the community where it gathers for worship in the name of Christ? What if communion was a practice that welcomed sinners and bound Christians together - instead of it being a practice that traditionally excludes sinners and divides Christians?

The story of Jesus eating and drinking with Levi and this sinful tax collector friends deeply shapes the Gospel understanding of communion. Whereas we often only look back to the Passover meal Jesus shared with twelve of his male disciples as a starting point for communion, we ought to consider the whole life of Jesus and his reputation of being a glutton and a drunk.

Apparently Jesus ate and drank so often with sinners that he "ruined" his reputation with people of high social standing and a righteous reputation. But Jesus was on a mission to heal the sick, to preach forgiveness of sins and call the unrighteous to repentance. He came to change lives for good and for God. Communion - common union through meals - was one of those ways he instigated holy transformation in the social fabric of the community and the hearts of men and women on the margins of society.


Hospitality for the church becomes a key task of our mission to forge unity in our community with sinners who are not part of the Body of Christ. The church is a gathering of sinners who have experienced the "metanoia" or change or repentance of their sins. This forgiveness of sins, this fresh start with God and others, this is good news! We want to invite others into this new way of life with Christ - so we welcome and forge unity like He did.

By opening up our homes and hearts to others in our community - and by joining our neighbors for dinner in their home - this kind of hospitality and unity is following in the way of Jesus. Communionity.

There are actions that form us to be more like Jesus. Hospitality and unity are spiritual practices that form our heart and spirit, our body and mind to love our neighbor as God loves us. Imagine the impact your hospitality in your school cafeteria, your breakroom at work, your dinner table in the neighborhood could have?

You might think it small or insignificant. But the practice of hospitality and unity building, while it may start off quietly and under the radar - if it is a work of Jesus, it will be his instrument through which he shapes your heart to beat like his and by which he connects you to those in the community he has already been ministering to.

Levi was ready for Jesus when the invitation came to "Follow me!" Jesus was ready for the hospitality that Levi gushed forth following his conversion. Jesus had been at work in Levi's life long before he made the invite. And Jesus had been a ready for a long time to party with other tax collectors and sinners prior to Levi's invite.

Jesus is at work in the community preparing neighbors to hear his call to "Follow me!" Will there be a congregation in the community willing to welcome their neighbor with warm and gracious hospitality? Will there be the willingness to forge a union with a stranger and help them become a friend? When the spiritual practices of hospitality are put to work in everyday life, they create a forward momentum for their homes and their church that makes them more ready to celebrate with all the Levi's Jesus in calling to "Follow me." Communionity.

Here's some thoughts on the spiritual practices of hospitality for you to consider. Which one of these practices is Jesus prompting you to try out this week?

Spiritual Formation thru Hospitality
* Sharing your home, food, resources, car and all that you call your own so that another might experience the reality of God’s welcoming heart
* Reaching out to and receiving the stranger or the enemy with the hope that they might be transformed into a friend.
* Loving, not entertaining, the guest
* Welcoming others into your clique, group, club, life
* Spontaneously inviting people for meals
* Providing safe places for people in an unsafe world
* Loving people rather than impressing them
* Developing conversational skills that put others at ease
* Opening your home to others

What have you learned about fostering rich hospitality from your home and heart?

What practices of hospitality could you pass on to others?