Communionity via Service

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. That's his rationale for why he ate dinners with sinners. Zacchaeus found salvation after sharing a meal with Jesus. Jesus eats and drinks with us while we are lost in order that we may eat and drink with him when we are found. And often it is while we are eating and drinking together that we find salvation.

Being with Jesus is what changes everything.

What if communion became that place where sinners could be with Jesus? Those that are seeking Jesus, who want to be with Jesus, what if they were welcome at the table? It's an act of service to welcome sinners to the table, to host them and love them and care for them. It's an act of service from Jesus to the world to seek us out and save us. And it's an act of service for the Body of Christ to welcome at the table all who are searching, all who are wandering, all who are lost and want to be found.

The story of Zacchaeus reveals a sinner's heart searching for Jesus. While yet a sinner, Zacchaeus offers hospitality to Jesus. But it is then Jesus who serves salvation to Zacchaeus? The response? Zacchaeus responds to the generous salvation by giving half of his possessions to the poor and then paying back four times the amount to anyone he cheated. Communion with Christ produces service to the community - which connects them with Christ who desires communion with them.

Communionity comes by the service that Jesus and his followers offer up to one another and the community where they live. For those that eat the bread and drink from the cup in remembrance of Jesus, we follow up that remembrance with acts of service to those that Jesus is seeking to save. Acts of service are both the fuel and the fruit of communionity. It connects us with a Christ who is for the community.

The Spirit of Christ is still at work today in our community, seeking to save the lost and commune with them. Communionity comes about when Christians serve their community out of their connection with Christ, resulting in their community connecting with Christ.

We are shaped by the Spirit-prompted acts of service - we are changed by them, just as Jesus uses them to shape and change the community.

What does spiritual formation through service look like for you in your community?

• Reflecting the helping, caring, sharing love of God in the world
• Offering resources, time, treasure, influence and expertise for the care, protections, justice and nurture of others
• Walk the talk
• Collaborate with organizations in your community as a way to care for the widow, orphan and oppressed
• Mentoring
• Helping out your neighbor when a need arises
• Use your skills, interests, experiences, passions to better your church and community
• Inventory ways you are already serving. Surrender it to the Lordship of Christ
• Discover and utilize your spiritual gifts
• Partner with at least one organization through which you can help others based on your passions
• Adopt the attitude of Jesus Christ: he came to serve, not be served

Do you desire to be with Jesus? Let him serve you. And let him serve through you. In communionity with Him and your community. 

We are discovering, not a life of service, but life through service [Reggie McNeal].