Part of a series of blogs on Renewing our Community Groups
Father, Son, and Spirit, bound in love, welcome us into their community of love, which finds its expression in human – that is, broken, joyful, annoying, wonderous, difficult, surprising – communities of love.
Community, and all the things which come with it, do not come very naturally to me, despite my intentionally cultivated public persona. I am more introverted than most, and what does come naturally to me is being entirely entertained and occupied by my own inner life and spending more time alone than is often healthy or helpful. As I have matured though, I have found the necessity of community inescapable, and the dependence of good community on grace and love inspired, perpetuated, and from the overflow of our God whose very identity is communal.
It has been very helpful for me to think about community as a spiritual practice or discipline. If you’re not familiar with this language, what I mean by “spiritual practice” is embodied, habitual action meant to orient us to God and His purposes for us. Prayer is a spiritual practice, so is fasting, coming to church, and reading the Bible. Community, I think, is also a spiritual practice, and it has been helpful for me to think of it in this way because it reminds me that community is something that I have to practice, in order to grow. It also reminds me that God is with us in community – that as much as I can get to know Jesus in prayer or in reading my Bible, intimacy with Jesus is also found around a table of friends.
And just as the Divine Community – Father, Son, and Spirit – exists in a love which spurs God into action, so also our human communities of love should be united around a mission of love! In my community group, what this looks like for us is to invite friends round once a week for a meal, drinks, reading the Bible, praying, and talking. Anyone and everyone are welcome, and often the people who come along are those who don’t know much about Jesus or Christianity, but are wanting to learn more. It is a very simple thing really, and something Christians have been doing before they were even called “Christians”. I call it hospitality – making room in our home and in our lives for people so that they can get little glimpses of how much God desires to be in a relationship with them. Welcoming people into our homes, our lives, and to our tables reflects the great welcome we have received from God himself. Hospitality is an ontological reality - hospitality reflects the very reality of God himself - and it is the overflow of a healthy community life. We offer welcome as God offers welcome. God himself is eternally hospitable, so to practice hospitality is to participate in God's nature.
Yet, hospitality, like community, also does not come naturally to me. Most weeks, I am tired and worn out by the grind of day-to-day life and never feel like I have the energy to host or to talk to people. Yet, hospitality is a spiritual practice that I am growing in and committed to because I believe that the gospel is really good news and the table is a good place to share that with people. And I find that week after week, something miraculous happens while I spend an hour or so cooking and getting the house ready for my community group. I pray, and when I stop having words to pray, I pray in tongues, and when I stop having those sorts of words, I listen to music and enjoy the chopping, sautéing, spicing, and cleaning. And pretty much every week, without fail, the Spirit does something in me, so that I am prepared to welcome and to host and to enjoy a meal and conversation about Jesus. And it is FUN!! I, the archetypal introvert, have fun and enjoy myself immensely hosting people. I find it renewing and lifegiving. It, of course, can still be difficult, but then there is always next week.
I think what God asks of us when it comes to community life, and its partner hospitality, is simply to “make room”. To make room in our hearts for the Lord and the things He loves. To make room in our lives for the practices of community and hospitality – the things which represent and point us to God Himself. To make room in our communities for people seeking truth. To make room around our tables for people we wouldn’t think to invite along. If we make room, we can watch God fill it with Himself and His kingdom.
