Weeks ago, I was excited at the prospect of diving into the issue of rhythm from a spiritual perspective, but interruptions I hadn’t considered sort of wrecked the continuity of this series. But my hope is that in spite of those breaks in the lineup, our sessions have at least aroused both some curiosity in those of you who have read them and a desire to engage in some further investigation. Looking for ways to translate concepts into behaviors that we can practice in our day-to-day journey with Jesus is always a pathway to deeper understanding. 

Another Consideration ~
So, in an attempt to encourage you in that direction, we’ll share a few brief thoughts today about one more way to add “rhythm” to the love song God is sending to the world through each of us. We’re calling this one, the “rhythm of intentional communion.” And let me be quick to point out that my use of the word “communion” here is not referring to the church ordinance that we also call “the Lord’s Supper.” The term also describes an interactive, relational connection between people that through the years has also been called “fellowship.” It’s something Jesus engaged in to some degree every day throughout His ministry. Communion implies more than just sharing the same space in proximity to one another. Communion describes contact between people that nourishes, strengthens, unifies, empowers, and enriches those who engage in it. 

Jesus was a living demonstration of God’s ongoing quest for “oneness,” and the Church He commissioned to carry on His work made unity and togetherness a major priority. Among the multitude of innovative ideas and practices those early Jesus followers introduced to the world was the unprecedented destruction of the walls that separated them. The Church defiantly ignored socio-economic, racial, religious, political, ethnic, and ideological distinctions everywhere they went. 

A Radical Force at Work ~
Those radical Jesus followers refused to be influenced by the adversarial voices and the oppositional attitudes that surrounded them. They knew that Jesus had sent them to the world, and not just an isolated segment of it. Because their commitment to Him overrode the cultural pressures, they persisted in bringing people together from every race, social class, ethnicity, and religious background. Something unheard of anywhere else in the world was happening in the Church every day. Communion was going on between former slaves and aristocrats. Wealthy elites embraced poverty stricken women. Academics and illiterates poured out their hearts to each other, battle-hardened soldiers reached down to comfort orphaned children, and the result was that compassion and love erupted, peace prevailed, and moral darkness began to fade. Hope arose from their communion that the world never thought possible. No wonder Paul wrote things like this to the Churches:  

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:8–11 NKJV)

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. (1 Corinthians 12:13–14 NKJV)

Sounds like Paul was advocating something more than just sharing the same space once in a while and watching a church program unfold, doesn’t it? It sounds like he was defending and promoting genuine communion with one another in the churches he was writing to. And those letters were always intended to apply to every gathering of Jesus’ disciples that would come later, as well. 

Questions Emerge ~
It’s a wonderful idea, but some questions need to be addressed. If that kind of oneness is so important to God, and if it’s expected to be an unmistakable characteristic of the Church, whose responsibility is it and how is it supposed to get done? Does communion just sort of magically happen? Are we supposed to just sit in our places on Sunday and wait for it to descend on us from Heaven? Or do we adopt our modern “American Christian” approach to such things and hire a professional to do it for us? Not surprisingly, God had a better idea. 

There’s a passage in the Book of Hebrews that most of us have heard in sermons about the importance of church attendance. But it has much more to say than that we ought to go to church regularly. Here’s what he said:

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24–25 NKJV)

If we’re going to make genuine, spiritual communion a conscious objective in our lives, then we need to lay the foundation for it before the gatherings ever take place. Prior to actually engaging anybody, God directs us to  something vital to establishing genuine communion. He said, let us consider one another. The word translated “consider” means more than just thinking about who we might see. The Greek word (κατανοέω–pronounced katanoéō) means to carefully observe – to notice – to contemplate – to have respect toward, or regard for someone. 

Changes Are Required ~
That might mean scrubbing familiar routines. It might mean that we no longer head off to church to offer the same greetings to the same people using the same words week after week. What God calls us to do is to consciously, intentionally, gear our minds and hearts to connect with them. Before we ever engage others, God wants us prepared to genuinely embrace who they really are in the same way we would want someone to love and react to us. That means thinking about any issues we might already know about. It means being ready to respond if they have needs we might be able to meet. It means offering more than empty clichés. It means offering ourselves and all that God has put in us to represent Him well.

We Need More ~
Beyond that, the kind of communion God ordained is a time to stir up one another, to encourage, inspire, and stimulate one another to love and to engage in good works. God doesn’t mind if we notice someone’s new outfit and compliment them. He’s okay if you notice that Fred looks thinner after getting “on the shot.” It isn’t sinful to share comments about the weather, or some sports team that won or lost, and complaints about the idiots who managed to get elected to some government office can be tolerated. But that kind of thing will leave people feeling as empty, hurt, lonely, desperate, or angry as they were before they saw us. 

What an unmistakable force for good lies dormant in a nation that has multiplied thousands of churches because we don’t make a practice of engaging in the rhythm of intentional communion. And that force will remain shackled unless and until we develop the kinds of rhythms in our lives that stimulate life, movement, and joyful celebration in those around us. This “song” that God is attempting to display to the world through us was never meant to be an isolated solo. It was meant to be a “singalong,” a tune that makes others want to jump in and lift their voices along with ours. 

So, before we get in our cars and trucks and head out for church tomorrow, may God help us to consider one another. Maybe we’ll even get a chance to stir up some love and good works. And we might just make the joyful discovery that this new rhythm of intentional communion is really not a one-way street.

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