Day 002: Communion

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."  Acts 2:1

"Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need."  Acts 2:44-45

The account of the early church shows a business model that was quite successful, with numbers growing in the hundreds and thousands in the first years.  To me, what seems to be at the heart of it all is the communion between one another, sharing the Holy Spirit with one another.

To start, the early Christians, burning with the Spirit, spoke in the different languages of many different cultures of the time, and there were people coming from all over, hearing their languages, feeling the hospitality that comes from a love for God.  In addition to that, as some scholars point out, they divided their possessions among each other out of necessity, since there were many who were coming to them from afar.
This is the embodiment of Jesus' command in John's Gospel, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37)

When I think about how the larger Church today works, I appreciate my own, the Episcopal Church, because of our communion table, which is open to all.  Just as Jesus commanded us to come to Him for fulfillment, we continue that invitation to this very day.  Unfortunately, though, the difference is that we extend this invitation reluctantly.  We only want a certain gender, a certain sexual orientation, a certain color, a certain race, a certain ethnicity, a certain culture, a certain language, a certain doctrine,  a certain credence.  We add terms and conditions to what Jesus explained simply and the apostles executed simply.

I am certain that each and every one of us has some need.  Some needs are material, and others are spiritual, but the important thing to remember is that we all have them and need to respect those of others.  How about making the church a place for those needs to be fulfilled?  How about coming together in the church with one accord?  How about bringing the Holy Spirit to our neighbors without that terms and conditions box?