Holy Communion: Jesus’ Invitation to All

There is something wonderfully Wesleyan about the words often heard before Holy Communion:

Christ our Lord invites to his table.

Notice who does the inviting.

Not the pastor.

Not the congregation.

Not the denomination.

Christ.

That distinction matters because the Lord’s Table belongs to Jesus Christ. We gather as recipients of an invitation we did not create and could never earn.

This is part of the theological heart behind the Methodist practice commonly called open Communion. The Table is not reserved only for Methodists, nor is it a reward for Christians who have reached a certain level of spiritual maturity. It is a place where sinners encounter the grace of Jesus Christ.

For Methodists, this hospitality is deeply connected to one of our most cherished theological convictions: prevenient grace.

God’s grace is already reaching toward us before we know how to reach toward God.

And sometimes that grace meets us at a Table.

The Table Belongs to Jesus

We should begin by clarifying what “open Communion” means.

An open Table does not mean Communion has no meaning, that repentance does not matter, or that the church simply distributes bread and the cup without regard for faith.

The invitation itself points us toward Christ.

Jesus is the host.

Jesus is the meal.

Jesus is the one who calls us to repentance.

Jesus is the one who offers forgiveness.

Jesus is the one who gives grace.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that Communion participates in the very life of Christ:

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16, NIV).

The Table is open precisely because it belongs to Christ.

The church does not own grace. We receive it and bear witness to it.

Prevenient Grace Comes Before Us

To understand Methodist hospitality at Communion, we need to understand prevenient grace.

John Wesley believed that no human being begins the journey toward God entirely on their own. God’s grace always comes first.

Before we seek God, God seeks us.

Before we recognize our need for Christ, the Holy Spirit is awakening us.

Before we repent, grace makes repentance possible.

Before we believe, grace enables us to respond in faith.

This is prevenient grace, the grace that “comes before.”

In The Theology of John Wesley, Kenneth Collins emphasizes the importance of prevenient grace within Wesley’s understanding of salvation. God’s gracious initiative restores our capacity to respond to the gospel without eliminating the necessity of that response.

Grace comes first.

Our response follows.

That pattern helps us understand the Methodist Table.

Communion as a Converting Ordinance

John Wesley went further than many Christians might expect.

He believed Holy Communion could serve as what Methodists have sometimes called a converting ordinance.

In other words, a person might encounter the grace of Christ through Communion in a way that awakens or deepens saving faith.

That is a remarkable claim.

We sometimes assume a person must get everything spiritually settled before coming to the Table. Wesley’s understanding leaves room for something different.

Perhaps Christ can meet someone there.

Perhaps the person who comes with questions can encounter grace.

Perhaps the person struggling to believe can discover faith awakening.

Perhaps the person burdened by sin can hear the invitation to repentance.

Perhaps the person who feels far from God can discover that God has already drawn near.

This does not make Communion magical. The bread and cup are not spiritual machinery.

It means we trust the Holy Spirit to work through the means Christ has given the church.

Jesus Has Always Had a Remarkable Guest List

The Gospels give us good reason to expect divine grace around tables.

Jesus had a habit of eating with people respectable religious society found questionable.

He ate with tax collectors.

He welcomed sinners.

He received people whose lives were complicated.

He allowed himself to be criticized for his table fellowship.

In Luke’s Gospel, religious leaders complain:

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2, NIV).

They intended that as an accusation.

The church has learned to hear it as good news.

Jesus welcomes sinners.

Of course, Jesus’ welcome never means that sin is irrelevant. The Christ who welcomes also transforms. Grace does not simply affirm us exactly as we are and leave us there.

Grace welcomes us so that grace can heal us.

That is an important distinction for a Wesleyan understanding of an open Table.

Open Does Not Mean Meaningless

Sometimes “open Communion” can be misunderstood as meaning that nothing is expected of those who come.

That is not the Wesleyan vision.

The invitation to Communion is an invitation to Christ, and therefore an invitation to repentance, faith, reconciliation, and new life.

The traditional Methodist invitation beautifully holds these things together by calling those who love Christ, repent of their sin, and seek to live in peace with one another to draw near in faith.

Notice the posture.

It does not say, “Come, all who have achieved holiness.”

It says, in effect, “Come, all who desire Christ.”

That is a very different thing.

We do not come because we have finished the journey.

We come because we need grace for the journey.

Hospitality Is Theological

Christian hospitality is sometimes treated as though it were primarily about friendliness.

Smile at visitors.

Have someone at the door.

Make sure the coffee is decent.

Those things can certainly help, especially the coffee.

But biblical hospitality goes much deeper.

Hospitality reveals something about the character of God.

God is the God who welcomes.

God calls Abraham so that all the families of the earth may be blessed.

Jesus welcomes sinners and strangers.

The Spirit gathers people from different nations at Pentecost.

The New Testament describes a church in which old divisions are overcome through belonging to Christ.

Thomas Oden, in Classic Christianity, emphasizes that salvation brings us into communion with God and with God’s people. Christian hospitality therefore grows from the gospel itself.

We welcome because we have been welcomed.

The Table Challenges Our Boundaries

This is where open Communion becomes uncomfortable in the best possible way.

We are usually quite comfortable receiving grace ourselves.

We become less comfortable when God gives grace to people we would not have invited.

The Table confronts our instinct to decide who belongs.

At Communion, we stand beside people with different backgrounds, different struggles, different histories, and sometimes very different opinions.

Yet everyone approaches the same Table with empty hands.

Nobody gets a better piece of bread because they have been a Christian longer.

Nobody receives extra grace because they served on three church committees.

Nobody stands at the head of the line because their theology is more sophisticated.

We come as people who need Jesus.

The Table has a wonderful way of leveling us.

From Open Table to Open Hearts

There is also a danger here.

We can practice an open Table while keeping closed hearts.

We can welcome people sacramentally while remaining suspicious, dismissive, or indifferent toward them everywhere else.

But Communion should transform the community that receives it.

Paul writes:

“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17, NIV).

If we share one bread, we are being made into one people.

The hospitality we experience at Christ’s Table should therefore become the hospitality we practice beyond it.

If Christ has welcomed us, we learn to welcome others.

If Christ has been patient with us, we become patient with others.

If Christ has shown mercy to us, we practice mercy.

If Christ has made room for us, we ask who still needs room within our churches and our lives.

Open Communion should produce open hearts.

Hospitality and Holy Love

This brings us to Wesley’s larger vision of salvation.

The goal of grace is holiness.

And holiness, for Wesley, is fundamentally the perfection of love.

God’s grace does not merely make us nicer people. The Holy Spirit reorders our hearts so that we increasingly love God with our whole being and love our neighbors as ourselves.

That means hospitality itself can become part of sanctification.

Welcoming another person requires us to surrender some of our preferences.

Listening requires patience.

Making room for strangers disrupts comfortable circles.

Sharing a Table reminds us that the church is not built around people exactly like us.

These are small crucifixions of the ego.

And that is often where holiness begins to grow.

A Table Bigger Than Ours

There is one final reason Methodist hospitality at Communion matters.

The Table points toward the kingdom of God.

Scripture repeatedly uses the image of a feast to describe God’s coming kingdom. Jesus speaks about people gathering at the banquet of God’s reign. Revelation points toward the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Every celebration of Communion anticipates that feast.

The church gathers around a small table with ordinary bread and cup, but by faith we glimpse something much larger.

A kingdom is coming.

Christ is gathering a people.

Grace is reaching farther than we imagine.

The Spirit is still drawing people toward Jesus.

And the church gets to participate in that invitation.

Come Because Grace Is Calling

An open Table is not ultimately about Methodists being unusually generous.

It is about God being astonishingly gracious.

We open the Table because grace came looking for us.

We welcome the seeker because prevenient grace is already at work.

We make room for the sinner because sinners are the only people Jesus has ever had to work with.

We call people to repentance because grace loves us too much to leave us unchanged.

And we receive the bread and cup because all of us, lifelong Christians and uncertain seekers alike, remain dependent upon the mercy of God.

The Table belongs to Christ.

The invitation comes from Christ.

The grace comes from Christ.

So we come with open hands.

And perhaps, as we receive his grace, Christ will give us open hearts as well.

A Closing Prayer

Gracious Lord Jesus Christ,

Thank you for inviting us to your Table.

Remind us that we come not because we are worthy, but because you are merciful. Awaken those who are seeking you, restore those who have wandered, strengthen those whose faith is weak, and continue your sanctifying work in all of us.

As you welcome us, teach us to welcome others.

Open our hands to receive your grace and open our hearts to love the people you place before us.

Make your church a community where sinners encounter mercy, strangers become family, and all are invited deeper into the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

Amen.