Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. We have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. Every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with others in community.

Our series right now is called “We Are”. It follows on two other series – “God Is…” and “Jesus Is…”. Our attention now turns to us, human beings, and what knowing God and following Jesus actually means for our lives.

On my drive home recently, I was listening to talk radio as they discussed an interesting experiment by two young women in Toronto, who essentially treat their apartment like a restaurant. They have a waiting list of over 300 people wanting to eat dinner, for free, in their home. Well, not quite free, they asked people to bring a bottle of wine.

They say it’s a great way to meet interesting people, and just a lot of fun. They call it Chez Lisgar, named for the street where they live.

Callers even called with their own stories of in home Indian takeout, and more.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/dine-out-at-a-home-restaurant-in-toronto-1.3554392

The commentators talked about both sides. Some thought it was dangerous and risky, either for the hosts or the diners, but others thought it was just great. One of the hosts explained why she felt it was still popular, though, because there is a “Yearning for this connection with people”

So many lonely people in our world are hungry for community, for family, for companionship. We don’t live in a society that really does community well – we tend to see ourselves as individuals first and members of a family or community second. It wasn’t that way in Jesus’ culture, as we’ll see in the story we study this week.

Question: What do you prefer to do with friends or family and not alone? Why?