Musings Along Lifes Way: We are called to be a People of Invitation

Dear Friends,
It’s hot. Yesterday, I was in my study at the church working on the grant proposal which we will be presenting to the national setting of the church. The day had started off warm and by 1:30 it was hot. That is when I heard the call. It was the swimming pool at the YMCA, calling out, “Come submerge yourself in my coolness, find relief in my waters.” What an invitation! For days like this, not a bad idea. God, the universe herself, calls out to us in a like way, inviting us into the loving-kindness that is the pattern of all that is. Did you know that we human beings can do this for each other?

We are called to be a people of invitation, inviting one another into the refuge of God’s presence. It is this way in the church. Churches are hubs of invitation, communities of loving-kindness and refuge, calling out, inviting. We have something to give, something that is unique in our world. However, we have to call out and invite people to join us. In the church of 1955 (the church many of us remember fondly – and for good reason), we held the idea that if we “built it they would come.” That used to be enough so churches of that era built great in house programs knowing that an active church would attract others. However, in 2008 this no longer works as a model for spreading the good news (evangelism).

Did you know that 87% of people who come to churches today and stay do so because someone invites them? Like the swimming pool in paragraph one of this note, we need to learn to call out, to invite. You see, in this fractured and fracturing world we offer coolness and relief. We carry the teachings of Jesus, which offer a clear alternative to the distractions, disorder, “the heat” of our day. With the teachings of Jesus we taste the pattern of things as they are, a kingdom or realm of God where the blind can see, the lame walk, the oppressed are set free. See how Jesus invites us.
I invite you to invite your friends to our church. What we have to share is “good news,” the blessings that we experience as a community of God’s love, the hope that is active and alive in our experience of the God’s grace.

Blessings,

David