The Invitation

I remember back in High School when the dreaded turn around dance would come, where the girls would have the chance to ask the guys if they would be their date at the dance.  That time each year I painfully learned what it must have felt like for girls to wait around to see if anyone would come and invite them to come to the dance.  It was tough, placing your hopes and feelings on a simple invitation.  To be invited to the dance meant that you were wanted, accepted, and that you belonged.  If you were not invited it hurt, you wondered if you were valued or even mattered.

Enter Jesus’ words from the Message translation in Matthew 11:28, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.”  Jesus made it his ministry to go to those who were far from God and outside the church, to extend them an invitation to come closer, to meet God.  Jesus spent his time going to those who felt that they did not belong, were not worthy of being asked, to come and join Him, to come and meet God.  Jesus heart and life were dedicated to reaching those who did not know God.

Who invited you to meet God?  For some, we were invited us to meet God, to go to church, and to grow in our faith.  Maybe, someone invited you to come to Trinity, to a program, to a ministry, a concert, or a cookout.  There is so much power in an invitation.  It can bring us such joy, such a feeling of belonging, of love, of connection to others.  It can make our day, bring a smile to our face, or completely change a course of events.  Invites can help someone move from a stranger to part of the family.

So who are you going to invite?  Who will you invite to our Rush of Fools Concert on June 26th?  Who will you invite to VBS August 2nd-5th?  Who will you invite to come to church on a Sunday morning?  We are a church passion about serving, caring, growing, and reaching, and this is one primary way that we can do all of those things.  Through invites we can invite people to come and be served at events like God’s Closet.  We can invite people to be cared for and to grow with us in a small group.  We can reach out to people by inviting them to check out our website or listen to a sermon.

It is time to get our hands dirty, time to take the next step, time to get to work.  It is time to make our vision statement not just words on banners, but the reality of who this church is, and the focus of all our work.  Take sometime to prayerfully consider who it is that you can invite to the concert, VBS, small groups, Sunday morning, or to our website.  Your invitation may be the one that leads someone to come to know God, to help them plug into a church, to have their life changed by God forever.  Knowing you could change someone’s life by a simple invitation, how can we not invite someone?