You’re invited!!!

When I was in second grade a friend of mine from school, Tommy, was having a birthday party, but I didn’t find that out till after it happened.  I didn’t find out because I wasn’t invited.  The fact that I can tell you about that event from so long ago tells you the effect it had on me.  I was not invited, not cool enough, not a friend enough, not whatever enough to be at the party.  I struggled to go to school after that and talk to Tommy, because apparently we were not friends, why else would he have left me off of his invite list.

There is something powerful about an invitation.  I laugh thinking that I can remember not being invited to party years ago, but it shows the importance of invitation.  An invitation means you were thought of, you are accepted, you are welcome, your presence is desired, and that you belong.

When we read the Christmas story we hear some of the people who were left off of most people’s invitation list; magi and shepherds.  Shepherds were loners, at the bottom of the social ladder, and not just left off the invite lists, but just plain forgotten most of the time.  The magi were not invited into faith because they were cultural “outsiders,” or heathen.  These were just some of the people in Jesus’ day who were left off of invite lists for parties and gatherings.  So when Jesus arrives God sends out invitations for people to come and see his son.  So who does God invite?  Most would think the very best people, religious leaders, kings and rulers, and the powerful just to name a few.  But God has something else in mind; he invites the very people who everyone else does not invite, the lost, the least, the forgotten, and the outsiders.  He invites them all because as Jesus would later say, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Matthew 9:11-12, TNIV)  Jesus drive and purpose for his ministry was to come for those who had not been invited.  His ministry was meant to reach those who did not know God, and those who had been hurt and pushed away by the church.

In this Christmas season, and as we move towards 2011, take a moment to think about the power of invitation in your life.  Maybe you can think of someone it would mean the world to if you invited them to come with you to church.  It might mean that you befriend a co-worker who few others do.  And perhaps God’s invitation is for you.  Maybe you feel like you have been hurt or left out by the church.  God came not just for the select few; God came for all, that we might know His son, and that our lives might be transformed.  Perhaps this invitation is time for a first step, back to family, back to church, or back to God.  The invitation from God is there, but will you come?  And will you share it with others?

Member’s Only

“Members Only.”   I was a golf caddy for four years during high school and college, and each day as I arrived at work I was greeted by a number of signs with that message on them.   I always wondered, what was behind those doors?   What was so special in the member’s only space?   Finally in my last summer caddying, I was called to enter a member’s only space to receive my tip from a golfer who had no interest in walking back outside in the pouring rain.   I remember getting ready to walk through the doors with such excitement and wonder.  I had been told what the other side was like.  I had read books and seen movies that depict it but now I was going to get a chance to experience it first hand.

Country clubs were not the first to come up with the idea of a “member’s only” space.   Ancient Jewish culture had two clear members’ only spaces.   First was in the temple.   There was an area in the middle of the temple that had a veil covering the entrance that was called the Holy of Holies, which could only be entered by a selected priest once a year.   Yet when Jesus died on the cross we read in scripture, “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark 15:37-38, TNIV)  The second “member’s only” space were a system of roads that only could be used by priests and powerful political figures.   We read in Isaiah 35 about these roads that when Jesus comes, “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way…But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued.” (Isaiah 35:8-10, TNIV)

In both of these passages the message is similar; Jesus’ coming will signal a change in how we engage God.   Before Jesus only a select few priests would have the opportunity to engage God closely at the temple. When the temple veil is torn, symbolizing Jesus’ death clearing a path so that God’s people have and can continue to directly engage God.   Isaiah’s passage lays out a vision of a special road that is made for all of God’s people, not just the elite or royalty to travel to meet God.

Each day people drive past churches all across America and see these little “member’s only” signs.   They see it on the church building, the front doors, and the people who worship inside.   There are many who need to be at church, and some who even desire to come here and spend time with God and others, but fear that they don’t belong because this is a “member’s only” zone.   We could tell them that it is not the case, but our examples today from scripture are not about rationally convincing people of a new reality.   Instead both our passages are showing and engaging people in that new reality, inviting them to come and meet God in a real and personal way.  So this Holiday season, perhaps you will invite someone to come and meet God, and to experience first hand that this is not a “member’s only” zone, but rather a place where all who desire to meet God are welcomed and loved.

Rejoice, pray, encourage

This week I was reading through 1 Thessalonians and came across this verse, “Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, TNIV) This is a part of Paul’s final instructions in the letter for his church in Thessalonica, and is written to a church known to have a number of new believers in it. Paul as their pastor is seeking to teach the new believers what Christian community looks like so they can embody it themselves. Take a moment, and reread these verses from Paul, hear Paul the pastor pleading with and encouraging his new community to take up these words, to embody this as a church.

Envision what this might look like for you. “Rejoice always.” Pay attention to your conversations this week and see if you hear fellow Christians rejoicing always. Paul is not suggesting that they need to always put on a happy face, but to be aware of all that God is doing all around you. Take a moment at the end of the day to ask this question of yourself or others, “How have I (or you) seen God at work today? What has happened today that is especially life giving?” It is amazing the power of remembrance, of taking a moment to think about that basic question. Suddenly we remember and notice the work of God all around us that we may have missed before.

“Pray continually.” Prayer is not simply a set of words that we use with our eyes closed in a dark room, but can be a conversation with God that continues throughout our days. Take a moment this week to pray for your pastor, that God would grant me discernment as I seek to lead Trinity, pray as we approach of 50th anniversary that God would use this as a opportunity to share fellowship with old friends and with new ones. Pray for our visitors who have been joining us in worship week after week, pray that God might meet them in a real and powerful way at our church, and pray that we might encourage them and help them grow in their faith.

Paul’s central point is that we are called to build up the body of Christ in all that we do. The body of Christ at its best builds up one another in our faith. We encourage one another of how we see God at work in our own and in one another’s lives. We cover one another in pray during the good times and the bad. We encourage each other to use our gifts for God’s glory, to build up and serve this body of believers.

Pastor Bill