The Invitation

 

Three words that, for me, can sum up the season of advent. Invite, prepare and celebrate. Most of us are very familiar with the preparation aspect of Advent.

 Preparing for what is to come. Preparing for His arrival, or His birthday party, or His second coming, or maybe most importantly, preparing for our own personal meeting with our Lord.

 But there is also an invitation sent by God to all us. We are like those shepherds in the fields on Christmas morning, and the angel appears and announces to us the good news.

 The Messiah, our Lord and Savior has been born, then inviting them to go and welcome the one lying in a manger.

 And the shepherds, in all their excitement, responded and said yes to the glorious invitation, and found the new born Infant with Mary and Joseph. They celebrated in amazement and told all the world.

 It all begins with the invitation.  And Jesus with all his love for us gives us so many invitations throughout Scripture. “Come to me and rest awhile, those who labor.

 “Follow me”, he tells his us and “take up your cross”. It is those who follow him he rewards with the gift of eternal life. He has invited us all to His banquet table, and to those who are prepared, to a feast fit for a king. And to a meal especially prepared by himself.  

 We are all familiar with invitations in everyday life. They may be in the form of requests, appeals, or even demands. But what we may not be aware of are the many invitations from God himself, whispering to us, wanting to be with us, and inviting us to be with him.  

 To Zacchaeus, high up in a sycamore tree, Jesus, said, “Zacchaeus, come down, I want to dine with you”, if you will have me as your guest.

 Most invitations usually require some type of a response, an RSVP.  We either go or we don’t go, we’ll do it or we won’t do it. Yes or no.

 We have all heard the story of Peter, walking on water. Peter, who is not simply the leader of the apostles, but one who best represents every man and woman who ever lived. He is us

 As the story goes, on that day in the boat, the wind is tremendous, and the sudden and violent storm had the disciples struggling to stay afloat.  They were scared for their life.  

 And things get worse. They could see a figure approaching them, walking on the water.  People don’t walk on water, if not a person, then it must be a ghost and they cried out in absolute fear. And in this outburst, they hear a voice coming from the figure approaching them, “Do not be afraid, it is I. 

 As in life, Jesus does not leave us in hopeless terror, but speaks encouraging words in a recognizable voice, if only we would listen to his invitation. “It is I, do not be afraid”, “I am with you”.

 Peter with courage and trusts responds and says, “If it is you Lord, command me to come”.  The RSVP

 Yes, he walked on water. But, even when his faith faltered and he began to sink, it was still to Jesus that he cried out for help, “Lord save me”.

The wonderful thing about Peter is that every time he fell, he rose again; and that even his failures brought him closer and closer to Jesus. 

 Every time we call on Jesus, he is already coming toward us. Every time we invite Jesus to our crisis, we are actually RSVPing to his prior invitation

 Day after day we are confronted with situations that put our faith in Jesus to the test. The current circumstances in the world and in the Church may cause us to be depressed, or at least bewildered.

 At times like these our faith may falter; we can doubt that God cares for us. We may even shout, “Where are you God, have you forgotten me”. 

Yet, it is these very moments, these very situations that our faith can be strengthened by calling out to Jesus.

 Jesus is our strength. Even though we may not recognize Him, he is there in the midst of our chaos; there when we need him most – in the storms of our lives.

 Jesus has sent you an invitation, every morning you wake up is an invitation to prepare a place in your heart for him.  This very day he whispers to you these beautiful words, “It is I, do not be afraid”.

 In your very hands is His invitation, it says “come and follow me”. Take a moment today and RSVP Jesus in a prayer.  Let Him know you’re coming. Let Him know you want to join him in his celebration.