{"id":7,"date":"2008-10-07T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-07T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/2008\/10\/07\/october-8-15-2008-isnt-it-nice-to-be-invited\/"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:36:20","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:36:20","slug":"october-8-15-2008-isnt-it-nice-to-be-invited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-8-15-2008-isnt-it-nice-to-be-invited\/","title":{"rendered":"October 8-15, 2008 &#8211; Isn&#8217;t it nice to be invited?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"center\"><em><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><\/span><\/em><br \/><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><strong><span style=\"color:#660000\">Warm-up Question:<\/span><\/strong> <em>How does it feel to be invited to something special?<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\">It seemed like a typical Wednesday at Waukee High School. Maddie and Kaitlyn met before school at their lockers. They talked about their weekend plans. Both had planned to go out to dinner together then go to the Friday night football game. Kaitlyn was excited to talk to Maddie about the post-game party at Adrienne\u2019s house. When she brought up the subject she could quickly recognize the look on Maddie\u2019s face. Maddie hadn\u2019t been invited to the post-game party. Maddie shrugged it off as no big deal and that she had to be home early on Friday anyway because of a commitment early on Saturday morning. She lied so Kaitlyn wouldn\u2019t feel bad. The bell rang, the awkward moment ended, and the friends departed to their first classes.<\/p>\n<p>Maddie spent the rest of the day in personal despair. She asked herself many questions about why she didn\u2019t get invited. Did Adrienne not like her? Had she done something to offend her? They weren\u2019t really that close anyway, how could she expect Adrienne to invite her? She was even a bit mad at Kaitlyn for being invited, but she realized it wasn\u2019t her fault. Not being invited caused Maddie to feel rejection and a lack of acceptance. Her feelings were hurt. She went home and cried.<\/p>\n<p>The weekend came and went. Maddie went home after the football game and her friend, Kaitlyn, headed to the post-game party. Maddie eventually got over it, but never forgot the feeling. She tried to keep this in mind when she saw others not being invited to events that she was invited to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000\"><strong>Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Have you ever not been invited to something you wanted to go to? Have you ever been invited to something you didn\u2019t want to go to? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">What do you think Kaitlyn felt when she learned that Maddie wasn\u2019t invited? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">How do you think you would have responded?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">What can we do as Christians to invite others?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:130%;color:#660000\"><strong>Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, October 12, 2008.<br \/><\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family:arial\">(Text links are to <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year A at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Lectionary\" target=\"_blank\">Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=89956129\">Isaiah 25:1-9<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=89956350\">Psalm 23 (5)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=89956382\">Philippians 4:1-9<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=89956413\">Matthew 22:1-14<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><strong><span style=\"color:#660000\">For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <\/span><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.agnusday.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><span style=\"color:#660000\">Agnus Day<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><span style=\"color:#660000\">.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><strong><span style=\"font-size:130%;color:#660000\">Scripture Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the Gospel, Jesus tells the story of a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sends out the message to those who he hopes will come. His messengers depart to go and tell them that the feast is ready. The king\u2019s invited guests respond in different ways. Some ignore his invitation, some leave, some go about their business, and some even mistreat the messengers inviting them to the banquet. The king realizes that those who he has invited are unworthy and sends his messengers to gather people from the streets and fill the hall with guests; making those who seem unworthy, worthy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Christ invites us all into the banquet of heaven with him. What a great and generous invitation! It feels so good to be invited. Christ gives us this invitation into a relationship with him yet many people turn down the invitation of the Holy Spirit to live their lives alongside Jesus and guided by him. When Christ is trying to speak to you how do you respond? Do you continue about your business? Do you ignore it or leave? Do you mistreat those who may be speaking the good news to you, just because you don\u2019t want to hear it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Acceptance and love is something that all people crave at the core of their being. With Christ, acceptance and love are continuously extended to us. As Christians, we are invited to share this acceptance with others. We have the opportunity to live fearlessly, knowing that we are loved and part of Christ\u2019s kingdom. We are accepted by Christ and never rejected. Living fearlessly through our acceptance gives us the courage to share the good news with others, including &#8212; and especially &#8212; people in need of hope, healing, God\u2019s love, and new life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000\"><strong>Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">What is one way Christ speaks to your heart?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">How do you respond to his invitation?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Do you think that living a life of acceptance in Christ enables us to live fearlessly? What things in life can cause us to back away from living our faith boldly, fearlessly? What things or people stir up our strength and courage of faith to live fearlessly?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#660000\"><strong>Activity Suggestion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Have an intergenerational congregational birthday party. Send out invitations for all ages. Assign people to sit at intergenerational and family-mixed tables based on the month of their birth. Have a devotion led by different age people, play games, eat cake, and celebrate the diversity of life experiences.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Send letters to your congregation\u2019s shut-ins. Offer an invitation to go and visit them. Go visit!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><strong><span style=\"font-size:130%;color:#660000\">Closing Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><em>Blessed Savior, thank you for inviting us to your kingdom. Help us to remember to invite others, knowing that there are great gifts and blessings in this invitation. Bless those who feel like they live their lives on the fringe or are rejected or disconnected. Enable us to extend graciousness and generosity to their lives. In your name we pray. Amen<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"color:#660000\">Contributed by <em><strong>Angie Larson<\/strong><\/em><br \/>Clive, IA<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color:#660000\"><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Warm-up Question: How does it feel to be invited to something special? It seemed like a typical Wednesday at Waukee High School. Maddie and Kaitlyn met before school at their lockers. They talked about their weekend plans. Both had planned to go out to dinner together then go to the Friday night football game. Kaitlyn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[419,420,417,415,416,414,385,389,413,418],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post","tag-acceptance","tag-banquet-of-heaven","tag-hospitality","tag-invitation","tag-invite","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-love","tag-matthew","tag-rejection","tag-witnessing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>October 8-15, 2008 - Isn&#039;t it nice to be invited? - Faith Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-8-15-2008-isnt-it-nice-to-be-invited\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"October 8-15, 2008 - Isn&#039;t it nice to be invited? - Faith Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Warm-up Question: How does it feel to be invited to something special? 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