Quotes About Invitation

Sam looked up at the ceiling. Are you bathing up there, Marcus? I am. Would you care to join me? She could almost see the smirk on his face when she told him to shut up.

Ladies," Alexander said, his arm around Tatiana's neck, "we're newlyweds." He raised his eyebrows. "Do you really want us in your house?

Good. Then join us at eight. Don't dress up, black tie will do.

Best and brightest, come away!

The key to creating or transforming community, then, is to see the power in the small but important elements of being with others. The shift we seek needs to be embodied in each invitation we make, each relationship we encounter, and each meeting we attend. For at the most operational and practical level, after all the thinking about policy, strategy, mission, and milestones, it gets down to this: How are we going to be when we gather together?

Invitation is not only a step in bringing people together, it is also a fundamental way of being in a community. It manifests the willingness to live in a collaborative way. This means that a future can be created without having to force or sell it or barter for it. When we believe that barter or subtle coercion is necessary, we are operating out of a context of scarcity and self-interest, the core currencies of the economist.

Still, shifting my thinking on the Bible did not mean I was losing my faith in God. In fact, I had the growing sense that God was inviting me down this path, encouraging it even.

When we grab hold of "correct" thinking for dear life, when we refuse to let go because we think that doing so means letting go of God, when we dig in our heels and stay firmly planted even when we sense that we need to let go and move on, at that point we are trusting our thoughts rather than God. We have turned away from God's invitation to trust in order to cling to an idol.

And here's another important dimension of this book. When we accept that biblical invitation, we will see not only how the Bible challenges us to work out what it means to live the life of faith here and now. We will also see—if I may stress the point once again—how the biblical writers themselves were already challenged by the need to move past a rulebook mentality and respond to new circumstances with wisdom.

and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast.

“So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”

So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girlís father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”

Then Samuel took Saul and his servant, brought them into the hall, and seated them in the place of honor among those who were invited—about thirty in all.

So the cook picked up the leg and what was attached to it and set it before Saul. Then Samuel said, “Here is what was kept back. It was set apart for you. Eat, for it has been kept for you for this occasion, from the time I said, ëI have invited the people.í” So Saul dined with Samuel that day.

“In peace,” he replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

Two years later, when Absalomís sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.

And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?”

And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is next to En-rogel. He invited all his royal brothers and all the men of Judah who were servants of the king.

But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, or his brother Solomon.

And he has sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the other sons of the king, as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army. But he did not invite your servant Solomon.

For today he has gone down and sacrificed an abundance of oxen, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the sons of the king, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And behold, they are eating and drinking before him, saying, ëLong live King Adonijah!í

But me your servant he did not invite, nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon.

Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”