I keep this photo in my office. It is a picture of a trip to Montreat. My mom and I were hanging out with one of our favorite families, the Buchanan's. We were playing by the creek, you see, and I am pretty sure Elli and Taylor (who are now of college and high school age) were peeking into a bucket of tadpoles. They'd also made friends with another boy who you see photographed, whom we didn't know. You see my mom leaning in to ask the kids about what they have found while Bill and Aimee look on. I managed to capture this perfect little moment of people so dear to me.
You also see a postcard, handwritten, by Aimee, inviting me to the Girl's Youth Bible Study in her home when I was just a freshman in high school. I was new to the community, very new to the church at the time. I kept it in my Bible for years. Bill was the Associate Pastor and in charge of the youth program at my church. But he and Aimee were very much a team and our program would not have been complete without the two of them teaching us, guiding us, and the most important step, inviting us. They invited youth to church. They invited youth into their homes. They invited youth into their lives. They became part of my family and they changed me and inspired the course of my life.
Aimee passed away three years ago today. On that day I wrote another post about her, "She Changed The World," which you can read if you want to hear more about the impact this beautiful individual had on my life. But for today, I am thinking about the invitation. All the invitations she extended to me while she was a part of my life. The first was the postcard pictured above.
Do you know why I went to that Bible Study group? It wasn't because my friends were going. It was because a personal invitation was extended to me by an adult. An adult who had shown an interest in me. I had many questions about the Bible and at the time this postcard was presented to me, I felt perhaps this could be the person to help me explore for the answers I was seeking. Aimee cared about me and knew me by name after the first time she met me. And she made me feel welcomed from the instant she greeted me and opened the door to her home.
Another invitation came the day she and Bill asked if I would babysit their daughter Elli, who was a toddler at the time. Oh my goodness, they trusted me with this precious little girl! I loved her to death, still do. We would play outside in the sunshine with sidewalk chalk. We would play dress up and read stories for hours. Now Elli is in college and watching her grow up from a distance, even as I see her express herself in blogs or on social media, she is teaching me about balancing strength and grace as a woman in today's world. Just as her mother once did.
So today I am encouraging all of us to consider the depth and breadth of what we think is a simple invitation to a friend, a neighbor, a young family, a teenager, to attend church. To you it may just be a kindness. For you it may be your job as minister, director, elder, or deacon, to welcome strangers and bring people into your midst. It can be so much more than opening a door to a building or a community. It could influence and inspire them for the rest of their spiritual life. You may be the person who introduces them to the love and grace of the Triune God.
This picture reminds me of the value of finding a church home. It reminds me of the people who model living their faith. It inspires me to be a servant for God, who called me into the ministry. Each day, but especially this day, I am thankful.
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