Can I Share 3 Special Christmas Invitations With You?
Party invitations were handed out in the room. You waited breathless and anticipating. Your card must be at the bottom of the pile they clasped in capable hands. Until the final card was distributed, there was still a glimmer of hope. Would you be invited to the special meal? Would you receive a Christmas invitation?
Seeing all the cards were gone, disappointment shot through your heart, like a thermometer’s mercury rising rapidly. I guess I wasn’t on the list, you thought.
With Covid protocols still in place in many locations, you may wonder where you’ll spend the holiday. At home alone? With friends? Invitations represent acceptance, love, and are an expression of friendship. They’re a symbol of inclusion in a special circle of people and can mean a lot. Christmas is a season of many joyous invitations.
Perhaps you miss celebrating with family and friends back home. Or maybe someone you loved passed away this year and it will be your first holiday without them there. Christmas can carry a multitude of bittersweet emotions.
Christmas also offers us some wonderful invitations from Father God. Will we stretch out our hand (and heart) to receive what He offers us?
A Happy, But Different, Christmas
One of our happiest Christmases on the mission field was in India. We’d been pioneering a small, but growing, ministry in the slums. Through a series of miracles, a group of believers had formed and been meeting regularly to learn from God’s Word.
Christmas is not a culturally Indian holiday. Our city had only a few signs of Christmas cheer during the weeks leading up to December 25th. No Christmas music in the stores, nor decorations and lights in the streets. What brought great joy, though, was sharing the stories of Christmas in that small fellowship as we sat on mud floors covered with simple mats.
We told of how the shepherds saw the angels appear, then went to find the babe in a manger. Watching the eyes of those we shared these stories with for the first time…it was as beautiful as any sparkling tree’s lights!
The miracle of Christ’s virgin birth somehow seemed amazingly clear.
God’s Invitation to Feast With Him
“At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”
Luke 14:17
3 Special Invitations Christmas Brings
- An invitation to gaze in wonder.
This Christmas, ask God to renew your sense of child-like wonder. As adults, we can grow dull to the joys of the holiday. Even the mystery of Christ’s supernatural virgin birth can lose its miraculous glow. We’ve heard the story so often, preached it, read it. Ask God to renew your sense of awe at the reality of the stories surrounding His incredible birth.
One of the things that help me maintain a sense of awe is sharing this story with those who’ve never heard it before. Is there someone in your area? Perhaps an immigrant family, or someone from another religious background, that you could make a special effort to share it with this year?
Don’t rush through the rituals and ceremonies of Christmas. Let your mind slow down and your soul take in the joy of the season. Christmas is a time when even in the little things, you can find a rich balm for your soul.
It’s been a hard couple of years. What is one thing you could do that would bring with it a sense of joy and symbolize for you the peace God brought to this earth when He arrived?
- An invitation to share with others.
Missionary life can be stressful, especially when it comes to finances. There have been times when the financial demands of the Christmas season made me wish the holiday would hurry up and be over. How will I buy new clothes for my kids this year? Gifts for our staff?
Avoid the pressure of materialism. Determine to be a giver during this season. What could you make to share with someone in need? A meal? Or could you can serve them in some way, clean up their garden or help them with other chores?
It’s amazing when we put together the little we have, how God multiplies it. Train new believers and those in the churches you’ve started to give what they have. Don’t raise outside money to feed them a feast. Instead, invite them to bring what they can. Sharing with others is part of God’s invitation to us at Christmas time.
- An invitation to join His feast.
Lastly, as mentioned in the scripture above, Jesus often told parables about feasts. The Kingdom of God was likened to a feast the Father was hosting. When the well-to-do and religious didn’t show interest in His feast, He told His servants to go and bring in the lame, blind, and those without a “right” to be there.
Today He is still calling us, His servants, to go out and bring them in. The poor, the broken, those with little hope. Don’t wait for your invitation to a party this Christmas. You’ve already been invited to serve at it! Go bring others in! The Master waits to welcome them through you.
What will you do to accept our Lord’s invitations this year?
Let me know on the Missionary Life Facebook group or in the comments below.