I invited her. She said she thought they would like to come. I’ve heard that before. It was a busy time, in December around the holidays so it was 2 or 3 weeks before they made it. The first week, it was just Jody and Terry but they loved us. Then next time they came back with the three kids, and they have been back every week since.
Just like that, in the snap of my fingers, a family of five that had no church home, has become part of our Village community. This weekend Terry was here Friday night and Saturday for our launch team retreat. They are totally committed. Do you know why? Because someone “made the ask.”
I took a risk to invite them to my church. Now, sure, you can say it’s my job. But guess what, I have a fear of rejection too. I don’t like to get the cold shoulder.
I’ve went to dinner once with a group of parents from the neighborhood. I asked a new mom, “Would you like to visit my church?” She looked right at me and just said, “No.” She didn’t give me any socially acceptable excuse, like, “I have another church.” or “I’m not really religious” and she didn’t make a joke: “I like to sleep in on Sunday.” She didn’t even say, “I don’t do church.” She just said, “No.” It was really awkward. I still wonder what that was all about.
But I keep inviting people anyway, because eventually I come across a family like the one I just told you about. They were just waiting. They were looking for us. The Village was made for them, and they were made for us. But unless I had stumbled across the opportunity to invite them one afternoon at a chess match, they would have lived right around the corner from us, and never known we were here. My children would have gone to school with their children for years, and I would have missed the opportunity to invite them to The Village.
In our scripture for today (Mark 1:14-20, from the Message Translation for those following along on the net), Jesus “makes an ask” of four people who will become his disciples. The story is so simple:
18Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.
19-20A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.
Just like that, snap your fingers, immediately they came along. Now I have to believe there was something magnetic about Jesus’ personality that made it just about impossible for those men to say no to him. Of course, we know he was the son of God. He had the light and power of God shining all around him. I think Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John were astute enough to know this was no ordinary invitation. They knew in their gut, this was the offer of a lifetime. So they dropped everything and gave their lives to this mission with Jesus.
But here’s the thing: JESUS HAD TO ASK THEM.
THE ASK is crucial. Sure, they might eventually have wandered their way into the mass of Jesus’ followers, but they could have just lingered on the edges in that case. But to be invited, meant that they were given an opportunity to commit and jump in with both feet. They signed on the dotted line.
Those four men faced a turning point in their lives. It was a breakthrough for them. Once they joined the movement of Jesus, their lives were never the same. This turning point, this breakthrough has happened to all of us. It has happened to us too.
Being part of this community has changed our lives. We have something that other people don’t have. We have the reassurance of God’s love. We have a community to encourage us. This community makes a difference to us, and together with other Christian communities we make a difference in the world.
The Village is about to enter a new phase of our life together. We are moving to a new site in Maumee and launching a new worship service at Easter time. When you move to a new location, it’s an opportunity to get some new attention from a new group of people. We create some buzz when we move into a new neighborhood. We will take out some advertizing, put up some signs, and do some things to let people know we have come to town. We joked at our leadership retreat yesterday how we are going to be the church and give Northwest Ohio something to talk about. It’s a chance for us to build some new momentum for the church we believe God created us to be together.
Our theme for 2012 is HOPE. We are bringing God’s hope to NW Ohio and SE Michigan. We are inviting the people of Maumee, and the greater Toledo region to embrace HOPE. We know people need HOPE. We have found our hope in God, and God has called us to share that hope with others.
It’s not enough just to stay here in this wonderful community we have created, Jesus wants us to go out like Peter, Andrew, James and John did, and fish for some more disciples. Jesus wants us to invite some friends, neighbors, some co-workers and some strangers to experience the hope that we experience when we gather with The Village people each week.
But they experience this community if WE don’t ASK THEM. We have to make the ask! We are the only people Jesus has available to ask some particular people that God is going to put in our path. I was the one that God put in Jody’s path on that day at the chess match. I was the one to invite her. And then she was the one to go out on a limb and invite her husband and then they invited their kids.
Someone invited you here. Do you remember who? Who are you going to invite? We are going to make it as easy as possible to invite folks over the next few months. In addition to worship each week, with great music, relevant messages, and the best coffee in town, every month we are going to have other events that are going to be easy to invite someone to.
We call them “Taste and see events” because you can come and get a little taste of The Village at each event. We are going to have silly fun showing Grease Sing a Long – to have fun and see our worship space. Then on February 18th we are going to have a service project at the Seagate Food Bank and spend three hours helping to feed hungry people. Then on February 4th, we are going to go see the movie “Red Tails” and talk about the heroes of that movie and what they did for our country.
And then on March 18th we are going to have a concert and fund raiser for “Feed Your Neighbor” at the Village Idiot. You can’t go wrong with the Village Church at the Village Idiot. You can come hear music, feed the hungry, and hear about our ministries. And we are going to keep giving you great things to invite people to during Holy Week, and on Mother’s Day, and beyond (wait until you see what the Outreach & Marketing Team has planned this summer, and in October, let just say zombie makeup may be required. In each of these we will be the church in our world. We are going to give them something to talk about while we “follow Jesus and change the world”).
Our goal is 100 people on Easter Sunday because we know there are people out there who are looking for hope for their lives and who are waiting for an invitation just like Terry and Jody and their 3 kids.
Now we are not really even making a big deal about inviting strangers to The Village. But I, for one, am going to remember this scene of a guy inviting a stranger to church. If he can do this, I think I can certainly tell someone I know about The Village and what it means to me. Because I never know when there might be another Terry and Jody who are just waiting for someone to invite them to church.
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