The Call.5

Once there was a king who planned the wedding of his son. When all was ready, he sent forth his servants to the provinces of his kingdom, to summon those invited to the wedding. Incredibly, the guests refused to come.

Undaunted, the king sent out his servants a second time, saying: "Tell those invited to the wedding, I have prepared a great feast. My oxen and best calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding."

But again the subjects made light of the king’s invitation and returned to their work, some to their farms, others to their shops. Some remained behind, and these took hold of the king's servants and beat them to death.

---Jesus

Preparation

'Tis the season for partying: graduations, weddings, and holidays.  I have always been envious of capable party planners.  I'm not one of them.  Too much detail; perhaps too much thinking or--and I know this will come as a surprise to some--I'm not much of a party guy!  I have a hard time planning a date night with my wife, for Pete's sake!

But there have certainly been times when I roused myself to the task, when the situation called for it, when the object of the celebration was worth the effort. My boy's graduation open houses come to mind.  Although I depended heavily on my wife, a very capable party planner and detail person, I was very invested in honoring their young lives and accomplishments; of providing an opportunity for others to bless them in their journey to adulthood.

Invitation and Consideration

I received a text message inviting me to a "Benefit/Open House to raise money for an upcoming mission trip."  A few things went into my decision making process: the distance, what I had on my 'to do list', the reason for the event, my relationship with the host, what I had to contribute to the goal of the event...not necessarily in that order.  Sometimes events don't meet expectations, and are disappointing.  More often than not, they are way better than you could have imagined...and you regret not bringing others along to enjoy it with you.

Celebration or Renunciation

My day job involves "inviting" people to participate in our organization's effort to make doing business--the act of providing a good or service beneficial enough that others would buy it--easier rather than harder.  The reception I get varies from sincere openness to inexplicable hostility.  (Grateful that I have, as yet, not been beaten to death!)

Jesus always speaks in relation to the experiences of life to drive home his eternal truth.  God's invitation to the greatest celebration of all: Oneness and Fellowship and Commonwealth with all that He is and loves, is still open to all.  Incredibly, many still refuse to accept it and beat up the messengers! But you can bet your life that those who do will be the kind of people whom the King will want to be King over!  The celebration won't be bad either...pity those on the outside looking in.