A friend told me that her dog received an online invitation to a pet party recently. I couldn’t believe it. What does it mean that even pets are getting E-vites these days? Then I mentally listed all the invitations I had received myself lately. I recalled an E-vite to a birthday party, an invitation to another birthday party by mail, a lunch date offer from someone who dropped by my office, and an invitation to dinner that came by text message.

All these invitations got me wondering: What does it mean to be invited? Which invitations do we accept? How do we give and receive invitations?

When a job offer took me to a different city far away from friends and family, I was excited and scared. Would I find new friends? How would I meet people? Shortly after I started my new job, a woman at work said, “You should try this church down the street.” She took a risk by telling me about a church she thought I would like, since she didn’t know me very well.

I took her suggestion and visited the church one Sunday. I wondered whether the congregation would ignore me. Or would they pounce and ask me to sign up for every committee they had? Would I be treated like an outsider or like a member of the family? As I walked through the door, a nice older man greeted me with these words: “Welcome to this place. We’re so glad you're here, and we believe this place is for all people.”

I immediately felt at ease. And that was just the beginning. All through the next week, people from the church showed up at my door. They brought me a loaf of banana bread. They invited me to a picnic. They asked if I would help serve supper at a local shelter. They asked if I would come to a gathering and offer a prayer.

I thought I had moved into the Twilight Zone.

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