Sunday Morning Thoughts

These are some thoughts I shared with our Student Venues today. I figured I'd post it here as well. 
Sorry about the font change. That's all a part of being a tech illiterate old guy.

It’s Party Time!

There weren’t a lot of parties in 2020. And the parties that did take place were usually condemned in the news as super-spreader events. But it’s 2021 now and hopefully we’ll soon be (but not yet) partying again.

If you were going to throw a big party when the all clear for big parties is given, who would you invite?

Imagine with me for a moment --
You are in charge of inviting people to the biggest party ever.
Money is no object.
This party will make all of the news outlets--even international news organizations will cover it because there will be satellite parties all around the world and the only people that get in are the ones that you invite.
The Host of the party (your boss) really wants everyone to attend.

After the great pandemic of 2020 where so many people struggled financially -- some lost homes or businesses, many went hungry or waited for hours in food lines -- this party will be an incredible event. There will be literally tons of free food and drinks, live music of all kinds, so many jobs will be available and everyone will benefit from the generosity of the Host.

Who do you invite?
Who do you leave off of the invitation list?

Jesus tells a story of a Great Host that throws a big party. Many of the people that were invited to the party decided they had more important things to do and didn’t show up at the designated party time. The Host really wanted this party to take place, so he told his workers to go into town and invite everybody to the party. They told everyone they encountered that their boss was throwing a party with free food and drinks, live music and lots of fun. Go and enjoy the generosity of The Host.
Even after the townspeople showed up, The Host knew there was still food and fun for more. The Host then told his workers to hit roads leading to and from town and compel travelers to come to the party. He wanted his celebration to be completely full.

I think this parable was really hard for the Jewish people of Jesus’s day to understand. Although they believed that their God was greater than all of the other gods and that their God truly was God -- they believed that God was their God alone, and they alone were God’s people. They really believed that salvation was for them and them alone. Why would God invite others to their party? 

Sometimes I think that we haven’t learned much from the stories of the bible. We often think like the Jews did and we place our own restrictions on who God should invite to his party.
We say that Jesus died for everyone and then we turn around and tell certain people that they’re going to hell because of their lifestyle choices, their addictions, their failures, etc.
What if it turns out that they are invited to the party, too?
What if we spend so much time and effort trying to keep certain people out of the party that we miss out on the celebration ourselves?

I think that when Jesus said that he came so we could have life and have it more abundantly, he was telling us to go have fun at the party!
When we realize that God has more than enough life for everyone; more than enough love for everyone, maybe we will stop trying to horde God’s love and keep it all to ourselves and the people that we think are deserving of it. Maybe we will finally realize that God loves the people we see as unloveable -- and we will love them, too.

What if it turns out that God really does want everyone to come to his party -- even the people that we don’t think deserve to be there? Would you still go? Would you party with the people you believe are unworthy of God’s mercy and love? Would you be like some of the people in the parable and find something else to do?

It sounds like a pretty incredible party.
I’m going. I hope to see you there

John