Fifth Grade Social Dynamics and the Power of Invitation

I remember it well, in part because it was one of my few elementary school victories.

When I walked into my 5th grade class one early-fall morning, there was an envelope on top of the chair turned upside-down on my desk. Inside the envelope was an invitation. Jonathan Wilmeth was having a birthday slumber party. And I was one of the five guys invited.

This catapulted my social standing in the class. All year long we had slumber parties, and I got invited to each one. Unfortunately, I peaked socially in fifth grade--it was all down hill from there until college!

If the Christian story is true, then a Relationship is at the center of the universe: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

And if the Christian story is true, we are made in God's image, and therefore we are innately relational beings.

And if the Christian story is true, then what's gone wrong with the world is broken relationships: first with God, then with one another (between individuals, in families, between people-groups or nations, between the genders), then with the earth, and then with how we relate to things or work (think of the dad who loves his car or his investments more than his kids).

The Christian story calls those broken relationships sin.

So if a Relationship is at the center of the universe and broken relationships are what is wrong with the world, then one of the most explosive relational dynamics at our disposal is the power of invitation.

Invitation is an innately relational thing. To invite someone into a relationship with you is one of the most significant gifts you can give anyone. To invite someone to relate rightly to their world, their parents, to their GPA, to their car or kids, to their money, and especially to their Creator is at the heart of making broken things right in this world.

And of course, invitation to do the wrong thing has power to further complicate and destroy the creation.

Many of you have deep and lasting regrets because you took someone or something up on an invitation to do or try or relate in a way that was destructive, foolish, or just turned out poorly. You slept with that person. You tried that business venture. You took on that project that sucked all your time and energy away from other things.

If we are innately relational beings, and broken relationships are what's wrong with the world, then the power we have for good or ill in invitation is one of the most overlooked relational dynamics in the world.

I think Jesus understood the power and importance of invitation. I think this is why he starts his ministry with a powerful and essential invitation: "Come, follow me."