Remember the mealtime prayer ‘Come, Lord Jesus, be my guest, and may thy food to us be blessed’. Growing up, this was our before dinner prayer. It said it all.
Oddly, I find myself voicing a part of this prayer almost daily. ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. I find I want to invite God ‘in’. God’s very presence amidst my day. It doesn’t get much better than that.
There are several places where God offers us that same invitation, to ‘Come’. Listen to these words Jesus says: “Come, all you who are thirsty..” (Isaiah 55: 1). Are you thirsty for answers? For meaning. For life. I am. Jesus says it to those who have passed on and are awaiting their final ‘call’: Matt 25:34 “Come…Beloved…Behold the inheritance…”. He calls us his ‘Beloved’, a sweet sentiment in a harsh world. Another invitation that I am drawn to, because it is a family invitation for dinner is “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in….”. (Rev 3:20) All of these are invitations. Invitations to draw near to God.
When I view the tragedies in the world all around us, the recent school shooting in a town near us, I have no words. No solutions. I am bereft. Life is cold with the horror, the pain. I find myself crying out the words I know so well, “Come, Lord”. No fancy words can touch this mess. The best, the most I can offer is to invite God ‘in’. God with us, in everything.
I was surprised to discover recently what is said in the last two sentences of the Bible. Listen to Revelations 22:20,21 “Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” Let it be so, this day.
**On a lighter note, I have a funny Tom story to tell. When I was first married, I was horrified to find my sweet husband Tom could always be found at the front of the family buffet line of 21 people, grinning away like he’d won first prize. The rest of my family, crowded towards the end of the line, we are perhaps the politest people that ever lived, and the back of the line is the politest place to be, so we fought for the honor. I tried to ‘train’ Tom to hold back a little. I’ve been thinking recently about how I receive God’s invitations to me of grace, do I hold back, somewhat reticent, not wanting to look stupid, waiting for some ‘right’ time, or just plain waiting. Perhaps Tom’s got the right idea, heading straight for the prize, no holding back, silly grin in place (perhaps not so silly an idea)….just a thought.
