The Great Invitation

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Isaiah 55:1-2 Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Thank you for Your invitation to come.  You invite all to come to You.  Having heard Your call to "Come!" You invite us to take up the the refrain, repeating Your Great Invitation: "Come!"  You invite every thirsty soul, parched for the water of life, to come. 

I imagine sojourners traversing a desert.  Finding an oasis spring of water, one cries to another "Come!"  No one is angered by the invitation.  The opposite is true.  The only anger comes from the uninvited, the uninformed, and the omitted.  

Barclay writes: "'The Spirit and the Bride say: Come!' means that Christ and Christ's Church join in the invitation to accept all that Jesus has to offer... The word 'Come!' has to be taken up and repeated by every hearer...  Here is the great truth that every Christian is to be a missionary...  He who has received the invitation of Christ himself must pass on that invitation to others; he who has been found by Christ must find others for Christ; the invited must become the inviter and the found must become the finder" (William Barclay in The Revelation of John, vol. 2, 1959, p. 293).

Lord, I have received Your Great Invitation!  I have heard and heeded Your call.  My thirst is quenched in You.  Life has meaning and hope, in You.  But all too often, I rationalize my own cowardice: "I should not pressure others to come to the water of life.  They're busy.  They seem happy enough.  They may be offended by my invitation."  So, I remain silent.  Or, am I selfishly hoarding the oasis spring to myself?

Come!  Everybody's welcome!  Help me to extend Your Great Invitation to others who are just as thirsty as I.

I hear Holy Trinity's invitation: "Come!" Now I take up the chant, the cheer, the chorus... the Great Invitation.

In the Name of the Great Inviter!

Amen.