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BY B. KEVIN SMALLS

The other day my seventh-grade son Kevin came home from school with a long face. I asked him what was wrong. He told me that one of his classmates was having a big birthday party and he was not invited. This hurt him very badly.

In addition to that, all of his invited and privileged peers were verbalizing their great joy and anticipation of this upcoming event. There was buzzing all over school. Conversations included what would be worn, what dances would be done and who would be there. My son could not participate in this joyous event because he was not invited.

There is something wonderfully amazing about being invited to something. An invitation means that someone wants you to be at an event or an experience that is occurring in their lives. To be invited means that someone thought of your name and took the time to make contact with you. You can?t help but feel special when you?ve been invited to something.

This is why we as the body of Christ can not take the role of invitation lightly. A good portion of Jesus? ministry was that of inviting.

He invited the disciples to follow him. He invited the woman at the well to drink from the water that will never lead to thirst again. He invited Zacheus down from the sycamore tree and then he invited himself over to Zacheus? house. He invited Peter, James and John on a high mountain. He invited Nicodemus to be born from above.

He invited the rich man to sell all that he had. He invited the adulterous woman to a new life. He invited a dying thief to paradise. He invited Mary to announce the news of his resurrection. He invited doubting Thomas to trust him again by touching his hands.

He invited 12 trembling men after the crucifixion to be not afraid. He invited his followers to be his friends and not just disciples. He invited the new formed community to, 'Go into all the world, baptizing and teaching in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' He invited us to remember that he would be with us always even until the end of the age.

We are an invited people. But there are so many around us who do not have an invitation to anything. This is why inviting people into our ministries, our worship services and some of our small groups is very much what it means to be faithful disciples.

Find someone who is on the outside and give them an invitation to the inside. Not a formal invitation, but a personal one. 'We would really like it if you could come to one of our worship services?or if you could join me in church next Sunday. Next week we will be launching four new small groups and I think you could bring a lot to our ministry if you?d come and share with us.'

These are personal invitations. Live your life with an inviting spirit and in so doing you will gather potential disciples of Jesus Christ around you. Remember discipleship - yours and others? began with an invitation.

A few days after Kevin?s disappointing rejection, he was smiling and singing around the house. I asked him why he was so happy. He told me that he would be going to a party next weekend. He got an invitation to the party of the year!

The Rev. B. Kevin Smalls is director of young adult ministry for the Baltimore-Washington Conference.