As we head into unchartered waters, socially speaking, I have had this thought running through my head, which seems quite upside down.  Why should we now start talking about the importance of an invitation in a time when we are no longer permitted to gather?

COVID-19 has been closing in on our Australian culture for about 2 weeks now, while other parts of the world have been traumatised at a whole other level.  Countries like Italy, Iran and India are locked down, residents unable to leave their homes and China now, seemingly coming out the other side.  No one has any idea how long it will last or what life will look like on the other side.  Will the world ever go back to normal?

So why has my mind been so persistent on the idea of getting your attention with this thought?  Why now should I be highlighting the need for invitations?  It isn’t a new discomfort for me, yet I’ve never felt the need to write about it.  And then my mind says, “Perhaps you’re right, things won’t be the same and neither will we.”

So, let’s talk about the power an invitation can have.

I am sure I am not the only one who has been missed on an invitation list once or twice.  Felt the twinge of envy as I scrolled a social media feed to watch, from a distance, the fun I had missed.  

This is something I have become accustomed to, especially when it comes to family invites, and couple invites to a certain extent.  You see both my husband and daughter live their lives in wheelchairs and my other daughter has a developmental delay which finds her enjoying the company of those much younger than herself, and therefore not fitting into the social mould easily.  We have a few extra challenges when it comes to accepting invitations, but from our experience, we’ve not needed to worry too much, because the invitations are few and far between.

My mind automatically goes to giving grace to those who may have thought it just too difficult to invite or actually a little unsure of how it will be received.  I certainly do not want an influx of invitations just because I coerced a feeling of guilt.  We, as a family, are not looking for the sympathy invitation, we simply yearn for the ‘normal’.  Dreaming of our family being included like others.

My discomfort does stretch beyond my own experience and I am actually saddest for those around me, who I witness, being left out. The ones who don’t have extra challenges or reasons for not being invited. I have sat with some while they show me their broken heart, after the lack of an invite and explain their confusion at having to endure a missed opportunity to feel included.

Because that is what it boils down to.  Inclusion. 

I do understand that you can’t invite everyone to everything but, I wonder in this season of forced exclusion and separation, we might as a human race uncover the importance of making sure as many as possible in our world might feel included, drawn in.  That on the other side of this season, of self-isolation and social distancing, the experience of community is real and tangible in every single person’s world.  Not just on a Sunday at church, or on a Monday at school during the lunch break, but all the time.

Can we begin to practice now?  Why not!

Who is in your world right now who might fit into that Whatsapp chat you started?  Which three or four people can you pull together, who might not be your normal crew, and invite to a Zoom virtual coffee?  How about a text message sent to the one who won’t be expecting it?  Look around in your mind’s eye, can you see the one standing on the outer looking in?  Can you picture their face?  

And here is what is important; not that they say ‘yes’, but that you ask.  Extend the invite because whether they turn up or not won’t make an ounce of difference to how the invitation initially made them feel.

I honestly believe this virus is challenging us to not be so self-focused.  We need to stay home, not for ourselves but for those not as strong as us.  We need to curb our stock piling, so all may have enough.  We need to keep a wide berth, so the person we avoid may stay well.  The world is changing.  It’s turning a bit upside down and I think it is becoming just the way it was meant to be.

So, let’s begin inviting, start today.  You won’t only be expanding someone else’s world, but you will be growing your own.  Who knows the conversations that will spark inspiration or innovation?  Who will be the person who goes deep and allows you to seek a peak into their real self?  What will you gain by being the one who gives?

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

Matthew 25:40 (NLT)