“I don't worry about who's going to preach when Kieran is gone. We've had lessons from just about every man in the congregation - come any Wednesday night! "

Someone told me this a while ago and I had to laugh. After all, it's true. We offer an invitation after the classes all return together after the bible study. According to the elders, it is supposed to be about 3 minutes or less of a talk to encourage those who have just gotten done studying the word to come up and make their lives right. I've heard it as short as a Bob Barker style "Come on down!" and as long as a 25 minute talk that rambled on (and on!) and I never did get the point of it.

I suppose that's probably my fault. At 8:30 PM Wednesday night I am tired. I would say it was from OldTimers but I notice many of the kids are pretty tired, too. After just five minutes my eyes glaze over and you've lost me, every time. I don't know about everyone else who's listening, but I can honestly speak for myself. As an aside, when you ask some of these same folks if they would preach a lesson some Sunday night they balk and say they couldn't possibly do that because they don't have enough material, etc. Huh.

Then there are those who think we should never offer an invitation at all. I mean, when's the last time you saw someone go up during the invitation to asked to be baptized? In particular, when's the last time you recall someone going forward from the invitation offered Wednesday night? Yes, I know we've had a good number of conversions this year, and most happened either outside of normal service times or like 10-15 minutes after services are over. I know some folks point out, and rightly so, that offering the invitation at all is an "American" custom.

My cousin who's a preacher used to speak in Canada and at the end would offer the invitation. Some folks rolled their eyes and said "goofy Americans" or, like one kindly lady, thanked him after services because she hadn't heard anyone make that appeal as direct as he had for years. Years? What!?!

Yes, some think offering it every time makes it "common" and so unlikely anyone will respond. Ya know, I take the Lord's supper every Sunday but it never seems common to me. I pray daily, think God gets tired of hearing my voice? And I've read Matthew this year, again, I guess I had better not read it anymore lest I become too familiar with it. Oh please! Some folks I have heard even argue it is simply not allowed as part of our worship service. When you point out that Paul himself got a clear message from Ananias, they say that was "person to person" which is different. When you remind them of Paul's exhortations in letters to various churches, they say that's just a letter and not part of "official church services" whatever that means. All I know is there are some who are adamant that the invitation should not be offered when we're all together and for the life of me I can't figure out why not.

Last Sunday night Adam had a good sermon about Paul. He just got cranked up (so it seemed to me) and was picking up steam... and then he said we were going to sing the song I had picked. I thought it was pretty funny because I was caught completely flat-footed. There was no invitation there, not even a hint of "and in conclusion for tonight" or anything like that. I really did get a kick out of it, and next time I'll be ready! But no one came up and said it was "wrong" of him not to offer one. While it's just a custom, we are not so hung up about it that we force it on folks. THAT would be wrong.

I think I prefer those long invitations on Wednesday night to not having them at all. Like the Red Cross commercials where the athletes say "If you're just waiting to be asked to give blood, then consider yourself asked!" I'd like to cover every base at every opportunity with every person. But if you have so much to say you can't do it in three minutes, maybe you should write a BULLETIN instead.

Randy