While lighting a candle to remind you of God’s Presence, have someone read the candle prayer.
Who do you identify with in this parable? The invited guest who makes excuses or the uninvited who get welcomed into the feast? Or perhaps both?
What excuses have you made to not care for others? Or to prioritize worldly things over God?
What or who makes you feel invisible? Who are the invisible people in our community? How does the church welcome or exclude them?
Share some stories of how you have witnessed radial inclusion and the welcoming the invisible. Perhaps you have experienced this welcome yourself, or perhaps you have seen this occur outside of the church.
What invitation is the Holy Spirit extending to you today, through this passage? What is your next most faithful step in response?
Take some time to pray for those who are excluded or invisible in our community. Pray for the ways which you’ve seen glimpses of the great reversal and have seen people find belonging with God.
Follow this link to read There are Things I Do Care About by Ted Loder.
Read this prayer from Cole Arthur Riley
Try out one of these breath prayers (as an individual or as a group)
Inhale: We are more than our excuses or distractions
Exhale: We are welcomed at God’s table
Inhale: I find my belonging, welcomed around God’s table.
Exhale: May others find God’s comfort and belonging alongside me.
The communion table reminds us of the “great reversal’ where the hungry are fed, the sick and hurting are healed, and sinners forgiven. If, as Brian Zahnd says, “grace runs downhill”, then this table is at the bottom of the hill.
With some bread and some juice, serve each other the body and blood of Christ as a sign of the good news we share in Jesus.
After reading the passage, share in some curious discussion:
Some ideas: If you have specific spots, parents and kids switch spots; have breakfast for dinner; kids cook
instead of the parents. Approach it like its opposite day. Acknowledge and discuss how that felt? Was it strange? uncomfortable?
Plan a party as a family and make an invitation. Who is someone you could invite to join you for a meal or a
hangout that you haven’t before? What would you do at this party?
Make an invitation that reflects the party you want to have.
