This past week, I loved when I stumbled upon a story of a grandma who invited someone for Thanksgiving that turned out to be a complete stranger…. Here is the story:
“What started as a text to a wrong number has led to years of friendship and shared Thanksgiving meals for Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench, a holiday tradition born from a happy mistake that’s gone viral every year since. 
In 2016, Dench sent a text to a number she believed belonged to her grandson to invite him to Thanksgiving dinner at her home in Mesa, Arizona. Turns out, she accidentally texted Hinton, a complete stranger at the time.
Hinton asked who the number was and when Dench sent a photo of herself to him, he replied, “You’re not my grandma. Can I still get a plate though?”
“Of course. That’s what grandmas do… feed everyone,” Dench replied. Since that text mix up, Hinton has received an invitation to celebrate the holiday with Dench’s family every year.”
This year, in all kinds of communities just like ours, people are looking for an invitation. An invitation to “Come Home for Christmas.” Did you know that Christmas (along with Easter) is one of the best times to invite people to “come back” to a family tradition that that they grew up with or have not been practicing for years?
We have some wonderful things to invite people to during the pre-Christmas season. The greatest, is to invite them to come together in celebrating CHRISTMAS EVE! The old-fashioned Christmas Eve with traditional candlelight, carol singing, Christmas story reading, brief “gathering” that will bring back memories and bring them back… to their faith that Jesus really is the Reason for the Season. All they need is an invitation!
Our Christmas Eve Service will be on Friday, December 24th at 6 PM for (30 minutes) at the Mingo UM Church. This year, our service will be a bit shorter, but will contain the fullness of everything listed above as a part of a “traditional Christmas Eve” Service.
SO, LET’S INVITE PEOPLE! EVERYONE IN OUR COMMUNITY! ANYONE IN OUR COMMUNITY! ANYONE AND EVERYONE WE KNOW – if they have a place to go or not….to bring the family gathering to our church for only 30 minutes which will bring meaning and faith back into Christmas. I’ll be sharing more about that in the coming weeks.
So, I have an idea! To make an “invitational banner”… a big one to put outside of the church beginning the first week of December inviting people to join us on Christmas Eve (or church on Dec 26th) ! I have talked to a local banner-making company and they can make one for us to put up that will attract all kinds of attention to get our communities talking and inviting.
Who knows who will attend beyond the “traditional crowd”? But I feel led to invite you to invite others and be a part. Want to make a “free-will” contribution towards the banner? Let me know. We can invest in an invitation that can make Christmas real for our “neighbors.” If you are led to make a contribution, please contact me at phildicks@gmail.com or 515-418-0807 or on a Sunday AM. We want to get it done and get it up and the invite word spreading as we Go Be the Church!
