This is amazing grace,
This is unfailing love,
To be invited to the table,
Where everyone has a place set,
All you have to do is take a seat.
At the tables, we are invited, freed, fed, and sent. Tonight, thousands of youth and adults have accepted the invitation to come to the table and sit together. As the picnic table is set with various dishes and plates, we are all different and do not match, but are all welcome at God’s table. We may be strangers to one another, but we are known by a God who wants us to come together in His name and worship, which has started tonight in Fayetteville, NC.
The youth of Sunrise United Methodist Church gave us a unique remix of “One Call Away” to remind us that Jesus is the way to be redeemed right now, by calling on Him and accepting His sacrifice and love that cannot be found anywhere else.
“God was with me when I thought I was better off without Him…” Kaitlyn Williams shared a testimony of struggling with a disconnected faith and straying from the church until a heart-shattering wake-up call. For Kaitlyn, it was her grandmother being diagnosed with stage four cancer. She felt God had betrayed her by giving this illness to her family, and did not want anything else from Him.
But this was not the end of her story—just as it is not the end of ours when we feel those struggles against our faith in God. With a life-changing experience at a Pilgrimage last year, Kaitlyn was able to experience the grace of God and appreciate the invitation back to His arms, which were never even closed. Kaitlyn’s story reminds us that life is hard, but the burdens are not as heavy when we give them to God; even when we think that He is not there for us, or has done us some wrong, what we do not see is that it is still part of His plan.
And when we turn away in anger or hurt, He is still there, waiting for us to turn back around to invite us back into His open arms. The invitation is always there, God is always with us, even when we do not wish Him to be there or care about his invitation. The plan is larger than us, just as God is larger and grander than we are.
Kaitlyn challenged us with this lasting question: “What in your life are you carrying on your own? With God, you’re never alone.” Thank you, Kaitlyn, for that reminder of God’s grace and invitation that never expires.
*Article written by Morgan DiFruscio