At the heart of the Christian faith is the action of metanoia, which means to repent and change our minds. But metanoia should also manifest itself in what we do, the way we act. We should start to see a difference as well as think it.

On launching Back to Church Sunday in Canada I was asked whether I wanted to stay in a convent or a hotel. When put in that way by the church, I assumed that they wanted me to stay in a convent because of cost. When I actually arrived at the Convent I was greeted by the Mother Superior who showed me to my “cell” and then told me that this was a “silent” convent. I was told however that there was one meal during the week at which there is speaking. What agony for the next two days as each meal passed by without words. On the third day there was the sound of noise in the dining room and rejoicing in my mind as I walked into a dining room of the sound of conversation. I was seated next to two nuns, who asked me what I was doing in the country. I told them about my desire to challenge the church to invite. After this explanation one of the nun’s turned to the other and said “sister, how many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb? The other nun looked at her in horror, then said, “change my great grandfather donated the light bulb to the church”

JK Galbraith an economist said “Faced with changing one’s mind, or proving that there is no need to do so, most people get busy on the proof.”

But if we can persuade our congregations to move from not inviting to becoming invitational One word of an open-handed invitation from a Christian can totally change the course of a person’s life.

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