Dewch i mewn!
For some, that will look like a sentence without enough vowels in it.
For others, it will be a warm, welcoming, uplifting invitation with many happy memories and associations.
It's Welsh, of course, and it means 'come in' but is an invitation to come from what can be harsh weather outside to the shelter, warmth and protection of what is inside ... an inclusive, including invitation to share hearth and home.
Come in and join the family!
That's not generally seen as the sort of invitation the Church offers of course, which is odd when you look at the invitation offered to the New Heaven God has created in Revelation 22, in our Thought for the Day:
Come, come, come ...
The Holy Spirit, speaking for God, says 'Dewch i mewn!'
The bride (picture language in this very symbolic book) for the Church echoes the invitation.
And then John bids the reader of this book join in with that same invitation to the watching and listening world: 'come on in!'
One of the tougher things to get used to with this latest set of pandemic lock-down restrictions has been not being able to welcome people into our homes. It was tough at the start, but many of us find we've got used to the situation, and the thought of people coming around again to sit INSIDE our homes, drink coffee and chat may take some getting used to again ... we've grown used to having the place our way, 'safe' to ourselves and just for ourselves, and frankly, it has been a while now!
But God's invitation to His Heaven comes to those who aren't naturally at home there and says warmly:
"Come ... let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."
The Point
The preceding verses refer back to the Garden of Eden where there was a stream flowing with the water of life and a Tree of Life, which bore leaves that were for the healing of the Nations - who were by definition the outsiders.
People made their own choices back in that Garden of Eden which didn't match up with God's and the results of that were really not good.
But now the wreckers are invited back to the party, to re-enter the experience and enjoyment of living in the Paradise of God.
And the invitation to come is general and comprehensive because Christ's death on the Cross both undoes the Fall and restores 'Eden', for those who turn from this past sin and who wish to come to Him to drink from the waters of life.
The Takeaway
The extension of that invitation comes to us all, and the resulting obligation on those who accept the invitation ... is to extend it also: 'let the one who HEARS say, come!'
Dewch i mewn to the party of God!
As a farmer / worker within the prison service and probation service. I have been alongside young stock and people venturing out of safe keeping winter housing or first steps ever to the outside. Some took steps at a run others slowly. some very in great fear, People at the ease of lockdown are similarly taking steps. Give each other time to ajust to the new normal, Like the three on the cross there was no escape from the situation, very good ,Step forward with Him, in Trust assurance.
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