Suckers For Jesus

Tonight was my "Christmas Enchiladas and Sangria" party. I invited 15 of my family-less friends for a Mexican-themed (well, in terms of the food anyways) Chirstmas dinner. Eleven people came, which in my mind is a good turnout.

Early afternoon I met with my friends RC and CM, and went to Commercial Street to do some last-minute shopping for the party. We went to the $1 store to pick up decorations, and afterwards we dropped in at a few grocery stores to pick up food.

By mid-afternoon we were back at my place, cooking up a storm. On the menu was the following: enchiladas, rice, refried beans, and sangria. For dessert we had several yummy apple-crisps. RC and CM prepared the meal, CM did the decorations, and I made the sangria and did the general clean-up before the party.

CM and RC .. the party-prep team:

The table is set:

Guests arrived around 6:30, and mingled for awhile until dinner time. The food was simply awesome....my gosh, I was so astonished. We had a great time eating and conversing. After the meal we played a gift-exchange game that in my experience has always led to extreme displays of humanity's true colours: pride, selfishness, and arrogance; but in our group it seemed like we were all pacifists, and the game was (dare I say) almost boring! No one wanted to take the other person's present. Everyone was just way too gracious. Then again, it was probably just false piety: deep within we were burning with envy and jealousy.

There's a thief among us:

Finally TS wins the battle:

After the game we brought out the dessert, and had a "toast to Jesus" with sangria, where each of us shared a characteristic of Jesus we admire and seek to imitate : suffering, identifying with the "have-nots", humility, and the incarnation, were some of the traits mentioned that inspired us to following Christ faithfully. It felt strangely foreign to give a "prost", "salud", "cheers" to Jesus.

Then came the funniest part of the evening. CM brought out a bunch of candy-suckers, handed them out to us, and suggested that these suckers remind us that Christmas is about the celebration of God's entry into the world in a tiny little baby Jesus. As His followers, we too must become like little children. Someone else rightly suggested that we become suckers for Jesus. Hahaha, I thought that was rather funny, and well, true. Essentially, we are suckers for Jesus. What I found funny about the whole "sucker" thing was that it's something I would never have come up with. CM has a knack for taking simple (childish?) things and making super profound illustrations with them, all with a great sense of humour. It's a great blend of humour and theology which is something I have much to learn from.

Suckers for Jesus:

Suckers for Jesus (this time without suckers):

Afterwards, in typical Vancouver fashion, the party wound down quickly. It was like everyone had a revelation at the same time: "It's 11 o'clock, better get going home now." I don't get it. Whatever happened to "partying into the wee hours of the night!" If we can't party at Christmas, when can we party?

I was really blessed though, that everyone pitched in to help clean up my place. Wow! By the time everyone went home, my place was completely clean. That was a real blessing.

Thank you Lord, for special friends to spend special times with!

Bless each of them, according to your good and perfect will,

through Christ Our Lord.