by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

Every year, our church has had the opportunity of throwing a Christmas party for the Singles Group, and every year has been a great chance of fellowshipping with brothers and sisters before some head out of town to spend time with their families. This is never done for the sake of tradition, but to provide a night of encouragement, as well as good food, good times, and hilarious gift exchange.

This last Christmas party included a time from the Word by Pastor Patrick, where we could always remember why we celebrate together: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on this earth. The reason we can celebrate anything, especially Christmas, is because the God of the universe acted in real time and real history to provide a way of salvation from sin by sending His eternal Son to take on flesh and dwell among His own creation. God initiated His own plan of saving sinners from being judged by His own holiness in judging His Son for our sins placed on Him.

Being reminded of this truth always helps set the stage for enjoying a night together with brothers and sisters of our church. We started off with food and a time hanging out together. We were asked to come wearing an ugly sweater, and the creativity of some obviously came out that night. There was a prize for the one with the ugliest sweater for both genders. There was also the usual gift exchange with a food theme. Gifts ranged from special teas and snacks to a pizookie-maker to an Italian cookbook (at least, I thought that was a creative gift). The rule was whatever gift you chose (or accidentally touched first), you could have. Whoever follows can either pick another gift from the pile of gifts in the middle of our seating circle or ‘steal’ another person’s gift. The one who would lose that gift has the same option, but during that round, a gift can be stolen one time, and never by another, until finally all the gifts are taken. Of course, hilarious moments come from this great game. My favorite gift happened to be things I would typically be found eating (of course, I will not repeat what they were, and that was the intention of the gift).

This night will always be a time where our church family can get together and be reminded that our union is in Christ and there is always a reason to celebrate in this side of heaven, because our greatest gift came wrapped in a Person, and He can never be stolen by anyone, but is always offered to anyone who will turn from their sins and follow the One who can save them from all their sins. Thank God we can always come with our ugliest sweaters, or our filthy rags, and be clothed in His righteousness alone when we come to Him trusting in His perfect life and work. May our thoughts never strive to give thanks that Jesus Christ is the greatest gift that anyone could ever possibly give to anyone else.