(by Kim Thoday)

I have a mate called Snapper. His other name is Ronnie. He got nicknamed Snapper because in his younger years he could drink like a fish. Snapper loves Jesus because for him Jesus is his very best mate. Snapper grew up in one of the toughest neighbourhoods of Melbourne. Physically, he is one of the toughest characters I know. Yet spiritually one of the gentlest and generous people I’ve met. He has deliberately spent much of his life encouraging and helping the neediest people around him.

I remember a few Christmas mornings when with the help of a few others, he’d grab some wheelbarrows and fill them with ice, beer and chickens (dead ones). Then off they’d go all around the neighbourhood delivering them to the ‘mates’ on the park benches, who had nowhere much to lay their heads. Snapper is one of the best storytellers. And he would often use that natural gift. So as well as a beer and a chicken his mates would get a story about Christmas.

They especially liked hearing the story about the bloke who had won tattslotto and decided to throw a party. So he hired the biggest keg and got the finest spit roast fired up you ever did see. He brought in a top local cover band that could play everything from Buddy Holly to Tina Turner and he had a party hire place come and pitch a marque. He spared no expense. He owed a few favours to some of his closest mates, so he went out of his way to invite them. But they all had excuses. One had come into money and had bought a big house. Another was too busy with his business. His best mate had made some influential friends and had been avoiding him for a while. Others gave lame excuses and some were just too bloody lazy or who knows? So he became a bit pissed off if truth be told, but not being one to give up on a party, he went out into the streets and lanes of the town and brought in people down on their luck. He found heaps of willing punters for a party like this – a total freebie, no strings attached, accepted just as they were and given the treatment of their lives. Mate, there were some that came who hadn’t had a feed like this since they’d knocked off that rich landlord down by the sale yards. They had the best time. Their host remembered all their names and all were treated as honoured guests, as if they were family members. It felt just so good to all belong together like this. After the party their host made sure everyone got safely home. For some he paid their taxi fare and for others who had no home he organised some accommodation.

Then Snapper would tell them that this is what Christmas is all about. That God sent Jesus into the world to invite everyone to the best party of all time, a party with a difference, a party that will last forever. But some are going to chose not to come and they will never know what they’ve missed. And we all have to make the decision whether we will accept the invitation or not. Thing is, our life depends upon what decision we make. Life without this kind of party really is hell. And so the mates got stuck into the party and chicken never tasted so good and the beer was cold.

Blessings in Jesus’ name,

Kim Thoday, Hewett Community Church of Christ, South Australia http://www.hewett.org.au