Mark 13:32 : “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of a come as you are party or, what’s worse, been invited to one. I have gone to exactly one in my lifetime, and that was one too many. In case you don’t know what a “come as you are” party is, it’s an alleged party where the person hosting the event calls several friends and says, “I’m having a party! Come on over!”

At least one of the friends might say, “I can’t come looking like I do. I just finished cleaning out the refrigerator!”

“That’s just fine! It’s a ‘come as you are’ party. Whatever you’re wearing will be great!”

These social events had their origins in this country as ‘come as you were’ parties. I don’t know why they called them that, but the idea was still to drop everything and come to the party no matter what you were wearing.

As I said earlier, I went to one such party in eighth grade. I couldn’t drive, so I should have been suspicious when my friend Laura called and said, “Come on over! I’m having a party!” How was I to get there?

“But Laura,” I answered. “I’m doing some painting for my parents and have paint all over my clothes.”

“You’ll be very colorful,” she answered, and put the receiver down. My mother heard the conversation and said, “I’ll drive you.” Her ready assent meant that she was in on the conspiracy. She generally resisted driving me anywhere since it generally meant I would spend money once I got there.

So, I showed up at Laura’s house with five or six other victims. We sat in a circle in her family’s rec room, stared at each other and didn’t say anything. Obviously, we had few social graces, but strangely enough, but we felt awkward not wearing party clothes on. The situation didn’t improve when Laura’s mom served flat no-name cola and invited us to dance to the Guy Lombardo record she put on. We just sat there.

Our parents were supposed to be back to pick us up in an hour, and, for once, we sat there and prayed they would be early. They weren’t, so we said our polite good-byes and went home where there was fresh Coke to drink and rock and roll on the radio.

Laura went on to become a successful, competent adult. I think I was permanently scarred by the experience.

It occurred to me that, throughout the Bible, God shows up unexpectedly time after time, and those were the best kind of come as you are parties. Jesus came to a family no one would have expected, and he did all kinds of unexpected things with the least likely people. You know the story. And one day, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins, we will be called to the biggest and best and eternal party beyond what anyone could think of. And at that unexpected feast, we won’t be drinking no-name cola or listening to Guy Lombardo. Praise God for continuing to come to us unexpectedly and for the unexpected gift of his son, our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.