Stats say that the King’s Cross/St Pancras Tube Station is London’s busiest place, making it one of the busiest in the world. It’s also the location of Potter-world’s Platform 9 3/4 (King’s Cross and the point to travel by train to continental Europe (St. Pancras.)

It was also the location of the largest gathering of Santa Clauses I’ve ever seen. Thousands of them. All sizes, shapes, ages, gender, and quality-of-gear. They were easy to identify. We were the odd-people-out.

Think: red-and-white, jingle-bell rave.

While serving in missions in Europe, I invited my daughter Rachael to spend a week in London with her dad. She’s an art-nut and museums were the order of the week (along with two-a-day fish and chips.) As we walked out of the station, we landed in the middle of brussel-sprout-eating, beer drinking Santa Clauses. They were there on purpose, with a mission, and in it together.

As Christ-followers, we certainly don’t dress alike or eat the same food. But this visual reminds me that we identify together with other Jesus-lovers. When you or I meet a Christian, no matter the language, nationality, race, gender, etc., we are in it together. There is community.

We are on a mission to represent King Jesus – the only one who restores us to a full understanding of what it means humanly to be His creation, the only one who has accomplished what we need to be redeemed.

And our purpose is to invite the values of the Kingdom into our lives and into the lives of the people and the circumstances we connect with today. We long together to see people genuinely loved (not based on a good or bad dichotomy; but because people are worthy of our love and respect.) And we have hope to give through our words, actions, and prayer.

That ever-growing crowd of Santas who were on mission, with a purpose, and with an identity, showed up for a raved at King’s Cross Station. They threw a party.

Renovation Vineyard has our next rave planned. We are baptizing in the ocean on Sunday evening, June 27th. Cake and ice cream at Andy and Cindy Grigg’s place in Cherry Grove at 5pm; then a two-block walk or drive to the 55th Ave. Beach Access for baptisms. If you want to join the party, let me know!

And we already have our next party planned – it’s a worship-rave. It’s Sunday morning at 9:45.