Loading...It was the Christmas Eve at Riverside Church in New York City and the pews were packed.
The Christmas pageant was underway and had come to the point at which the innkeeper, played by sweet little boy named Tim, was to turn away Mary and Joseph with the resounding line, “There’s no room at the inn!”
Tim had Down Syndrome and there had been some question if should have a speaking part. But there he stood at the altar, bathrobe costume firmly belted over his broad stomach, as Mary and Joseph made their way down the center aisle. They approached him, said their lines as rehearsed, and waited for his reply. There was silence. Tim’s parents, the pageant director, and the whole congregation held their breath, as if praying he would remember his one line.
“There’s no room at the inn!” Tim boomed out, just as rehearsed. You could feel the sighs of relief and joy all around the congregation. But then, as Mary and Joseph slowly turned to continue their search, Tim yelled, “Wait!” They turned back, startled, and looked at him in surprise. “You can stay at my house!” he said, with a big smile.
The pageant over, the renowned preacher and pastor, Dr. William Sloane Coffin strode to the pulpit, looked out at his congregation and said in his booming voice, “Amen”. And then turned from the great pulpit and sat down. The sermon had already been preached by Tim.
Does Tim’s message speak to us tonight? Can the incarnate love of God we celebrate tonight find a home in your home? Or will it stay here in the pageantry, the narrative and the music as simply sacred sentiment?
The love of God was in Tim. Clearly the love of God lived in his home---experienced in human manifestations. Clearly he had been nurtured to empathy, compassion and caring. And it showed even when under the pressure of a festive crowd and the demanding expectations that he follow the script. But when the love of God is truly incarnated and nurtured in our hearts empathy, caring, and compassion cannot be contained, even by the artificial social scripts of life.
If you were to invite God’s love to “stay at your home” where would that be? What would it look like? How would you be intentional in manifesting and nurturing the fragile nascent spiritual gift of God’s presence in the places you live, move and have being? Like the infant in the womb of Mary the love of God is nascent and fragile. The Christian understanding of God Almighty’s love is this: ‘Divine love is fragile, it is vulnerable, and it needs human intentionality for it to be born into human existence.
Are our household places simply scripted to breed success, independence, self-confidence? Is the sub-text in our marriages, family and professional circles essentially about getting life socially, politically and professionally correct? Or is it a place where compassion is nurtured; where love and forgiveness are valued; where there is not just conversation about God, but conversation with God?
Most of us are good people. We want our children to be nice but we know the world is often not a nice place. We know our world honors power and success. We see what life can do to the dreams and careers of those who don’t follow the often ruthless script in their professional and social roles. We know the drama; we’ve seen life’s pageant. So, we fill our lives, and those we love, with the things---tough ideas and the practical values which make for a successful playing of the assigned roles.
But as Christians we must ask, “Does the life of God live in your home, in your marriage, in your family; is it incarnate in your life?” When the scripts of life are in conflict with our spiritual values are we able to go beyond the rehearsed lines---speak our hearts, our faith, and our spiritual values?
I have been married for over 42 years; we have been blessed to have 4 children, including 2 foster and 9 grandchildren. I can look back over my life and see where I held to the script of social acceptance, of political correctness, of career and ambition. I can see how I often idealized scripted roles of father, husband, even priest. In such times I was often concerned with what the “audience” expected---being good at my role, having people like me or esteem me. In such times my life was simply crowded with all the stuff of correctness.
How often when love knocked at the door of my life I said the words of the Innkeeper, “There is no room”. There is no room for the love of God to change things, re-order my life, and push out other things in the script so that I would have to improvise---to go off script, risk to disappoint the audience but satisfy knock of God in my heart.
Can you remember times, even seasons when this has been true in your life, in your home, professional and social experience? In retrospect these may not be the experiences of which you and I are most proud.
Yet, Christ often came to me through others in my life who refused to be limited by the script. These have been moments when my reasoned practicality has been challenged by my children---“But Daddy, aren’t they people just like us?” Or, “Dad, maybe it’s the best thing but is it the right thing?” I can remember a determined and frustrated husband, who was desperately tied to a script, but not in touch with the reality around him. I remember hearing a knock at the door of my life, and my wife saying, “Honey, I know we have more than we feel we can handle, but maybe we should pray about it?” She knew the stuff of life had left no room for God. You see, as a couple, a family, as a faith community, praying is a way of inviting God into our congestion.
When Christ lives in our home---that is to say, in the intimate and important places of our lives--- it sometimes creates tension with the script we have adopted. This includes our social values, our political ideals and our sense of security. I think of our political polarizations today---the ideologies and agendas which consume us on the right and the left.
Christians are liberals, conservatives, moderates or independents. But we must be more. As Christians we must allow the social and political scripts of which we are convicted to live in tension with our faith. Whether we are left or right, blue or red, elephant or donkey when God knocks seeking a place to be born the Christian must go off script. We must ask:
- “Am I, by my word and example proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ?”
- “Am I seeking and serving Christ in others?”
- “Do I love my neighbor as myself?”
- “Am I striving for peace and justice…?”
- “Am I respecting the dignity of others, even those with whom I disagree?”
These are the words of our Baptismal Covenant. But how they will be lived is unscripted. In every case we must be guided by the love of God we allow to be born in us. These responses must be ad-libbed beyond the script, as we think and feel our way through life’s experiences. And we won’t always get it right. As Christians there will be regrets and frustrations, failures and hurts. There will even be times when our lives are so cluttered with the “stuff” of life that we feel there is no room for the “stuff of God”. But if we listen we can hear the knocking of God’s love; Love which is full of strength and grace which makes life new.
As Christians we must recognize the “scripts of life” the world gives us do not define our real home. We are Christians and our true home is spiritual and found in God—God’s love, God’s peace, God’s strength, God’s grace, God’s forgiveness.
Is your life cluttered tonight? Is it filled with stuff; with expectations which please the crowd but leave you feeling “not right”? Maybe you have it all---you are full but not satisfied. Then I invite you to open your heart tonight for Christ is knocking. Let’s answer tonight. Please pray with me:
Lord Jesus, let your love be incarnate in me tonight. Come live in me: for the sake of my family, for the sake of my marriage, for the sake of those I love, even for the sake of the stranger you bring into my life. I invite you in tonight, Lord Jesus. Come, stay in my home; be born in my heart; and live in my life. Amen.
