‘There was no room for them in the inn’! Christmas is the great mystery of God’s love
that comes to dwell with us [Emmanuel], our experience of nearness of God with us,
our remaining in God and letting Christ be our light [star]. Birth of Christ manifests
God’s will to illumine darkness, his patience with chaos/disorder in the world and how
he sustains our hope, so that we may trust that God will remove dark forces. We have
been in the gloom of a pandemic and Christmas reinforces our faith that child Jesus is
God’s promise that he is in the midst of humanities grieving and groaning. Though
there was no room in the inn for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, in the poverty and simplicity
of the manger Mother Mary gives birth to Jesus, which is God’s act of giving, Mary’s
act of giving the Son of God that we may have room for him in our life! Birthing Christ is
our task that he may enlighten the world through us, that our hearts may be a manger
ever fresh to show Christ to others and with that we join all of God’s creation [God sent
his Son to the world and not just to humanity]: trees, animals, fish birds, rivers,
mountains etc. to sing praises to this showing forth of divine love in the manger and we
be love!
If watchful, we can experience how Christ comes to us, speaks to us in the ordinary
events of daily life! Poet Mary Oliver’s poem: ‘Dear Lord, I have swept and I have
washed but still nothing is as shining as it should be for you. Under the sink, for
example, is an uproar of mice–it is the season of their many children! What shall I do?
And under the eaves and through the walls the squirrels have gnawed their ragged
entrances–but it is the season when they need shelter, so what shall I do? And the
raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard while the dog snores, the cat
hugs the pillow; what shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling in the yard and the
fox who is staring boldly up the path, to the door. And I still believe you will come, Lord:
you will, when I speak to the fox, the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose,
know that really I am speaking to you whenever I say, as I do all morning and
afternoon: Come in, Come in’. We sing with the angels and all creation, Jesus is our
salvation, healing and peace! Come Lord Jesus!
We invite Christ to come in to the complexities of our life. The room we create for him
is the possibilities of faith! A room for Christ is our commitment to fairness, readiness
to take up the task of liberation, lifting up the downcast, people who live in toxic
environment, free them, heal them. We pray for a heart of good-will that we may accept
God’s gift of love and forgiveness in Jesus. What are some of the spiritual gifts we are
able to give others for this Christmas, gifts flowing from a heart of good-will: “mend a
quarrel, dismiss suspicion, tell someone I love you, give something away anonymously,
forgive someone who has treated you wrong, turn away wrath with a soft answer, visit
someone in a nursing home, apologize if you were wrong, be especially kind to
someone with whom you work, give as God gave to you in Christ, without obligation or
announcement or reservation or hypocrisy” [Charles Swindoll]. Do not resist the baby
in the manger; he is how to be truly human; he is divine beauty who shares divine love
with us, he is self-giving, healing presence to all who dream redemption!