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First Parish
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Do You Have Room for the Child |
Christmas
Eve
Linda B. Hirst
One of my favorite moments of Christmas besides
candlelight services, the Christmas Concert, hearing Wendell or Gina sing O
Holy Night, is the Christmas Pageant - a tradition for churches everywhere -
most people have seen them, many of you have been in them - and if you’ve ever
watch one come together you know there is such a thing as miracles.
This past Sunday while the choir was
rehearsing for their anthem and the congregation was gathering - a picture of
calm and peacefulness - next door angels were running amok - trying to get
their costumes on, their wings just right and fixing their halos - which kept
falling to the side. Shepherds were having their hats - pieces of cloth - fixed
to their heads with ropes - Mary and Joseph were getting outfitted - Nancy Purrinton was looking for the baby Jesus - the Narrators
and soloists were practicing their lines and their songs - it was chaos at it’s
best and in the thick of it all was Gina Branagan -
fielding a million questions from parents and children. Do I look ok, what’s my
line again, do the wings go up or down? Is it almost time?
Where are the doughnuts, someone said there’d be doughnuts....
Directing a Christmas pageant is I’m
convinced one of life’s greatest challenges - anything can go wrong and quite
often it does - I’ve seen cows chase each other around the manger, sheep knock
down microphones and sets come toppling down on top of the three kings. I’ve
seen the baby Jesus howl and try to crawl out of the manger, I’ve seen angels
freeze and forget their lines and shepherds so busy pushing each other in the
back of the narthex they forgot their cue to enter - but when things go right -
it is magical.
Which, ours was this past Sunday. Every bit of it. But one moment in particular stood out for
me and that was the scene with Mary and Joseph and the innkeeper. Luke doesn’t
say much about this - only that when it came time for Mary to deliver her child
she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in a manger, because there
was no place for them in the inn. That’s all we get.
But on Sunday, we got much more. On Sunday we
got three adorable fifth graders standing up here - in front of the entire
congregation - and with great earnestness and innocence they acted out what may
have happened that cold, cold night - Christmas Eve - to that beautiful song,
called Innkeepers, which Todd Richard sung for us earlier tonight.
Innkeeper, innkeeper, do you have room, for
my wife with child, innkeeper, innkeeper can you make room, for the meek and
mild? Todd sang, while Joseph walked over to the innkeeper and pretended to ask
for a place to stay for the night, pointing to his wife Mary, who was with
child.
But the innkeeper shook his head no furiously
and turned away and Joseph returned to stand beside Mary.
Oh Mary, sorry is he; there is no room today.
Oh Mary, I'll try once more.
You wait behind and pray, and Joseph walked
back over to the Innkeeper while Mary stayed behind, her hands folded in
prayer.
Innkeeper, innkeeper, please don't say no,
We've traveled far you see.
Innkeeper, innkeeper, how could you know?
A king he's destined to be.
At this the innkeeper’s heart softened a bit, he stroked his chin thoughtfully and pointed to the
stable...stage left. Joseph looked off to the side and then back to the
innkeeper.
Innkeeper, innkeeper, what's that you say,
"a stable lined
with straw,"
Innkeeper, innkeeper, where
will HE lay?
With friendly beasts in awe!
Then Joseph returned to Mary and they
gathered up the baby Jesus - a child’s doll - from the manger in front of them,
and they began to head down the steps to the stable... but before they left
Joseph stopped and turned toward the congregation and he held out his arms like
this while Todd sang:
Innkeepers, innkeepers,
innkeepers all.
Do you have room for the child?
Innkeepers, innkeepers, won't you make room
for the Holy child?
Innkeepers, innkeepers, innkeepers all!
Do you have room for the child?
And it was magical. And we all got it - we
are now the innkeepers - - will we make room, do we have room for the child
And as we wiped away the tears in our eyes, Mary
and Joseph walked down the stairs together, the baby Jesus tucked safely in
Mary’s arms, Joseph looking back at us over his shoulder as if to say,
"What is wrong with you people? It was just a song".
Of course we all knew it was more than just a
song, it was a question for all of us this Christmas.
Innkeepers, innkeepers, innkeepers all!
Do you have room for the child?
Do you have room for the gifts the child
brings ...gifts of hope and peace and joy and love. Do you have room for
forgiveness and mercy and compassion?
Do you have room for the child?
Do you have room for the things he taught us;
things about God, things about heaven? Do you have room for the stories he
told; stories about forgiveness, stories about acceptance, stories about grace
and hope and new life.
Do you have room for the child?
Do you have room to do the things he did; and
I borrow freely here from a poem Tony Campolo wrote;
Things like listening to old people, playing with children, Sitting
with unwanted women, Eating with isolated
men.
Things like welcoming runaway sons, Healing dying daughters, Partying
with outcasts, Upsetting the insiders.
Things like loving the unlovable, Touching the untouchable, Forgiving
the unforgivable, Taking up what no one
else would carry.
Do you have the time, the desire, the
willingness, the courage to do the things he did? Do you have room for the
child?
Two weeks ago a group of us from church went
caroling at Harbor Home, a nursing home here in
Now, if you’ve ever sung at a nursing home
before, you know it is not always an easy thing to do; some of the residents
are alert but many are not; and quite a few are bedridden, it can be a daunting
experience for all ages.
Well, once we arrived we assembled in the day
room where many of the residents were sitting. And then we began to sing; we
sang some of the old favorites; "Deck the Halls", "Joy to the
world", "O little Town of Bethlehem", then someone in our group
wanted to sing "here we go a wassailing" so we sang that too,- very badly I might add, so after that we went back to the
ones we knew, ones like "Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Holy Night."
After a few more carols it was time to go -
we stood there for a moment trying to figure out how to leave gracefully - it’s
hard to walk away knowing the folks we just sang for... can’t. So I was trying
to come up with an appropriate exit strategy for our group - should we say
thank you and good night and sing on our way out. Do we wish them all a Merry
Christmas" and wave goodbye. What was the appropriate thing to do.
And while I was standing there mulling over
our options... David Cox, one of our carolers, walked over to a gentlemen
sitting in a chair and shook his hand and wished him a Merry Christmas. Then he
came back took the hand of one of the girls and brought her over to greet one
of the residents - gently placing the child’s hands in the hands of a woman -
and encouraging her to say hello and merry Christmas. Which
she did. And the woman beamed,
Then another caroler and her 10 year old
daughter walked over to a lady and handed her a tea towel they had brought to
hand out as gifts. And then our fifth grade girls began to mingle with the
residents and hand out ornaments and Christmas cards they had made in youth
group. You could feel the love of God in the room. And that, apparently, was
our exit strategy.
And this happened over and over again as we
went up and down the halls singing carols, in and out of the rooms of the
people who were bedridden, adults and kids handing out gifts, holding their,
wishing them glad tidings of Christmas.
Finally we came to the last room - it was at
the end of a long and windy hallway, a tiny, tiny room so small only a few of
us could fit inside. I was there alone with the fifth grade girls... we began
to sing for the woman laying there in her bed, unable to move, unable to speak.
We sang Joy to the World and Silent Night, we sang about Jesus and the babe in
the manger and O little town of Bethlehem and when it came time to leave I was
starting to think of an exit strategy again when one of the girls walked past
me, right up to bed where the woman lay, placed her hand in the woman’s hand,
smiled and said Merry Christmas. And the woman smiled back. It was a holy
moment.
All because a bunch of
carolers decided to make room for the child.
And I decided right then that I would never,
ever miss caroling at Harbor Home.
Innkeepers, innkeepers, innkeepers all, the
song goes.
Do you have room for the child?
That is the question for all of us this Christmas.
Christ the Savior is born. Thanks be to God.
It’s time to receive the light of Christ in
our lives - to make room for Christ in our lives. In just a moment the ushers
will come to your pews to spread the light - please tilt your unlit candle to receive
the light. As we light our candles we will sing Silent Night. Receive the light
of Christ.