It was Christmas Eve and the pews at New York City’s Riverside Church were packed (this is the story as told by Pastor William Sloane Coffin). The Christmas pageant was underway and had come to the point at which the innkeeper was to turn away Mary and Joseph with the resounding line, “There’s no room at the inn!”
The innkeeper was played by Tim, an earnest youth of the congregation who had Down Syndrome. Only one line to remember: “There’s no room at the inn!” He had practiced it again and again with his parents and the pageant director and seemed to have mastered it.
So Tim 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. Tim’s parents, the pageant director, and the whole congregation almost leaned forward as if willing him to remember his line.
“There’s no room at the inn!” Tim boomed out, just as rehearsed. But then, as Mary and Joseph turned on cue to travel further, Tim suddenly yelled “Wait!” They turned back, startled, and looked at him in surprise.
“You can stay at my house!” he called.
Well, Tim had so effectively preached the Christmas Eve message at Riverside Church that [Pastor] Bill Coffin strode to the pulpit, said “Amen,” and sat down. It was the best sermon he never preached.
“You can stay at my house!” This is the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. On my worst days, on the days when I crumple to the ground in grief, looking at my hands in an utter feeling of abandonment, Jesus is able to penetrate my soul with this promise from John 14:2-3, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” In other words, “You can stay at my house.”
It is the good news of our Lord in which some shepherds, “living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night” received a heavenly invitation from an angel of the Lord (Luke 2:8). These shepherds, whose professional reputation as homeless thieves (Have you ever noticed that the Bible says they were “living” in the fields?) … these dirty men who would not be welcome in anyone’s home are invited into God’s kingdom by a heavenly host of angels who say, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” The shepherds go to see. They were given the gift of the good news of Jesus Christ, “You can stay at my house.”
It is the good news that we hear when, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is at home with a room utterly packed with people. As he teaches, he looks at those sitting around him, and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” In other words, “You can stay at my house.”
It is the good news of God booming from the throne in Revelation 21:3 intended to penetrate the thirsting hearts of all of us in the world who seek something more eternal in our lives, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.”
God, coming to live with us, in the form of the Christ child, who was born in a manger…not an impenetrable palace, but a feeding trough for animals…declares to you tonight, “You can stay at my house. You are mine. You are home.”
Home. It is where so many of us long to be. Home. It is where most of us were loved unconditionally. Home. It is where most of us were accepted and forgiven, again and again. Home. It is where you go when the rest of the world has decided to live in the darkness. Home. It is the destination that those who have never had a safe place to be raised yearn for to the depths of their core. It is simply life saving to hear the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to us, who forgives us, and who loves us to the end, and who says, “You can stay at my house.”
We are a Christmas people who have an eternal home. We are a Christmas people who get to stay at the Lord’s house and behold the gift that is Christ. And, we are a Christmas people who have a home to share. We are a Christmas people who say, “You can stay at my house.”
It makes me think of that grandmother, Wanda Dench who accidentally sent to a complete stranger a text inviting her grandson to her Thanksgiving meal. Jamal Hinton, a teen at the time, was the complete stranger. After realizing her mistake, she told the teen that he could come anyway. This year was the sixth year in a row in which Wanda has said to Jamal, “You can stay at my house.” And, this is the sixth year in a row that Jamal has looked up “Grandma Wanda” in his contacts in order to accept her invitation.
“You can stay at my house.” It is the good news of this night, O people of God.
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