Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Peter Ives, Haydenville Congregational Chuch,  Christmas Eve, 2018. Based on Luke 2: 1- 20

 

     These were dark and difficult days when a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all should be taxed.  Caesar was trying to raise money for more soldiers, in places like Nazareth, to crush the rebellion against harsh Roman rule. That is why Joseph and Mary had to make the long journey to Bethlehem, even though she was pregnant with child.  Joseph came from the household of David in Bethlehem.  He was being summoned to go back home to Bethlehem to pay his taxes.

And when they arrived in Bethlehem, they knocked on the door of the village Inn.  But when the Inn Keeper opened the door he said to them, “I have no room” and shut the door as quickly as possible.  According to Langston Hughes, in the musical Black Nativity, Mary and Joseph knocked on the door again, and again the Inn Keeper said, “I have no room.  Didn’t I tell you no before!  I’ve got no room for you and that woman there.  This is no hospital.  I keep no midwives here. And at that moment Mary says to Joseph in Black Nativity: “I can’t go on, Joseph.  I can go no farther!”

      As a result, this child who was to become the Messiah, this child of Mary named Jesus, was born not inside the Inn where it was warm and secure, but outside in a manger where it was cold and vulnerable.  That fateful decision of the Innkeeper meant that when God came to us and dwelt with us in the life of this child, God was outside in a stable, outside in the cold, outside in a manger because there was no room in the Inn.

     And let’s face it, where there is no room in the Inn, there is no room in our hearts. Where there is no room in the Inn there is no room for the poor and the homeless.  Where there is no room in the Inn, there is no room for the sick, or the elderly.  Where there is no room in the Inn there is no room for undocumented immigrants or people of different skin color.

     You see, we are all Innkeepers.  We all have control over our own doorways.  We control the doorway to our home, the doorway to our pocketbooks, the doorways to our villages and the doorways to our Churches.  We control the doorways to City Hall, and our Statehouse and the White House through our votes and influence upon public policy.  And most of all we control the doorway to our hearts.  We can open the door or slam it shut as the Innkeeper did when Mary and Joseph knocked on the door.

     The Innkeeper in the Bible has no name, but I think that was intentional because we are all Innkeepers!  President Trump is an Innkeeper.  Every member of the United States Congress and State Legislatures are Innkeeper.   Voters in national elections are Inn Keepers.  We control the doorway that shapes public policy. We control whether people have adequate health care, public education, social security, Medicare, day care, healthy food, and air, water and a climate that will save our earth and not destroy it.   

     How can anyone in America today call themselves Christian and not see that a Jesus who was born outside in an Inn would now also be deeply concerned for those who were homeless in our country tonight.  How can anyone in America today call themselves Christians and not see that Mary and Joseph were themselves undocumented immigrants in Egypt fleeing to escape King Herod, and would have despaired if their 2 year old baby Jesus had been taken away from them at the border of Egypt, the way 15, 000 immigrant have been taken away from their parents at our borders today.

.        There days you can hear on your car radios a song by Johnny Cash about a shoe maker named Conrad.  It’s Christmas Eve and Conrad has a dream that Jesus will come to his shop this evening and be present in his midst.  There’s a knock on his door and it is an old man who needs Conrad to fix his shoes.  He fixes them but when he leaves, Conrad is still alone.  Then an older woman knocks on the door and asks Conrad for a bowl of soup.  He gives her soup to warm her stomach but when she leaves, Conrad is still alone.  Finally a little lost girl knocks on his door lost and separated from her parents, and Conrad takes pity upon her and her family and walks her home.  We he returns to his shoe shop he is still disappointed until suddenly, he feels the living presence of Jesus his Lord right there in his midst.  “Where were you?” he says to Jesus?  And Jesus responds: “Conrad: Three times I came to you shop today.  I was the old man whose shoes you repaired.  I was the old woman gave soup, I was the lost little girl you walked back home.  Three times I came to your shop today to be present in your midst and to give you all the strength and courage you needed.”

     I began by saying that these were dark and difficult days when a decree went out form Caesar Augustus, and I want to conclude by saying these have been difficult days for us also for us here at the Haydenville Church. But I am here to tell you tonight that, like Conrad, we have also felt the living presence of our Lord Jesus right here, giving us all the strength and courage we needed to go forward this year.

      We lost our Pastor a year ago but with the help of our Deacons and our Worship Committee we have be preparing worship services, like tonight’s service, every Sunday and have felt the living presence of Jesus in our midst.  We’ve just had a Stewardship Campaign with a goal that seemed impossible to reach, but with the help of our Stewardship Committee and wonderful volunteers making and selling tons of soup, even on the streets of downtown Northampton, we made our goal and exceeded it, and felt the presence of our Lord Jesus in our midst. Our Massachusetts election last November offered a “no” vote that would have violated the dignity and rights of those who are “trans” in our congregation and we organized to turn out a Yes vote to supported them. Our country has faced the horror of domestic violence and the abuse of women,  but members of our congregation drove down to Washington D.C. to protest the Supreme Court Decision there, and marched together two weeks ago in Hot Chocolate Run. Our furnaces broken down a month ago but we held worship services in the Town Hall next door and our recent Children’s Pageant there that was the “Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”  And our Trustees have purchased three furnaces and here we are now holding our Christmas Eve service in warm and heated sanctuary tonight.  And our Choir has been squeezing into the living room of Jeff Olmsted’s house to rehearse these last 3 weeks, and here we are singing for you in the Choir Loft tonight.

     So make room tonight.  Make room in your heart.  Make room in your lives, Make room in our community. Make room in our country, Make Room in the United States of America.  Make room in the world.  Make room in your heart for God to write this incredible story of all that has happened to us this year.