Praise
the Lord for this glorious season of peace, hope, joy, and love. This is the
season of anticipating the best. We have had one of the snowiest December
Sundays in many years. We had ample snow blanketing the fields and the hills,
the highways and the byways. It was great day to be in the house of the Lord
yesterday singing Christmas carols and reading the Christmas
prophecies.
Laureen
spent the weekend in Washington visiting Sunita and her family after spending an
afternoon and evening with Jess and Tom in Philly. Laureen will be driving back
to Binghamton today. Sunita flew to London last evening on her work. She shared
with me that for the first time on her International flight she traveled with
only carry on luggage. Our grandchildren called this weekend. They picked
out their Christmas tree at a stand nearby, and then the children brought it
back to their place. Alice and I picked out our 9 feet tree. We will bring it
in today. Alice and I attended the play, "A Christmas Carol" at our local
theater, the Cider Mill Play House. It is all good. It is all about
celebration. It is my prayer and desire that we make room for celebration, for
worship, for witness and for sharing and rejoicing.
I heard
about a Jewish lady named Mrs. Rosenberg who, some years ago, tried to get a
room at a very exclusive hotel on Cape Cod. This particular hotel was run by
some haughty Protestants from Boston, and it excluded Jews. So, when Mrs.
Rosenberg gave her name to the desk clerk, he said, "Sorry, we're all booked
up." "But," she said, "You have a vacancy sign out front." The clerk stammered
a bit and finally confessed, "Sorry, but we don't cater to Jewish persons."
Mrs. Rosenberg stiffened noticeably and then said, "It may surprise you to know
that I have converted to Christianity." "Is that so?" responded the clerk.
"Let me give you a bit of a test. Where was Jesus born?" "In a stable in
Bethlehem," she replied. "Who were his parents?" "Mary and Joseph," she
answered. "Why was he born in a stable?" he asked. Rather loudly Mrs.
Rosenberg replied, "Because a jerk like you wouldn't give a Jewish lady a room
for the night."
May the
Lord of Christmas bless us with a deeply meaningful, peaceful, joyful
celebration of Jesus' birth.
There
is a story about a boy who really understood what Christmas is all about. Jimmy
was in the 8th grade, but because of his mental limitations, he couldn't really
do all of the 8th grade work. The teacher in that class planned a Christmas
play. Jimmy wanted very much to be in it. The teacher doubted that he would be
able to memorize his lines, but all the students wanted to include Jimmy. Thus,
he was assigned the role of the Bethlehem innkeeper, primarily because that
character had only two words to say: "No room." Then after Mary begged for
special consideration, he was supposed to say those same words again, "No
room."
Eventually the day of the performance came. Lots
of family and friends were in the audience. Mary and Joseph approached the inn
and knocked on the door. Jimmy opened the door and said flawlessly, "No room."
Then Mary said, "But I'm very tired and I'm going to have a baby real soon. If
I don't find a safe place for my baby to be born, I'm going to
cry."
Jimmy
paused for a moment, and then said, "I know what I'm supposed to say . . . but
you can have my room." Jimmy was willing to violate a script in order to
follow the higher impulse of love. We are called to violate the cultural
script about Christmas if we want to truly glorify the
Savior.
In
Christ,
Brown
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