Life in the Way

The Pageant Innkeeper’s Joy.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7 (NIV)

This morning I met with a remnant of the Congregational Development Team (due to the crazy weather we are having today). Doug Ruffle did a wonderful devotion telling a story about a Sunday School Pageant where the boy who was playing the Innkeeper forgot his line. Someone off stage read him the line, in which he seemed to recover rather well. Then, getting caught up in the story, as Mary and Joseph began to walk away, he welled up with emotion and shouted, “Wait, you can have my room.”

Image from http://doubleestudios.com/christmaspageant/.

It stuck a cord in me because I have been thinking about how one can be more invitational in church (and worship in particular). As we get caught up in the joy of the Christmas story, are we willing to sacrifice our own space (or opinion or pride or comfort or time or etc.) for those are around us who might be ready to give birth to a new person in Christ? Who was the “pageant Innkeeper” in your life that opened the door and let you in? What did they do for you?

Thanks, Doug!

Tags: Advent, Conference, Evangelism, Seasonal, Theology