...and there's no room in the inn.

Only at Easter could the sense of alienation be more pronounced – without a church home and wandering about in the milieu of welcoming but unfamiliar churches. Christmas time, the time when we celebrate the coming of God into our world as an infant, as the great peacemaker and reconciler of all things Incarnate, is a poignant time to be separated from the church family you’ve known for many years.

And yet, here we are. I resolved, years ago, that to know Christ was a journey worthy of a lifetime of pursuit. It didn’t take a scholarly read of scripture to know that could (likely would?) entail a pathway of struggle, inquiry, suffering and even alienation from what is comfortable and familiar. Some of this difficulty is the agonizing reality of seeing through a clouded veil. Some is a result of residual aspects of the unsanctified self that needs the continued transformation of the gospel of Jesus.

Some is the ongoing and at times misguided attempt of the church to be a “holy, set-apart body.” As a result, some communities draw lines of inclusion and exclusion that are perplexing at times and vexing at others. When the clear boundaries of a community are defined not merely in terms of Mere Christianity but also in a particularly sectarian way; when belonging requires not only a willingness to comply but the need to “affirm and teach” these particular ideas and practices - one must honestly ask whether continued inquiry into the Christian faith and critique of its current forms can even occur inside the community.

When one’s sincerely held questions about the norm “clearly lead away from ‘our positions’” and to resign from the community is welcomed by leadership as a noble way to resolving conflict, I, for one, begin to ask further questions about why and for whom exactly does this type of community exist. For Jesus? For stranger, foreigner, and repenting sinner? For a disciple of Jesus who is in faith and seeking understanding? Or does it merely exist for our own cultural and theological comfort - as an intended “haven” from anything that might defile? Evidence, not to mention Scripture, clearly demonstrate that defilement is resident inside any community, nestled firmly in the hearts of many well-meaning disciples of Jesus.

Thank God for the broader body of Christ, where pastors welcome wandering sheep. They are welcomed not only if they commit to membership, but welcomed to come, rest and meet Jesus together with other of his disciples. Welcomed to hear from Jesus through the preaching of the Word. Welcomed to participate in the nourishing, restoring bread and wine of the Lord’s table. Welcomed to gather and wait while discerning what God may be doing and how to follow that pathway into the future. Welcomed into a community where pastors care and believers fellowship and encourage even across some theological and practical divides.

If the good news of Christmas has any particularly poignant message in this season of life, I believe it is this: God has come to redeem the fragmentation that is endemic to human society. Through the cradle, cross and crown of Jesus, God is making of many, one new society. And to share this season with people who belong to Jesus, though in diverse segments of the body of Christ, reminds us that this great work has already begun. The unity is greater than the division. The centrality of Jesus to “mere Christians” remains the hope of not only a fragmented world, but also the message to the fragmented, polarized, politicized church. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given. The Desire of Nations has come. The Hope of the human heart is here. The promised reconciling of all things will happen because it has already begun. And what the King of Kings begins, He completes. There may not be room in the inn, but He rules the world with truth and grace, and there he has room. Room for you, too!