No pictures today. Instead, I share a story that a friend sent in an email.
This story shared by Marian Wright Edelman, founder of Children’s Defense Fund is priceless. I Hope it blesses you all as much as it did me!
It was Christmas Eve and the pews at New York City’s Riverside Church were packed. 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. Everyone let out a collective sigh. But then, as Mary and Joseph turned on cue to travel further, Tim suddenly yelled, “But 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 ever preached.
I pray that we all make room at our house for the birth of Jesus—the Messiah, this Christmas. Merry Christmas and God’s richest blessings for the New Year.
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