Finding room at the inn

The Rev. George Back and his book “Christmas Joy: Let Heaven and Nature Sing” came into my life at just the right time.

If you’ve ever had something happen that you can’t quite define as coincidence, you will understand what I am saying.

Due to an upcoming assignment and the very premise of Christmas, I had been thinking of Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary and their search for shelter thousands of years ago.

The phrase that kept ringing in my mind as I have heard the story told through songs and oration, “Is there room in the inn?”

One particular day, it struck me personally, that Christ asks on a daily basis “is there room” in one’s heart for Him?

Then I picked up Dean Back’s book and it opened to the page that included the following essay:

“Baby Jesus as Spiritual Guide”

The Gospel of Luke tells the story about how Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus into the temple when he was eight days old. Many old people like Simeon and Anna came to the temple in order to spend their final days in the presence of God, then to die and be buried in that holy place.

When Jesus was brought as a baby into the temple, old Simeon and old Anna immediately saw what their souls yearned for. They had come to the holy polace to complete their lives, and in looking at this newborn, they saw fulfillment of life.

“Now let your servant depart in peace,” proclaimed Simeon.

What he meant was, “I have seen God’s presence in this baby and now I am ready to be born from above.”

Birth and death, breathing in and breathing out, beginning and end, new and old — all these counterparts belong to one spiritual stream of divine grace.

The treasure of a pilgrim’s soul lies in the immensity of its immaturity. Within this immaturity lies the possibility for freedom, growth and development.