Here’s a marvelous quotation from Thomas Merton.

“Into this World, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for Him at all, Christ has come uninvited.  But because He cannot be at home in it, because He is out of place in it, and yet He must be in it, His place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.”*

Do Merton’s words make you uncomfortable? Which part–the idea that the world has no room for Jesus or the idea that Jesus’ place is with those who are rejected, weak, discredited, denied the status of persons, tortured, or exterminated? For goodness sake, it’s almost Christmas. Why do we have to bring up politics? It’s not politics, but the condition of people in society that Merton is talking about. That’s Biblical.  Throughout Scripture people are reminded of their obligations to the poor, widows, orphans, immigrants, the homeless, the persecuted, the imprisoned.

Jesus came for all of those people as well as for us. He came so that everyone would be reconciled with God and with each other. In the time approaching Christmas we should give thought to helping those who the rest of the world has no room for.

May the world see in our actions why Jesus came.

Maranatha!

Read Luke 6:20-21and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

• “The Time of the End is the Time of No Room,” from Selected Essays, pp 281-282