"I Wonder" [Christmas Meditation]

“There was no room for them in the inn.”

I am haunted this year by these familiar words taken from Luke’s Gospel

because these are not words that only belong to a time past

they echo still across the centuries

down unto our day.

We the housed—the comfortable and the warm—hear them wrapped in the in the golden light of the Christmas story.

And yet so quickly we forget that these are harsh and piercing words of exclusion,

spoken to a vulnerable family in need.

No room in the inn.

Is this not the daily lot of those whose tents and tarps line the streets and fill the empty corners of our cities?

No room in the inn.

I wonder . . . I just wonder . . .

If in this holy season these words could somehow become an invitation

For people of faith and good will to join together,

not waiting for the proposals of politicians or the prodding of pundits,

and simply rise up in compassion to create some room in the inn.

Is this too wild a hope?

Too improbable a dream?

Or could this be the Christmas miracle the world is waiting for?