By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

No Room for Jesus?

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“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” 
Luke 2:7 English Standard Version

Where is Jesus for you this Christmas?

Is Jesus a sort of vague afterthought for you at Christmas time?  A fleeting reference to “peace on earth, good will to men”  in a sidewalk carol?  Someone or something you think about just at the Christmas Eve candlelight service?

Or is Jesus front and center in your life?  Is he the one you speak to first in the morning and last in the evening? Is he the guest every night at your table as you say your prayers?  Is he the one who gives meaning to this time called “Christmas”?

Jesus and Mary and Joseph were forgotten afterthoughts that first Christmas Eve in Bethlehem.  There was no room for them in the inn and they were offered a barn for a birthing room.  No one thought much of this young couple far away from home, a young girl and an ordinary carpenter. No one in the king’s palace was thinking of Jesus.

No one, that is, except a host of angels sent from God and Zechariah and Elizabeth, the miraculous parents of John, and  a crowd of shepherds near Bethlehem and  a group of magi led by a star far in the East.  No one, that is, except God the Father, the Creator of the universe with a plan to save the whole world from their sin.  No one, that is, except God the Holy Spirit, who enabled a virgin to conceive and bear a son who is called Emmanuel, God with us.

You see, this Jesus is the center of all things including Christmas!  And He wants to be the center of your life and your Christmas season.  Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado