Do you ever watch HG/TV? House hunters often look for a house with a guest room. Here they can welcome out-of-town family members or friends for holiday, vacation, or emergency visits. While most of us cannot afford an actual extra room for guests, we share this desire to make room for each other, to make space for shared meals, holiday rituals, and conversations.
Each December, we Christians retell a story about making room for special guests. Like children in a Christmas pageant, we survey the characters and, perhaps, have a first choice for our own dramatic role. Excited shepherd? Loving father? Brave mother? Generous and wise magi? Angel heard on high?
This year of attacks on immigrants, I choose the role of the inn keeper. Like the inn keeper, I publicly profess to be hospitable and welcoming. Like the inn keeper, I am not always gracious to those who approach me. Like the inn keeper, I have a door that opens and shuts. I am influenced by class, racial, and religious biases. I live in a time of political division and violence. I make mistakes. I hurt people. I ignore the knock on my door.
Can you relate to my choosing this character in the Christmas pageant? If you can, I hope you also share my belief that we inn keepers are daily offered mercy and second chances. Weary travelers who need room will show up each day. God creates a guest room when we open the door. Ways to respond will unfold. Pray with me that we welcome those traveling families.
In hope,
Susan Schantz SSJ
