More than 2,000 years later, apparently it’s still hard to find room for Jesus in the inn.
For the last two years, we’ve had an all-UVC Christmas Eve service at our Andersonville site and, this year, we’re hoping to have two services: one on the north side (again in Andersonville) and one on the south side. I read an article recently suggesting that churches offer Christmas Eve services in non-traditional places so I started calling around to downtown hotels. What better place to celebrate the birth of Jesus than in a modern-day inn?
I made my pitch to the first hotel I called (that this would be a service for their guests and employees and we’d also have some of our folks there, too, and, pretty please, that we could do this for no charge) and, understandably, got transferred about five different times (there is no Director of Christmas Eve at hotels) until finally I talked to a nice woman who said how nice this was of us to offer it and she was confident that we could work something out. She just needed to run it by one of her superiors and she’d call me back. She didn’t call me back. I called again and got in touch with another person who wasn’t as enthused. And I quote: “Yeah…uh…I need to check with my manager, but…well…we try to keep religion out of the hotel.” This hotel wasn’t the only one. I tried at least a half dozen others and received the same non-response.
We get very nervous with religion these days and want to keep it out of lots of segments of society. This isn’t a “Let’s Keep Christ in Christmas!” diatribe (though, of course, I’m in favor of keeping Christ in Christmas) and I’m not wringing my hands that we have to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Following Jesus goes much deeper than that. Following Jesus means that, yes, we bring “religion” (or faith) into our hotels. And in our relationships. And in our bank accounts. And in our politics. And in our waking and eating and working and studying and L riding and coffee drinking. Following Jesus means that we bring him into all of it. Or, rather, that we acknowledge that he’s already there and we simply have to open our eyes and receive.
We’re still not quite sure where our south-side UVC Christmas Eve service will be. But wherever it is, I trust there will be room for Jesus. And for you and me, as well.