Hymn Introduction: “Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne,” The Faith We Sing, 2100

That was a cold night, a hectic night, a night I will never forget. It was many years ago, but it's like a picture printed on my brain. It seems so real it might have happened just last night.

The town was crowded, full of unhappy people required to come here and register for those hated Roman taxes. Every sleeping place in my inn was already taken up. My wife and I were just ready to latch the door and lay out our mat to sleep in front of it, when a young man came hurrying up, looking for a place for the night.

I told him there was no more room, but he pleaded that he was desperate. His young wife was at the very point of delivering a baby. My wife looked at me with pleading eyes. She understood how desperate they really were.

I told him there was shelter in the stable out back and they were welcome to spend the night there; so with a look of relief, he hurried away to get them settled. We took some sheepskins out to spread on the hay in a corner to help them keep as warm as possible.

We thought we might at last get settled down to rest for the night. Later though, we were roused by the noise of talking outside. I heard some shepherds talking excitedly about some angels appearing to them and telling them that the Messiah had come and that they would find him cradled in a manger in our town. I opened the wooden window in our back wall and saw the whole scene, bathed in a soft glow that had to be more than moon and starlight. I can see it still. I was amazed by it all, and from that night on I wondered if it were really true that the baby born in my stable was indeed the long hoped for Messiah.

Years later I heard about Jesus from Nazareth and learned that he was the baby who had been born that night. I learned about his teachings and his miracles. I learned about how kind he was to poor and downcast people, and I became convinced that he was surely at least a great prophet.

Then one day I heard that he had come to Jerusalem, where many of the people hailed him as our Messiah; but the powerful religious leaders conspired to get the Romans to crucify him. But then a group of his followers said that he arose from the dead and showed himself alive among them before they saw him ascend into heaven from where he had said he came when he was born.

So I believed what I had seen and heard, and a wonderful peace came into my heart with a deep assurance that I really am a child of God. I have always wished I had given him my place in my inn that night and that I had slept in the stable myself; but I could not have known what would happen that night, and I did the best that I thought I could.

I am very glad that the little baby who was born that night became my Savior and the Savior of the world. I didn't make room in the inn for him, but he made room in his family for me. I hope you will make room in your heart for him.

Copyright © 2004 Kathie Wilkinson, Mt. Sylvan UMC, Durham, NC. Published by Discipleship Ministries, PO Box 340003, Nashville TN 37203-0003; telephone: 877-899-2780, ext. 7073; e-mail: [email protected]. This resource may be downloaded and used in congregational worship with the inclusion of this copyright clause on each copy. It may not be republished, used for profit, or placed on another website without permission of the author.

Author contact information: Kathie Wilkinson, Mt. Sylvan UMC, 5731 Roxboro Road, Durham, NC 27712; phone: 919-471-0032; fax: 919-479-7330; e-mail: [email protected].

Posted 12-20-04