Holidays always seem to mark time for me. They bring to mind whom I was with a year ago and who is no longer present around the table. They cause me to think back on what I’ve learned and what I’ve accomplished since I last put a turkey in the oven or hung ornaments on the tree. Holidays, especially Christmas cause me to pause and consider how far the gospel message has traveled and the distances it still needs to cover.
When the good news of Jesus Christ was first announced to the shepherds in the field, the angels described it as “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” They sang their proclamation and offered “glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men on whom God’s favor rests.” The angels said the result of the babe in the manger, the God who put on flesh, would be good news dolled out liberally to all people. And that the good news would bring glory to God and peace to people. And I wonder how far this message has traveled and what distances it still needs to cover.
I suppose the all in all people has covered some territory already. The original gathering of a handful of shepherds has grown into worldwide movement that includes people from every continent and class. And yet the all in all people has miles yet to go. There are still people who have never heard about the God who put on flesh. There are those who have never read the good news in their own language and there are others for whom the news has been so distorted that it will need to be proclaimed again in new ways that come closer to being good. And those of us who have received the good news must constantly be reminded that we cannot keep it to ourselves…it has miles yet to go. The call of the good news to be for all people must continue to pull us out of our comfort zones and pull other people into the zones we have wanted for our own comfort.
Years ago I found myself in a strange town, late at night, with no place to go. I was drawn to a church that had a life-size nativity scene lit up in front of its building, the promise of all people right there on its front lawn. I walked up the steps and found the church door locked. I have often quipped that one of the lessons I learned the year I walked across the United States was that “bars are always open and churches are always locked.” I still believe it is a very simple something the church should look at. I sat down on the front steps of the church and tried to come up with a game plan when there was no room in the inn or more accurately, no inn to be found. Ten minutes into my thinking, the doors of the church opened and a woman walked out. I said, ‘hello’, but the woman barely acknowledged me as she stepped past me down the steps of the church and towards her car in the parking lot. I tried to wish her back to me but she got in the car and drove away.
There are only two things worse than a church door being locked. One, when there is someone inside who has failed to open it for you. And two, when the door opens and the person who walks out locks it behind them and walks right past you. When either of these two happens to someone outside the door, we must admit that the words of the angels, “I bring you good news of great joy for all people” has miles yet to travel. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been welcomed at many churches. Countless congregations have offered me good meals and an extended hand. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that I have often only been welcomed because I am seen as someone who is “in”. When I am in a denomination that knows me, because I am of the dominant race, when I say the right things and wear the right attire, then an open hand is almost always extended to me. I can only imagine what it feels like to truly be someone outside the door. If the church can step over me, a white, protestant, educated, decently dressed person, we have miles to go before all people will find the doors opened to them.
When the angels declare that there is going to be peace to all people on whom God’s favor rests they use the word eirene which is rooted in the word eiro which means, “to join”. God would make peace with his people through this child in the manger and God and humanity would be joined together again. But it would not stop there. Those who received the good news would become heralds of this peace to all people. The peace that joined people back to God would now join people back to people. This good news would be for all people, the doors would be unlocked for all people and all places who put nativity sets on their lawns would affirm the good news that no one gets walked past or stepped over.
As we come to the end of the semester, living between two holidays that mark time in our lives let me ask us this question, “How far has the good news traveled and how far has it to go? Have we as a community found peace with God through the baby in the manger? Have we as a community taken the good news and extended it to those who sit on our front steps? Are there any doors that remain locked? Are there any people whom we have stepped over or walked past?
