No Room Inn: My Heart

Christmas Day marks the end of the season of Advent. I regularly remind our church that Advent is the time in which the Church remembers Jesus’ first-coming while we eagerly await his second coming. During this time I also try convincing my church family I remembered 3 years of high school Latin by explaining “Advent” comes from the Latin “Adventus,” a word describing the arrival of an important Roman leader (especially the Emperor, into a city). Christians who use liturgical worship elements [if you’re not familiar with that term, picture worship elements in so-called “high church” traditions such as Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, etc.] like the Lectionary. Lectionaries are ways of methodically reading through Bible passages, often in a 3-year pattern. Christians who follow the Lectionary read special Advent Bible passages during this time.
For many Christians, the days preceding Christmas are all about “Baby Jesus.” But the Advent Lectionary passages (and the season of Advent, itself) remind us about “Glorious Jesus”- when Jesus will return, not as a humble baby but as a king in all his glory. Language in passages like Mark 13, Luke 21, Isaiah 64, 1 Thessalonians 3, Psalm 72, and several more Advent Readings describe God as a King and a Judge (often synonymous in ancient times).

The last book in our Bible, Revelation, also mentions Jesus’ Second Arrival. It uses language reminiscent of an Emperor returning to Rome– Adventus– after a great victory. He wears a long robe, rides on a horse, trumpets blast, burning incense is in the air, attendants surround him and sing his praises, etc.
Christians live in the time between the two Advents: Our King came to town once, and hardly anyone realized it. But it’s understandable we missed his first coming. His arrival was so simple, so “lowly and meek.” For the first 9 months he was literally hidden away in his mother’s womb. And his mother was a poor teenage girl from a conquered ethnic minority. Of course, we didn’t notice or expect his arrival…at least not that way.
But we Christians won’t miss Jesus’ second Advent. How could you miss that? Trumpet blasts, coming on the clouds, apocalyptic horses, a sword coming out of his mouth. The imagery in Revelation just gets weirder and weirder. But the Bible clearly tells us his arrival will be a surprise. We may know (or think we know) what Jesus’ Second Coming will look like. We may think we know what world events must happen before Jesus returns. But Jesus often reminded his hearers our knowledge is too limited to predict his arrival. He will return “like a thief” in the night– in other words, when we don’t expect it.
This is why fasting was a Christian Advent tradition in some corners of the Early Church. In Mark 13, Jesus told his disciples to “keep watch” and “be alert” as they awaited “the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” Few things keep you awake and clear away drowsiness than an empty stomach. Hunger pains during Advent kept Christians sharp as they awaited Christ’s return. Eventually, we Christians did away with Advent Fasting and replaced this season with a time of Advent Feasting. We now ingest twice our necessary calories from Thanksgiving through Christmas, ensuring a prolonged season of weight gain, sleepiness, and roller-coaster blood sugar levels from too many sweets. Our Christian forefathers didn’t know what they were missing.
We don’t need fasting to mentally and spiritually prepare for Christ’s return. We have the Left Behind books. Bible prophecy interpreters teach us understand how Russia’s most recent actions are clearly predicted from Scripture. [If you don’t know me well, the previous few sentences are Sarcasm.]
In spite of the Bible’s seemingly spectacular descriptions of Christ’s Second Coming, I wonder if some of us still might not notice his arrival. After all, the Bible has many miraculous events where other Biblical characters do not see or do not properly understand, even some God-followers. In 2 Kings 6, God sends “horses and chariots of fire” to help the prophet Elisha. The chariots line the hilltops surrounding the prophet. The scene could be something out of the book of Revelation. But Elisha’s servant, another follower of God, does not see the chariots of fire. Jesus comes to the Apostle Paul (then, still known as Saul) with a (literally) blinding light that knocks Saul off his horse. As Saul lies on the ground, he hears Jesus speaking to him. The two have a short conversation. But Acts 22 says the men accompanying Paul saw the light but “did not understand the voice of him who was speaking.” Presumably, thousands of people saw the Bethlehem star, but only a few wise men had a clue of that star’s significance. The ancient Bible scholars in King Herod’s court knew exactly where the Messiah was to be born, but they didn’t know the Messiah already was born.
Today, I’ll suggest one reason so many of God’s people didn’t see or expect Jesus’ first coming and why many may not see his Second Coming. A monk named Bernard of Clairvaux who lived from 1090-1153 spoke of Three Advents. The First Advent was the First Arrival of Jesus—Christmas. The Second Advent is Jesus’ future return. But Bernard said the Third Advent is Jesus’ daily arrival into our hearts, if we have room for him, that is. Bernard had a sharp tongue as he described others’ Christmas preparations. You get the idea he spent all Advent in prayer and fasting…and that he probably would have trashed your family Christmas card as an ‘unnecessary extravagance.’ Of Christians’ Advent celebrations, here’s this cheerful excerpt:
…the remembrance of this condescension is turned into pretext for the flesh. During those days you may see them preparing splendid clothes and special foods with utmost care—as if Christ at his birth would be seeking these and other such things and would be more worthily welcomed where they are more elaborately offered! Listen to [Christ] as he says… “Why do you so ambitiously prepare clothes for my birthday? Far from embracing pride, I detest it. Why do you so assiduously store up quantities of food for this season? Far from accepting pleasures of the flesh, I condemn them. As you celebrate my coming, you honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me.… Unhappy is the person who worships pleasure of the body and the emptiness of worldly glory; but happy the people whose God is the Lord.”
I would not have invited Bernard of Clairvaux to my Christmas party. I’d also probably hide him from my Facebook feed.
I experienced a Third Advent a few months ago when a young, unmarried pregnant woman and her future husband needed help and a place to stay. I met the young woman as she asked for help in a grocery store parking lot. Jesus came to me when as she met me that day, but there was no room for Him in my heart. Or maybe I should say ‘No Room Inn: My Heart.’ To ensure I’m not one of those who miss Jesus’ Second Arrival, the way so many missed his first Arrival, you have to make room in your heart for his Daily Arrival. A few days after my encounter in that parking lot, Jesus also visited one of our church family members when she met that same woman. She lives 30 minutes from our church, but just happened to be in the neighborhood that day. Jesus found room in her heart when he didn’t find room in mine.
As you read the email I sent to our church family several months ago, remember another young unmarried pregnant woman and the man traveling with her who found no room in the inn.
[I’m so proud of this church member that I could shout her name from the rooftops. But I’ve removed all mentions of her name below She’s just too modest.]
“Almost two weeks ago, I was walking out of Walmart when a young pregnant woman walked to my car asking for a few dollars. I told her I didn’t have any cash, which I didn’t. She didn’t ask me for any other help. She only asked for cash. Maybe she did need help, but she didn’t ask for any other help. Since I didn’t have any cash, I couldn’t help her. It was simple as that. Then I quickly got in my car and pulled out. I immediately heard the Holy Spirit say, “Go find her and offer to help.” I made a half-hearted drive back one parking aisle to find her. After obeying God for all of 20 seconds, I gave up. I didn’t see her as I looked right and left while driving down that one aisle. Besides, I was in a hurry. We don’t have to obey God if it inconveniences us, right??
This Wednesday, ______ ________ called me. She asked if I could meet her over at the Whataburger by Kroger. ______ and her friend _________ met a young homeless woman who was in need. They then met her boyfriend. ________ and __________ took this homeless couple to lunch. When I arrived, the two women were both on their smart phones looking up motels and bus fare they could buy for the couple to travel back home to Phoenix. The man wanted to ‘pay it forward’ by giving ________ the bicycle he would not be able to transport on the bus. __________ called me to take the bicycle back to the church, where we could store it until we found someone who needed it.
I met _________’s new homeless friends. The man looked about my age. His girlfriend looked to less than 25 years old and…was pregnant. Have you figured it out yet? The young pregnant woman I didn’t have time to help was the same woman now sitting across from __________ at Whataburger. God found an obedient person willing to adjust their schedule and help this woman.
Well-meaning pastors have said things like, “you may be the only expression of Jesus a person ever meets,” or “if you don’t obey God and help them, no one will.”I disagree. God can use any “hands and feet” he chooses to administer his will in this world. In the book of John, Jesus reminds us his father is always at work. And make no mistake, God WILL work in this world.
Do you remember my last email, in which I asked you to prayerfully consider how God wants you to participate in what the Spirit is doing at our church? As you pray that prayer, be like ________. Don’t be like me. Obey God’s leading, even if it’s inconvenient or feels uncomfortable. God WILL reach people in our community with the radical power of a life-transforming Gospel. And his plan won’t be stopped. If you don’t participate, God will simply find others in (or yet-to-be in) our church to serve this community. Jesus wanted someone from our church to help that woman. Since I didn’t help, Jesus found another church member willing to obey. You and I have the privilege to join God in his plan, like __________. Or, we can miss a wonderful opportunity to follow the Holy Spirit’s direction, join God’s work, and serve the least of these. Thank you, _________, for reminding us to follow the Holy Spirit’s directions, even if those directions include “Buy them lunch, a motel, and bus fare home.” ________, I’m proud to be your pastor.

My dear friends. Jesus came 2000 years ago—the First Advent. Jesus will come again in glory—the Second Advent. But don’t expect to see his Glorious Arrival if you reject his Daily Arrivals The Third Advent. That day God reminded me if my heart is the “No Room Inn,” Jesus will find somewhere or someone else… be it a manger or another person. But He wants to find room in my heart and in yours.
Jesus is Coming. Let Him In.

Merry Christmas

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20

Behold the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night,
And blessed is he whose loins are girt, whose lamp is burning bright;
But woe to that dull servant, whom the Master shall surprise
With lamp untrimmed, unburning, and with slumber in his eyes.

–“Behold The Bridegroom Cometh”  Trans. Gerard Moultrie, 1867.