Katalyma

Welcome home and Merry Christmas! It been a wonderful journey with all of you as this Advent and now ChrisTomas we have explored the theme of home. It all culminates to tonight as we take a look at the home of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. But before we get there I want each of us to think about our own homes. My family and I are in a new house this year. In fact, as you all know we have only lived there since July and we are slowly turning it into our home. Having our Christmas decorations has really helped to make it feel like home. So does having most of our rooms finished. It is of course also a home because we have one another and our animals.

I remember our first night in our new home we had no furniture in the house. In fact we didn’t even get into the house until well after our girls bedtimes. We inflated several air mattresses in the master bedroom and settled in for the night. Unfortunately the animals, and especially our one cat Kirk did not feel settled or at home at all that first night or for the first week if I remember correctly. But as I mentioned, it has been 5 months now and our house is more looking and feeling like a home and the animals agree. Our cats join us for bed each night as they do. Leia, our dog hangs out in the master bedroom too, happy to be close by to us.

How many of you have animals and how many of your for better or worse have them sleeping in your bed with you? There is no judgement here we all know people have different views on whether animals should be in your bed or not. I ask that question because it’s something we do. We grow close to our animals and we allow them to do things that makes them happy and comfortable and sometimes that means letting them sleep with us or even giving them scraps from the table. Honestly that makes us happy and comfortable even if it is unconventional. In fact, I wrote this sermon while away in Colorado for a wedding and the dog isn’t in the wedding but the couple’s dog did come to rehearsal and the wedding.

Caring for animals and being close them isn’t a new phenomenon, but is something that we see happening through scripture and just the general culture during the time of the Bible. In fact, a typical home in the area of Jerusalem and Bethlehem would have a place for their animals in the same area that the family lived. So at night the animals and the family would be near each other. And there would be both water for the animals to eat when they needed it inside the house and food that was placed in what we have come to know as a manger. The manger that Jesus was laid in the night he was born.

Our scripture from Luke tells us that Jesus gave birth to Jesus and she laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. I saw in several places, but most prominently pointed out by Ian Paul a pastor and theologian that the word we translate from the Greek as the word ’inn’ is more accurately guest room. That word is kataluma and typically refers to a room to the side of the house or sometimes above the house as either another room or the actual roof of the home. The same word, kataluma, is the same word that Jesus tells the disciples to go find for the Passover after they enter Jerusalem. Jesus doesn’t tell them to find an inn, but an upper room of someone’s home. So when Luke tells us that there was no room at the inn he is really saying there was no room in the guest room. That is the case because there were already guests, most likely relatives already staying with the family. And knowing that Joseph was going to his home town or ancestral town this family was likely some relative of his.

So again, when Luke says that Mary gave birth and laid him in the manger because there was no room in the guest room, we can see from what we already talked about that the family, these relatives, however distant actually invited Mary and Joseph into the main part of their home. The part of their home where they slept, ate, and housed their animals at night to keep them warm and healthy. And by part of their home I mean the one and only part other than the guest room. So when Mary gave birth she laid the baby Jesus in the manger, the feeding trough that was on the animal side of the one and only room of the house.

I know this is a different way of thinking about the brith story, but Jesus was likely born in a small family home surrounded not just by stable animals but also by relatives of Joseph. Mary and Joseph were invited home and into a home. They were not invited out into a cold stable, they were not sent out to the guest room, but were invited directly into the home of the family. It reminds me of that first night at our new home, all four of us and all our animals sleeping as best we could in one single room. But it was also a joyful night. We had a new home, with a new church, and new memories to make in a new part of the world.

And if that one room home were not crowded enough, shepherds come and visit the family that night as well. I don’t know how this family is feeling about even more guests coming into their home that night, but even these shepherds are invited into this home. Whether they are family or not it seems every is invited into this home to see this baby Jesus.

That is what God is about. God is all about inviting us home And inviting us into God’s home. Which is why I am so glad to be here with you this Christmas Eve. We get to celebrate Emmanuel, God with Us, being born into a strange but wonderful home. I love that because that is what being a part of God’s family is all about. It is a strange but wonderful home, full of all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. A home where we are all invited into the main part of the home to be together and celebrate together. To hear again the stories of God’s love and grace. To hear the stories of God’s forgiveness and compassion. This night is the night we gather together in our church home, whether that’s here or at home, or visiting family somewhere else, because God’s home knows no bounds, God’s home knows no limits. God’s home doesn’t ever fill up and there is always room for more people to come and be a part of it.

In the words of the angels, this is good news of great joy for ALL people. Today, this very night in a tiny home of Bethlehem a child is born who is the Messiah, our Savior. He is our Emmanuel. He is God with us, he is our home and our light. So this Christmas know that you are home, you are where God wants you to be and I am glad you Are here. Welcome home. Merry Christmas! Amen.