And she brought forth her firstborn son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger;
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7 KJV
**********
Yet, if His Majesty, our sovereign Lord,
Should of his own accord
Friendly himself invite
And say, “I’ll be your guest tomorrow night”—
How should we stir ourselves, call and command
All hands to work: “Let no man idle stand;
Set me fine Spanish tables in the hall;
See they be fitted all,
That there be room to eat
And order taken that there want no meat;
See every sconce and candlestick made bright
That without tapers they may give a light;
Look to the presents; are the carpets spread?
The daisy o’er the head?
The cushions in the chairs?
And all the candles lighted on the stairs?
Perfume the chambers and in any case
Let each man give attendance in this place.”
Thus, if a king were coming, would we do;
And ‘twere good reason, too,
For ‘tis a duteous thing
To show all honor to our earthly king;
And after all our travail and our cost
So he be pleased to think no labor lost.
But at the coming of the King of Heaven
All’s set at six and seven;
We wallow in our sin;
Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn.
We entertain him always like a stranger,
And, as at first, still lodge him in a manger.
From the book, Preparing for Jesus: Meditations on the Coming of Christ, Advent, Christmas, and the Kingdom by Walter Wangerin