THE INN IS FULL!

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20290, 24 December 1927, Page 21

THE INN IS FULL!

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By the Rev. Gardner Miller. One of the most poignant moments in the life of Jesus must have been that in which Mary, His mother, told Him the story of His birth. He must have been deeply moved. I believe the memory of it is behind that quiet, confident statement of Jesus to His disciples, when He gave them (and usl the assurance that, when their journey was over, they would not receive the treatment meted out ud His mother, for He would go ahead and prepare the “abiding-places.” The refusal of the innkeeper to give His gentle mother adequate shelter in her holy hour, thus compelling her to seek a comer in the common courtyard, must have wrung the sensitive spirit of Jesus. No room! No room! The inn is full. Yea—overfull, No room have wo For such as ye— Poor folk of Galilee— Pass on ! Pass on 1 So, John Oxenham writes in a penetrating poem. And is it not true that just as the mother was told, “ No room! ” so was the Son? Organised religion had no room for Him. Society slammed the door on this truth-telling Mau. Only here and” there was He welcomed by r few wistful folk and in tho. homes of one or two personal friends. He who came to restore to men their lost vision of God, and goodness was spurned and nut to death as an evil-doer. The times were propitious lor His coming. The decline of Rome, the decadence of Greece, and the sullen blindness of Judea all pointed to the necessity of God declaring Himself. That declaration came in Christ. God lit the nightsky with a star and guided men to a cradle. But the people of His day had no room for the mother of the child, no room for the Son. IS IT MUCH BETTER TO-DAY? lam not so sure that it is. Admitted that society tactily acknowledges the principles of the Carpenter of Nazareth, the fact remains that men still find Jesus a very awkward person, nd they are not yet inclined to follow the “ Jesus Way.” To put it in another way; the inn of life is very crowded, and the pro prietors (society) are far too polite _to shut out the Man with the searching eyes, so they offer Him accommodation in the stable. And yet—how bid ye gone? Stay then! out there Among the beasts Ye may find room, And ek e a truss To lie upon. The results of crowding out Christ—politely putting Him in the stable—are seen in present-day conditions. Hatred, fear, greed, are rampant. The Is-t® war sowed dragon’s teeth, and we are reaping the inevitable crop. There are, of course, many good people who say that these things must be, that they were foretold, and that they are but signs of the coming of the end of the age. The other day a dustman hailed roe in the street with the remark, “The seasons are changing, sir, a sure sign that the end of the world is near.”

I am always very reluctant to say anything that would disturb the intense belief of such good folk that civilisation is not only cracking, out that it is doomed. Salvation by cataclysm is a denial of the orderly progress manifested by God in the realms of Nature and o) grace. If anything is cracaing, it is organised religion. Civilisation is safe in th© hands of God, and, fter all. He must ultimately be responsible for the universe. The present-day .nditiona are largely due, in my estimation, to the undoubted fact that w© have allowed force (in all its forms) to get beyond its legitimate end until it has become a curse.

In other words, Christ is kept in the background, and is not allowed to speak for Himself. His appeal to society for a place in the “inn ” is met with Nay—see 1 The place is packed. We scarce have room For our own selves, So how shall we Find room for Thee, Thou man of Galilee— Pass on! Pass on ! We are not vet a Christian iand, and we shall not be until we are prepared to he perfectly honest with Christ—and with ourselves. TO-MORROW is Christmas Day. hut it is also the op portunity for making a new beginning in Christian living. The task before us, especially before the youth f our country, is to bring society back to sanity. But that cannot he done without Christ. A reconstructed world without Ohrist is topheavy. A democracy that is not Christianised is another name for tyranny. Only by boldly inviting Christ from the stable to the chief nlace ii the Inn of Life can we justify the burning desire for world reconstruction. Don t mistake me. lam not asking you to pin a denominational label on the lapel of your coat. Nor am I asking you to “ shut your eyes aud open your mouth,” and swallow sapless, stringy theology that too often passes for religion. No,'l am asking you to make Christ your deliberate choice, put Him in the best place in the Inn of your Life, and then daringly attempt to put His principles to the test in a world that, so far, has refused to have . ver close acquaintance with Him. Mind you, it means cleaning out lots of rubbish from the Inn. There must be no half measures, for

Christ passes On His ceaseless quest, Nor will He rest With any. Save as Chiefest Uuest. In wishine thatHhe quiet 'oys of Christmas may be yours in full measure I also pray that all of us may open wide the door of the Inn.