I thought about the people who wait in long lines trying to get into a shelter to sleep during the cold winter nights, only to find out the beds are all taken, there is no room for them, they can’t come in.

I thought about so many of our social systems, how we say to so many people in one way or another: there is no room for you, how we say in one way or another: there is no room for you based on your skin color, or sexual orientation or your religion.

I thought about our daily lives, the daily hectic pace of things, all the events and the things come at us from all sides, how there is no room for rest, no room for contemplation, there is no room.

I thought about all these things...but I didn’t stop there. Because the text doesn’t stop there. It is true there was no room in the inn. But it is also true that God is born anyway.

There is no room in the inn. God comes anyway. There is something so powerful and assuring about that, that there may be no room, but that doesn’t stop God from being born; there may be no room but that doesn’t stop God from coming into the world.

Ever made a mistake that led you off the path? Ever had a feeling you were going the wrong way but you’ve been too stubborn, too hard-headed, to stop? And there is this moment when you go: oh this isn’t good. This isn’t right. I don’t have peace. I don’t have contentment. I’m not experiencing joy. You come to see this isn’t the life you were meant to live, you are off the path.

The Bible reveals this truth about the human experience--that we are good, and we start out on this path--but we tend to wander from it - we are prone to wander off the path or we think we know a shortcut or know better. Whatever the case, we end up going the wrong direction but it doesn’t change our inherent goodness, we are still good. We just are not walking in the way that leads to life and God wants that for us. God wants us to thrive. So God does everything in God’s power to help us to return.

The testimonies you will hear are from Sungmoon Lee, Kasey Cummings and Eric Snyder.

We are woke because of Christ. Because the Christ in you and the Christ in me stands up in the face of fear, and in the face of suffering, and in the face of dehumanization and says: I will not look away, I will not back down, I will not sit down, I will not let it go...not until the poor have good news and the hungry are fed and the sick are cared for and the stranger is welcomed.

You have gotten agreement but what you really wanted was change. In our scripture today James is saying that if you agree on who Jesus is then there will be a change.

There's a great saying from author Anne Lamott that you can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.In today’s text we read about when a lawyer asks Jesus a question.

No, you are still covered; so you messed up, so you think you aren’t worthy of coverage, maybe you’ve forgotten that this isn’t a divine points game, this isn’t about earning or achieving. I mean the rest of the world is into that but God isn’t into that and we know that because of Christ crucified, because through him, success is redefined - weak is the new strong, the way up is the way down.

We may disagree on the issues, we may have conflict with one another, but we never ever stop seeing one another as brothers and sisters.

The pull of tribalism is strong now...it is strong and it is trying to influence us to treat one another as less than human beings, it is trying to get us to name call and to have closed minds and mean spirits…but it is no match for the power of Christ that is present at this table and in this bread and cup that compels us to love our neighbor.