For years my brother hadn't entered a church. We were members of a large affluent church that offended him by their gaudy hats, fancy dresses and suits and formal worship. The deciding day came when he was a member of the nominations committee and discovered how mean and inconsiderate church people can be. Therefore, he stopped attending church while in high school and only returned for weddings and funerals.
Christmas Eve, seven years later, my brother decided that he would attend church with the family. Needless to say, we are thrilled to have him join us. We arrived first at church and saved a seat for him on the back row so that he could easily find us.
The church was filling up and there was only standing room left with twenty minutes before the service was to begin. The narthex was full and there was draft from the open doors where people were yearning to peek in to the sanctuary for just a peek at the service.
The service begun and my brother had not arrived, we were upset and worried as the choir processed down the middle aisle and the trumpets blew to the coming of Christ. The service was beautiful. The children's sermon re-enacted the closed doors to Mary and Joseph and how there was no room for them in the inn. The sermon inspired all those who were listening to make room for Jesus in their hearts. The local newspapers were there and the church was on the front page of the paper, praising their outreach and worship of God in this holiest of seasons.
We left the church as an incomplete family, wondering and worried about my brother. We walked into the kitchen of my parent's house to find him sitting calmly eating cold leftovers from dinner. He simply said, "There wasn't room, they sent me away at the door."
My mother looked into this and discovered that the church ushers found that it was more important to have the choir process down the middle aisle rather than set up more chairs for people to sit and worship. As it turns out, at the largest Christmas eve service that little town had seen in years, dozens had been turned away at the door because "There wasn't room in the inn."
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.
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