Help in finding a place to stay

Saturday night after Thanksgiving I was privileged to give the invocation at the candle light vigil in downtown Palmer for MY House.

Many of you know that MY House works to help homeless teens in the Valley. The figures I have heard say we have around 700 homeless teens in the Mat Su. That doesn’t include the adults with no place to stay. While MY House helps homeless teens, Family Promise Mat-Su is a ministry that works in the Mat Su to help homeless families get permanent housing.

I’ve heard the stories. An Alaskan winter night spent in a baseball dugout or a car or a sleeping bag can be very cold.

For the invocation at the vigil I read from the Christmas story. In Luke 2:6-7 we are told about Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem:

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Every year people’s hearts are touched that there was no room for the baby Jesus. People are moved that Jesus had to be laid in a feed trough for animals.

Couldn’t someone find a place for this family at the urgent time of bringing a new child into the world? We wonder that someone in Bethlehem did not see their predicament and find a way to house them.

Actually, this humble birth also shows the depth of the love of God for the people of this world. This baby is the Son of God himself, born as a human through Mary. This baby is the Creator and Lord of the universe. But, he is also Jesus. The name Jesus points to this child as the promised “Savior.”

So, God himself, the Lord of all, humbled himself to be born human with no place to stay and laid in a manger. He did this because he loves us and came to earth to save us. We can begin to understand the depth of this love of God for us, but we can only begin.

What we deserve from God is punishment for our selfishness, our greed, our rebellion, our hatred and our pride. However, God does not give us what we deserve. Instead of punishment he gives us love. Instead of what we deserve, God gives his son, born in a manger.

Every year millions of hearts are touched again as they hear about the baby who was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn. They wish they could have been there to provide a place. But, Jesus calls us to love him by loving others. So, if we want to help the baby who had no room in the inn, one of the best ways to do this is to help the homeless in our area, in our time.

As you buy Christmas gifts this year, maybe you can make a donation to MY House so a homeless child has help in finding a place to stay. Maybe you can give a gift to Family Promise Mat-Su so families can find a place to stay this Christmas as they get their lives together. Or, you might put a nice donation in a Salvation Army kettle. By serving those without a home we are serving our Lord, Jesus, who was placed . . . in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Jonathan Rockey is pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer. Contact him at jonrock53@mtaonline.net.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send email to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2250.