A Christmas Meditation and Invitation

Whether its because we’re excitedly making plans to be with family, or unexcitedly making plans to be with family, Christmas is a time when home is on the brain.
 
But Christmas is also an opportunity to home in on what it means to feel “at home,” because the Christmas story itself is really about the possibility of feeling at home in what can be a harsh world.
 
We all know about the couple on the brink of childbirth, far from home, being turned away because there was “no room.” Those glowing plastic nativity scenes don’t do a great job at conveying what it would mean to actually give birth in a stinking, drafty, dirty barn.
 
But the Christmas story makes the crazy proposition that this was the perfect place for sacredness to be born. Far from home, in a structure not meant for human shelter, a baby is born who will grow up to bring the radical message that everyone is worthy of being at home in this world.
 
It turns out that the way to be at home in this world is the same way this baby went on to live: by being unafraid to let go of the easy comforts of home, lovingly asking others to do the same, all in the service of giving the socially, spiritually, and literally homeless the news that they—we—deserve to be here just as much as anyone else.
 
We have been invited as a church to participate in a celebration of the traditional Mexican celebration of Las Posadas to remember both the timeless message of finding home in the midst of what can seem like an inhospitable world, but also to honor and bear witness to a place where people are at risk of losing their chance at having a decent, affordable place to call home. Lathrop Homes is one of the few remaining affordable housing complexes on the North Side of Chicago, and there is a proposal to convert much of it to more expensive housing. On Saturday, December 21, from 2-4pm, we will have the opportunity to stand (and walk) with other members of our community to support the radical, and utterly common sense proposal that everyone deserves a home. 

And then we’ll have a party!

We’ll be meeting at the Cotter Boys and Girls Club at 2pm. Event is until 4.  Learn more and sign up here: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/226225527552782
And feel free to email neil@rootandbranchchurch.org with questions.

-Neil