The birth story of Jesus details how Mary and Joseph (the Holy Family) made their way through Bethlehem searching for a place to stay. They found an inn and spoke to the innkeeper about having a place to rest. Mary was pregnant and was getting ready to give birth to Jesus.
The writer of Luke’s Gospel notes:
And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. ( Luke 2: 7 )
So, per the biblical Narrative, Jesus is born in a stable. There is no room available for the family regarding any conventional shelter. Mary, Joseph and Jesus could be described as a homeless family; certainly, the federal census bureau would recognize them under their criteria.
Currently, rates of homelessness in the country are increasing. There have been concerns for safety in downtown areas balancing the needs of homeless people versus workers. Tim Boyle, CEO of Columbia Sportswea,r has threatened to relocate the headquarters of one of his brands out of Downton Portland, Or due to safety concerns regarding the homeless. Portland homeless crisis: sportswear CEO's threat ... - The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com › US News › Portland
Yet, homelessness increases nationally, tent cities pop up in parks and along freeways and under highway overpasses.
Recently, Phillip Alston, an Australian academic, with a formal title of UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, visited five American communities: Los Angeles, Ca, San Francisco, Ca, Lowndes County, AL, Guayama, Puerto Rico and Charleston, West Virginia. What he found were shocking levels of economic deprivation and lack of basic safety and health resources, including sanitation.
Per a recent article, Ed Pilkington writes;
“That cruel streak – the violence of looking away – has been a feature of American life since the nation’s founding. The casting off the yoke of overweening government (the British monarchy) came to be equated in the minds of many Americans with states’ rights and the individualistic idea of making it on your own – a view that is fine for those fortunate enough to do so, less happy if you’re born on the wrong side of the tracks.
Countering that has been the conviction that society must protect its own against the vagaries of hunger or unemployment that informed Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson. But in recent times the prevailing winds have blown strongly in the “you’re on your own, buddy” direction. Ronald Reagan set the trend with his 1980s tax cuts, followed by Bill Clinton, whose 1996 decision to scrap welfare payments for low-income families is still punishing millions of Americans.
The cumulative attack has left struggling families, including the 15 million children who are officially in poverty, with dramatically less support than in any other industrialized economy. Now they face perhaps the greatest threat of all. The current Administration’s” rush through Congress” threat to pare back welfare programs next year to pay for some of the tax cuts for the rich they are rushing through Congress, will hurt African Americans disproportionately.
Black people are 13% of the US population, but 23% of those officially in poverty and 39% of the homeless. “ ...A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome ... - The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com › Society › Poverty
It’s 2017 and Phillip Alston found communities in rural Alabama where houses had drainage piping pouring raw sewage out onto the open ground. In some cases, several houses were literally surrounded by excrement.
Is this something that should be acceptable to Americans, especially as we prepare to celebrate Christmas?
The beauty of the Christmas story is that God comes to be with all of us, with all of creation. As my dear friend and colleague Rev. Dr. Dale Staggemeier would say:
“God's powerful love brings us to Eternal Life. “
I totally concur and would add that it’s incumbent upon us that we do everything possible to extend this gift of eternal and abundant life to all, especially to those who are in need.
We all need to be able to find a room at the inn.
May it be so.