Waiting to Belong

Standing in line in the tennis courts as the teams were being picked for whatever sport it was we were playing that day. The team captains were girls I kind of knew but hadn't really spoken to. I was, in fact, a little bit intimidated by them. 

I watched as they picked their teams. Name after name until there were just a few of us left. The numbers went down to four, three, two,.... and then just me. The reluctant team captain calling me over. My place, I knew, would be at the back somewhere. 

Standing on the edge of the crowd of people who seemed to know each other, I watched as body language changed and welcome was given. Not wanting to disturb the happy chatter I stood in my own world, waiting for the main meeting to begin, kind of happy to sit on the edge and not have to engage, but feeling a bit out of it. 

At the end of that conference, we sent round a piece of paper asking for nice comments and words about the person's name at the top. "Friendly" said the pens of those who had said hello in passing. "Thanks for being there when there was no-one else to talk to" said the one who was trying a little harder to be nice.... but put me in last place again. 

Have you ever felt you don't belong?

The story of the nativity is one of not belonging - of being picked last. When Jesus was born he wasn't given the best room in the house, but a room was reluctantly found for him in the place where the animals were likely kept. It wasn't ideal, it wasn't the place for a baby to be born, never mind a King..... when Jesus moved into the neighbourhood, he arrived in last place. Although people knew of the promised Messiah - that baby - apart from for a few, it wouldn't have mattered if he was there or not. 

Yet it mattered more than anyone knew. 

As nativity stories are acted out each year, there's that knock at the door as the innkeepers say, one after the other 'there's no room'. 

As we see the yet to be born Messiah left out in the cold, those who feel they never belong find a place that they can always belong, because in the story of the closing of the doors, we find the one who understands, the one who stands on the side-lines, gathering in.....

Before you even knock at the door, it is already flung wide open and the voice of the one born in that room round the back says.....

"There is a place for you here, how about it?" 

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 guest room available for them. Luke 2:6-7