Getting It Wrong in English Class (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

I got it wrong just about every way I could. 

The assignment was straight forward: write a few paragraphs on anything to do with Christmas. We could have written about presents, shopping, Santa Claus, family traditions, even religious themes ... literally anything. There were no limits.

That should have been easy; and I guess it was for my classmates. All about me, I could see them bending their ink pens to the task. That’s what I should have been doing. But I had a problem: writer’s block. 

Have you had that experience? You have to write something, yet your brain is just ... blank. It’s one of those “deer in the headlights” moments we all hope to avoid in this life. Luckily, there are things to try, actions that might break through the block. One of the best is to try going in a different direction. 

So ... I tried writing a poem. 

It’s been a really long time, but I can still quote the poem I wrote in Mrs. Rudolph’s English class, that day: 

THE TIRED TRAVELERS 

By Steve Orr

As the travelers journeyed across the land,

One would ride and one would stand.

One was weak and one was strong,

As they traveled the land that seemed so long.

In the village they asked for a place to sleep,

Something to drink, and something to eat.

“The rooms are filled!”

The innkeeper said,

But the night became so still,

. . . And dead,

He gave them the stable to lay their heads

And use of the straw to make their beds.

He would never know that in this place

Wise men would stand in a crowded space,

Then kneel and pray on the desert sand

To the Son of David and Savior of Man.

Not only did Mrs. Rudolph let me get away with not writing paragraphs, she had me read the poem to the rest of the class. She gave me an “A.” It’s a really great memory. 

I now know I got almost all of it wrong.

Anyone who has become a parent knows that a pregnant woman is not weak. It is unlikely they were turned away from what we think of as an inn; more likely the already full guest room in a relative's house. The Gospel of Luke uses the same Greek word for “Inn” 20 chapters later to refer to the upper room where Jesus and His disciples shared the Passover meal.  

And the Innkeeper?  Fiction.

Jesus was laid in a manger, but that manger was almost certainly not in a stable . . . or a barn . . . or a cave. It was common practice to keep the animals on the lower floor of the house at night, safe from the elements and thieves. The living quarters, and sleeping areas, were on the upper floor. Mary and Joseph likely passed the night among the livestock on the ground floor of the house.

I blew it with the wise men, too. The Biblical account makes it clear that the wise men came much later; certainly not that night. And, it is quite clear that, when they did come, they met with Mary in a house; not in a stable . . . or a barn . . . or a cave

No, the Bible says the night visitors that first night were shepherds who had been in the fields watching over their flocks. And that brings me to "the desert sand." Wrong. The shepherds had been tending their sheep out in a field; a field where sheep grazed ... on growing things. The desert sands were far away.

I grew up among followers of Jesus. I was surrounded by Bibles. We met three times a week for instruction in the scriptures. And I still got it wrong. Is it any wonder that Jesus' contemporaries sometimes misunderstood? We have the comfort of picturing it through the writings of the New Testament, something that didn't exist when Jesus was born. 

But, really, it doesn’t matter if I got it wrong. It doesn’t really matter that we can’t know exactly what happened, then. None of that matters. What matters is that, just as it was back then, God responds to our misunderstandings with gentle and implacable instruction. In that sense, we are all on a journey, a spiritual journey, wending our way across the landscape, slowly accumulating a better understanding than we had before. It can take years, decades even. 

We persevere, though, even when we, ourselves, are the tired travelers. Because, what really matters is that God continues to draw us closer to His son.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Noble Park, Paducah, KY by Carrole Casey Vaught

Different versions of this reflection appeared in prior years. 

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SCRIPTURES FOR THE COMING WEEK

Find them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=51

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

Fourth Sunday of Advent (December 11, 2020)

Friday morning is when DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets. Join us at 8:00 for our usual hour of Bible, discussion, and laughter. 

Contact me if you want to attend. I’ll send you the Zoom link and alert out gatekeeper to let you in. 

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera if you don’t wish to be seen and to mute the microphone if you don’t wish to speak.