“God is where I am. God is what I am. I am the place where Divine Love shows up in form.” Ernest Holmes

Merry Christmas, everyone! I begin with the above quote from the writings of mystic Ernest Holmes, because this plainly and unapologetically state what we believe in the Science of Mind teaching.

Today, we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ, which for us in New Thought is the birth of Christ Consciousness within each one of us. It is here. We do not have to go get it or become it. It is the Center of the Universe within us. In that light, I would like to summarize a story from the Gospel of Luke about Jesus’s birth.

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” Joseph traveled from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the city of David, because he was of the house and lineage of David. Mary went with him. She was expecting. While they were there, the time came for Mary to give birth. The house where they were to stay was already full. The guest room was occupied, crowded with others who had also come because of the census. There was no prepared space available for them. So, Mary gave birth where there was room. She wrapped her newborn child in cloths and laid him in a manger—the feeding trough used for animals—because that was the space that could be offered. And in that ordinary place—in the midst of daily life, breath, bodies, and animals—the child was born.

I loved researching this Gospel story because I discovered that what we sometimes interpret as a harsh innkeeper who said, “You can’t stay here,” was more likely a matter of no more space being available because of all the travelers going to Bethlehem under decree—yet still an offering of hospitality. Haven’t you had your own situations with guests where people slept on couches, the floor, or even in a tent outside when you had a large group of people?

Let’s take this to an even deeper level. How can we interpret the possible metaphysical, metaphorical meaning of “no room in the inn.”

Since we celebrate the birth of Christ Consciousness within each of us today, the question I invite you to ponder is this: Is there room in your consciousness to accept and surrender to the Divine within you? Accepting and surrendering to the Divine within is a privilege of which each of us is capable. As we celebrate Jesus as the great example of what is possible, we know that he did just that. There was room in the inn of his consciousness to fully accept and surrender to his Divinity and no room for anything else. As the mystic Meister Eckhart stated, “Between God and me there is no between.”

So today, on Christmas, I feel the urge to take inventory of the guests that might be lingering in my inn of the mind—doubt, fear, lack, or self-condemnation, to name a few. Can I stand in the void, the emptiness, for just a moment, and instead open myself to receiving the Divinity that awaits me as I accept myself as the manifestation of Magnificence? Not because I am perfect in the world of conditions, but because I know that even within those superficial imperfections, a Greater Perfection is here, ready for my awareness of it.

Ernest Holmes wrote, quoting a passage from the Bible, “We should have the mind within us which was also in Christ Jesus.” This mind is our total embodiment of Magnificence, and our belief in the Law of Mind in Action, which always answers yes to that embodiment.

Further, do we have an irrevocable belief in our own success and ability to live the unlimited lives we imagine. I believe as we open to the Mind that was in Christ Jesus, the Mind that just says yes with no argument, miracles are born. I invite each of us to take stock of those unworthy guests that stand in the way of that yes! Whisper, “There is no room in my inn!”

Merry Christmas!

Rev. Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Founding Spiritual Director CSL Kaua’i, Founder of the Red Dress Movement, Co-Host of the From Woo Woo to Wow Wow! Podcast
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