A Roman government census was being taken in Bethlehem. The town was overcrowded. So Christ Jesus was born in a stable. He was put in a crib that held hay for the animals. "There was no room ... in the inn."  ^{Luke 2:7.}

This part of the story—no room for the Saviour of mankind even as a baby in crowded Bethlehem—strikes a familiar and ironic chord for Christians. The ways of the world haven't changed. There still seems to be precious little room made for the Christ-spirit.

In regard to politics and government we may wonder, Is there any place left for the simply truthful, or does truth always have to be "packaged" and presented in order to appeal to the greatest number?

Other questions also persist: Is there any room for ethics, for honesty, heart, integrity, or must these always be subordinated to some "bottom line"?

And even when we feel we ourselves are fully committed to believing in God, don't we have to admit it is a very small portion of our life that we're making available for His influence—roughly comparable to what the world originally offered Jesus' mother—some space that's left over?

What's the lesson to be drawn? Well, perhaps it's not the one that at first seems so obvious. It's surely true the world crowds out and denies the Christ-spirit. But isn't the more basic point not what the world attempts but how the Christ comes regardless of the attempt?

If we truly desire to find the Christ, we are drawn to it, no matter how many obstacles are put in our path. On the other hand, all of Herod's horrendous conniving fails to find and to kill the newborn child. And later, even the combination of Pilate, crowd mentality, and pharisaical power cannot silence or bury Truth. The Christ lives! And this saving spiritual idea has the power not just to move us emotionally at several religious seasons but to transform individual lives completely, and to change larger portions of society as well, as we respond.

One of the biggest steps in our progress comes when we stop supposing that we have to find the way to fit Christ in. The sentiment is commendable in a sense but not very enlightened. The truth is that the substance of the divine idea, or Christ, Truth, already "outweighs the material world," as the Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, has put it. ^{See Miscellaneous Writings 167:10-11.} The influence of the Christ in human consciousness has the power of God.

A human tendency to lament the smallness and vulnerability of the Christ-idea needs to be put off. This is the world's perspective, scarcely the divine view. It is not what God thinks of His message to mankind. The Saviour sent by God is not in fact vulnerable, lacking in power, nor ultimately crucifiable. As we mature into this spiritual realization, we are able to prove and experience it to some degree in our own lives. To truly follow Christ Jesus is not only to taste his experience of the worldly attempt to suppress the Christ but also in some measure to learn for ourselves the truth that Christ is victorious over sin and evil.

The human mind may argue contentiously for its evidence. Look, see where good failed and evil "won," it says. But two things are important to realize: (1) the instances of good's triumph over impossible odds are more than sufficient to prove the undeniably transcendent power of God, good, and (2) even evil's supposed victories are always staged. In other words, they appear real only to despairing mortal consciousness; they literally fall apart and are seen through as we accept the more discerning spiritual consciousness that God provides.

The Science of Christ teaches us to take hold of and to live with a great spiritual fact. The textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, points out: "We must learn that evil is the awful deception and unreality of existence. Evil is not supreme; good is not helpless; nor are the so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit secondary. Without this lesson, we lose sight of the perfect Father, or the divine Principle of man."  ^{Science and Health, p. 207.} We would also lose sight of the true nature of the Christ as God's own expression.

The truth is that even in the form of a helpless baby, the Christ has vast power. Even as a child in the temple, the spiritual idea pours forth overpowering wisdom. Christian Science offers a Christianly scientific explanation which helps us understand that the Christ is never truly weak and small in human experience. It is always the light of divine Being, and this light is always sufficient to destroy darkness. It is light that is world-filling and world-changing. Even a touch of this true spiritual idea is enough to heal sickness and to undo evil.

We need to stop supposing that we can somehow fit Christ in. The facade of busy worldliness must crack. Equally, we need to stop supposing that we have to fit Christ in. The fearing sense that the light and goodness of being doesn't have the room it needs in order to have the influence it should, dissolves in the growing comprehension that God's good is the true substance, law, and reality of the universe.

Christ's coming is not the birth of a vulnerable but ineffably good human, nor is it a beautiful sign of what should be but is not. It is the dawning recognition that God, infinite Love, is in fact the supreme Principle of man and creation. This Christ can never be excluded or overpowered. It rules and reigns at God's command.

Allison W. Phinney, Jr.

Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
... how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. ... Ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit,
and that your fruit should remain:
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father
in my name, he may give it you.

John 14:5, 6; 15:16