{"id":142402,"date":"2026-01-05T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=142402"},"modified":"2026-01-05T18:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:15:22","slug":"a-story-from-a-school-in-michigan-for-christmas-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=142402","title":{"rendered":"A story from a School in Michigan for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I have a friend who teaches in the upper peninsula in Michigan. He has one of those schools that run from kindergarten all the way up through eighth grade, including special ed. One of his students was intellectually slow, couldn\u2019t do very well in classes. And when Christmas Pageant time came he wanted to have a part in the Pageant. What\u2019s more, he wanted a speaking part. He wouldn\u2019t settle for anything less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they made into the innkeeper. They figured he could handle that because all he had to do was say, \u201cNo room,\u201d twice: once before Mary spoke, once after she spoke. The night of the Pageant, Mary knocks on the door he opens the door, and he says in a brusque fashion, \u201cNo room!\u201d Mary says, \u201cBut I\u2019m sick, and I\u2019m cold, and I\u2019m going to have a baby, and if you don\u2019t give me a place to sleep, my baby will be born in the cold, cold night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He just stood there. The boy behind him nudged him and said, \u201cNo room, No room, say, \u201cNo room.\u2019\u201d And finally, he turned and he said, \u201cI know what I\u2019m supposed to say, but she can have my room.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2013Anthony Campolo in William H. Willimon Ed, Sermons from Duke Chapel: Voices from \u201cA Great Towering Church\u201d<\/strong> (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005), p.294<\/p>

Trina Schart Hyman's illustration for 'A Child's Christmas In Wales' by Dylan Thomas. pic.twitter.com\/iZ4vGIiBXW<\/a><\/p>— Into The Forest Dark (@ElliottBlackwe3) December 25, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>