Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Weekly sermons from our Central Lutheran Church preaching team plus quick reflections from Pastor Ryan Braley.
Real talk, ancient wisdom, and honest questions — all designed to help you learn, grow, and find encouragement when you need it most.
At Central, our mission is simple: FOLLOW Jesus together, be a community where you BELONG, and LOVE our neighbors across the street and around the world.
Think deeper. Live freer. Share an episode with a friend and visit us in person anytime — you’re always welcome here in Elk River, MN.
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
At the Door with Pastor Ben Carruthers
What if the heart of Christmas isn’t a slammed door but a home that made space when it mattered most? We take a fresh, text-driven look at the Nativity and discover how a single Greek word—kataluma—shifts the scene from a hostile inn to a crowded family guest room in Bethlehem. That shift reframes everything: instead of rejection, we see courageous hospitality that risked reputation to welcome a scandal-marked couple into community.
From there, we bring the story to our own thresholds. We talk honestly about how busyness blinds us to the small moments that save lives, why pride keeps us from the hug or apology that heals, and how grief can fill the doorway until it’s all we see. Along the way, we share vivid stories—a split-second train-window decision, a parenting standoff softened by compassion—that show how ordinary choices become holy when we slow down, notice, and act. The message is simple and demanding: make room. Open the door. Let love interrupt your plans.
You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of the biblical context, practical ways to practice countercultural welcome, and a grounded hope that Emmanuel meets us in the mess, not after it’s cleaned up. If you’ve ever wondered how to live the Nativity rather than just admire it, this conversation offers both clarity and courage.
If this resonated with you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a reminder to make room, and leave a review to help others find it. Who’s at your door this week?
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Well, good morning. Merry Christmas. We're still saying it because we're still in it. We're still in Christmas all the way up to uh January. So we're we're still we're still living in Christmas. So glad you're here. Made it out, the snowstorm, all that kind of it's beautiful outside. But around 10 p.m., we're all gonna be saying this is no longer beautiful when we're shoveling and snowblowing. So thanks for being here. My name is Ben Caruthers. I'm the associate pastor here at Central. And this morning in our one gathered service, which I think is awesome. I love these. It's like it reminds me of Braveheart when they unite the clans. And so here we are together, we're united and one body. And uh one service, and we thought um, I was thinking about what I want to share this morning. I want to share the uh the Christmas story once again, because why not? We're in Christmas, but before Christmas, in our Advent series, we did a we did a topic about the Chronicles of Christmas. Uh the and so we talked about these characters in the nativity scene, and I want to do that again today, but maybe from a different perspective on a certain character that we don't talk a lot about. But it's Christmas time, right? And I love Christmas, probably like many of you. Christmas is an incredible holiday. We love it. Uh and I love the gifting. I love gifting. I love giving gifts, I love receiving gifts, I love giving gifts, I love all of it. One thing I've noticed, first of all, my wife is an incredible gifter, but my uh liking of gifts have changed over the years greatly. So when I was a younger man, not that much younger, probably up to maybe five years ago, I loved getting new electronics. So probably, you want to throw that slide up there for me? You know, whatever the new gaming system was, that was kind of where I was at, man. If you go way back, I had a Genesis, I had the master system, all that kind of stuff. This is the kind of stuff I get really excited about for Christmas to get. Up about what, three or four years ago, I got a game system, so not that long ago. When I looked at the gifts I received this year and the level of excitement that I had over them, I realized my transformation to old man is almost complete. Because my gifts looked a little bit something like this: Lego kits and theology books and Disney books. But the ultimate gift that I received from my wife, and I'm not kidding, I rave about it, I love it, were these bad boys right there. Those old man slippers are phenomenal. The backs fold down if I want to just slide into them, or I can pop them up for action mode if I'm cruising around the house. It's incredible. I was reminded of one incredible gift that I received when I was a kid when I was five years old. We had just moved into uh, my parents still live in Ramsey. We had just moved into Ramsey, and I got a there was a knock at the door on Christmas Eve, and my parents said, Ben, go down and answer the door. Now I have three sisters, so that was obviously the time where they said who was their favorite and chose me to go down to the door. And so I go down to the door and I open it up, and there stood Santa. And what you see there, I didn't move for a good 10 minutes. I stood in complete amazement. I didn't say a word, I didn't move, I just stood there because I could not believe that Santa was in my house. Then he brought me and my kids, or me and my kids, I didn't have kids at that time, I promise. Me and my sisters, a Kringle stuffed animal. We each got a Kringle. And it's an incredible story, and I asked my parents if I could dig this picture up. Because what I love about it is I stood at the door for about five minutes, just staring, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to say, just lost in the moment. In the Christmas story, there's a moment like this. There's a moment where someone opens a door and has to make a decision. And it's the story of the innkeeper. But here's the thing about this story: we're gonna break it down. There is no innkeeper. There was no mean hotel, motel owner that opened the door and shoved them away and said there was no room in the inn. The true story behind it is incredible and it's beautiful. And it reminds us that each and every single one of us stand at a doorway where God has presented something or someone for us to do something about. So as we dive into this passage, listen to it with open ears. Maybe this is the first time you've heard this interpretation of this innkeeper's story. But keep in mind this door that's open and what God might have on the other side for you. So before we get into it, will you pray with me? God, we give you thanks and praise for this morning, for the beautiful snow. We pray for safety as the day goes on for those who are on the roads. Lord, we thank you for Christmas season. It's not over. We're still living in it. So we're still going to talk about it. We thank you for this story of this innkeeper that we've seen in so many children plays and nativity scenes. And it's something we read every year, Lord. So we pray that as we dive into the truth behind it, man, our eyes are truly open to how incredible this story truly is. And the people involved, the sacrifices that they made for what you placed in front of them. So, Lord, lead us and guide us this morning. It's in your name we pray. Amen. So this passage, right? It was read the very first couple passages of chapter two in Luke's gospel, talk about Mary and Joseph having to go to Bethlehem for the census. So they travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Now he has to go there for the census. This is pretty important information. So people from all around that area have to go to their hometown to be counted for this census. It's a pretty important information. You'll find out why. And then a few passages later, we find out that they go to Bethlehem, and of course, there's no room for them in the inn. Maybe this is the picture that we often see, right? Mary and Joseph, that's a very old Joseph, by the way. I don't know if he was that old, but and Mary is very young, which she was. The innkeeper saying, There's no room here, but let's look at the passage. Throw that next screen up there for me. 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 clothes and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. There's nothing mentioned about an innkeeper. There's nothing mentioned about a mean person at the door saying, get out of here, there's no room for you. This is what we have. And over the years, we've taken this passage and created this picture of a mean hotel, motel operator saying, There's no more rooms available for you. So move along. So they have to go into some dirty barn, and that's where Jesus was born. But that is all of us taking this story over a hundred years or so and developing into what we think happened. And there's so much more into it here. There's a Greek word that means in. There's actually two Greek words that we find in the Gospels that mean in. The first is this word kataluma. Everyone say cataluma. Now, this word means in. Now, the interesting thing about this word is it's used one other place in the gospel. It's used one other place where this word for cataluma is used, and it's in Mark's Gospel and Luke's Gospel during the Last Supper, where the disciples are sent into town to find a place for them to have their Passover meal together. Both verses say the same thing here. It says, and say, just as Jesus telling the disciples, and say to the owner of the house, the teacher asks, Where is the catalom? Where I may eat the Passover meal with my disciples. Where is the catalomba? Where is my where is the guest house? Here and in the birth of Jesus is the only place where this Greek word for in is used. There's another place in Scripture where we read the word in, and it's a different Greek word. It's Panoshaean. Everyone say Panochean. Panoshean is used in the Good Samaritan story. Where if we remember that story, remember a gentleman pays for someone to go and stay in an inn or a motel. These are two different words meaning two different things. So, with that in mind, let me paint you a picture of what it probably looked like. Mary and Joseph head to Bethlehem for the census, which means a lot of other Joseph's family also heading to Bethlehem. They arrive in Bethlehem at someone's house. Most likely a family member, most likely a distant relative. Somehow they are connected. And the person answers the door and sees their nephew, their, I don't know, cousin, twice removed, whatever, but they see Joseph and Mary, and we read that there's no room for them in the guest room. Check out this picture. This is what a picture of a house back in the day of Jesus would have looked like. On the main level, when you walk in, you'll see some storage, some kitchen, and you'll see the courtyard, which is where they would bring in their valuable animals at night. They would bring in their animals to stay in the lower level of their house, maybe much like a barn. But the upper level, the upper rooms is where people lived. And many times there was a cataluma, a guest room. And so they arrive at this family member's house, and they might arrive late. If you're anything like my family, you probably arrive late, right, to the party. People have already arrived there, and so there was no more room left in the cataluma. The guest room has been taken. And so this relative of Joseph stands at the door and says, There's no room in the guest room, but you're welcome into my home. You're welcome to come in. We're gonna make room for you. And Jesus was brought into this world, not surrounded by stinky chickens and goats, and there was probably some of that. But the real story is Jesus was probably welcomed into this world with family surrounding him. Now, I know I probably just ruined your whole Christmas with this new story and this new nativity scene. It's it's much more cool than this mean innkeeper, but it's not, and follow me here because this story is so incredible. Because you have to remember who Joseph and Mary were and the scandal that surrounded them. They're not married, she's pregnant. Even if they did get married during this time, people can do the math. And maybe there wasn't Facebook or Twitter or social media, but the word still spread. So this family member of Joseph probably heard rumors about Joseph, their cousin, or their whatever it might be, and and his not yet wife who's pregnant, and this crazy story they're talking about. They probably heard it. The people spilled still spilled the tea, I guess, back then, or whatever you want to call it. Gossip still ran. So this scandalous couple arrives at their doorstep. This couple that people whisper about behind closed doors, this couple who people probably want nothing to do with, arrive at his door and he's faced to them. And he has a decision to make. Does he want to shun them away because he doesn't want anyone to know or know that he helped a scandalous couple or what it might look like on the outside for him and his family? He could have done that. But instead, in front of this couple, knowing what might come his way, what people might say about him, his guest room already full, he opens up his door and lets him in. He lets in this couple. This scandalous couple with this crazy story, and he lets them in. That's so much cooler than a mini mean innkeeper. It's so much more meaningful. Because here's the thing, Central. Who or what does God have standing at the door in your life? In this story, God presented this man who owned this house with this scandalous couple and said, What are you gonna do? Are you gonna send them away? Are you gonna open the door and let them in? Right now, each and every single one of us have something or someone at the door in our lives that God has presented an opportunity to do something with for someone, whatever it might look. The opportunity is there. Are we gonna go and do something about it or are we gonna close the door? What or who is standing at your door? Now here's the thing, man, life is busy. Life is busy and it moves by so fast that we can miss the opportunities that are in front of us if we don't slow down just a little bit. Years ago, my wife and I went to go see the Minnesota Vikings play the Green Bay Packers, and it was the year where they played at TCF Bank Stadium and was outside. And there's so many elements to the story that are not normal. So at the time we were living in Elk River, and so we decided to take the train down to the field. Never ridden the train in my life, not huge on public transportation, not a big fan, but we're like, it'll be experienced, so let's do that. So we get these tickets randomly from her, a boss, and we find a babysitter for the kids, and we hop on the train. And while we're on the train, I'm just kind of looking out the window, and we come to Coon Rapids area, and I'm just looking by chance out the window, and I see this empty parking lot. Trees are kind of covering, it's pretty far off, and I just see one little slip. And it's an empty parking lot, but there's a truck parked in the very, very far back corner all by itself. And I could see what I thought was a hose going from the tailpipe into the window. But we were so far away, and I don't know if it could have been my mind playing tricks on me. And I turned to my wife, and we were on the train, it was a split second. And I turned to her and I said, Ah, I think I this I think this is what I just saw. She's like, How sure are you? I said, I'm not sure at all. The train's moving, I'm excited about the game. She's like, You should probably call the police. So we call the police and we do our best to explain where we are in Coon Rapids on the train to where this parking lot might be. And I give them the information to hang up and we go to the game. And before we're about to walk into the game, my phone rings. And it's the police officer that I talked to. He said, I wanted to call you on behalf of a family. Because we were able to find the guy. And he was trying to take his own life. And his family wanted to reach out and say thank you. Man, life moves really busy. And if I was just caught up in the excitement of the game and the fact that we got a babysitter for a couple hours, God presents things and we don't even know what he's doing with it. Life gets busy. Another thing about life in our life is sometimes we get a little focused on us. And we're looking at our wants and our needs and our desires. And this is not new to this generation or the last generation. This goes back to the Bible. There's two incredible stories in scripture about the disciples, about so caught up in themselves that they're missing what Jesus is presenting at the door for them. In Luke 22, verse 24. This is when Jesus has just presented the Passover meal together with the disciples. And he just had, he just poured out the wine and the bread and gave those words of institution that we speak. My body, which has been given for you, my blood, which has been shed for you. This incredible, powerful movement in Christianity in the world. And the disciples are a part of this moment. And the moment that it's over, the disciples go to bickering about which disciple is the best. That's what scripture tells us. That after this incredible, powerful moment, what Jesus is saying, I'm about to die, my body and my blood is for you for the forgiveness of sins. This is how it's supposed to happen. This incredible, moving, powerful moment. The disciples miss it. And they argue with one another which one of them is the best disciple. Moments after this, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. And he tells three of his closest buddies, listen, my heart is heavy. Stay here at this tree and pray for me. I'm going to go in further and pray. Stay vigilant, stay awake, and pray. Jesus goes in and prays, and he comes out, and what does he see? His best friend sleeping on the job. You see, sometimes life is busy, and sometimes we can get so focused on us that we miss what God is presenting us at the door. I asked my wife a question, and sometimes it's a risky move to ask your wife questions like this, but I did. And I said, Honey, can you think of a time in our life together with children that a time that I missed the boat in parenting? Now, there's probably very slim, you know, but help me out. And it didn't take her long to think of one, and it was a good one. And it happened about five years ago, and uh my oldest son Isaiah and I got into a little argument, and we're not yellers in our house or anything like that, but we got into it pretty good, and he's a pretty stubborn guy, and I'm a pretty stubborn guy, and we went back and forth, back and forth for a half hour, just kind of digging into each other, digging in and digging in until finally we had enough, and he went to his bedroom, and I went to my bedroom, and I'm lying in bed with my wife, and she turned and I just said, you know, how the how do you think that goed? You know, really I wanted affirmation that I did a good job parenting, and that's not what I got, thankfully. She turned to me and she's like, I think he just really needs a hug right now. I think you just need to go down and give him a hug and tell him that you love him. I said, no. I said no. I was so stubborn and so caught up in I'm right, that I missed an opportunity to make sure that my son felt loved. I missed it. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in ourselves that God has something beautiful at the door, and we miss it. Life is busy. We can get sucked into ourselves. But there's a third thing, too, that could be at that door. And this kind of, I think, came this week. This this year, among many other years, but this one in particular, I don't know what it is, but this year it seems that so many people are dealing with so much hurt. There seems to be so much illness and sickness and death and accidents. And it's changing the course of people's lives this Christmas season. Nothing to do with their own actions or anything that they have done. And I think Vody Bakham said it great. He said that no matter how great this life is, no matter how amazing this world seems, this world, this life will always be the land of our affliction. It just seems that there's so much hurt. I gotta call. In the beginning of the week, from my sister, and she told me that her husband, so her in-laws, both passed away within a day of each other. The week of Christmas. I've been visiting some people who are just dealing with illnesses that they had no idea existed in their body, and it attacked them incredibly quickly. There seems to be so much hurt and pain that when you open the door, that's all you see. And you didn't do anything to put these things at your door, this hurt, this mess. But that's what you see because it just consumes everything. But it's those moments, and if you're here on Christmas Eve, I thought Pastor Ryan said it beautifully, that that's what Christmas is for. Because sometimes at your door, maybe there's not a person there that you need to offer forgiveness to, or go to someone for forgiveness, or go and tell them that you love them or give them that hug. That might be what's going on. But maybe for you at the door is just the messiness of life. And the only thing you can do is just open the door and walk through it because you have to. And the beautiful thing about the Christmas story, the Christmas message, and Pastor Ryan said this on Christmas, is that Jesus is with you in the mess. That you don't go at it alone. The hurt and the pain that you feel, the loss, the grief, all of those things that when you open your door, that's all you see, and you feel alone, let Christmas be a reminder that you're not. Let Christmas be the reminder that that's why Jesus came into the world in the way that he did, so that you're not alone in the mess. So that you can walk through it. So, Central, what or who is at your door? What or who has God placed at the doorway, and what are you going to do about it? Is it you just need to slow down and see possibly what God has for you? Is it you have to kind of get out of your own head and stop looking at the mirror and start seeing things, the world and the people in new light? Stretching yourself to maybe offer that forgiveness that you don't want to, to go and say you're sorry even that you don't want to? To offer that hug or that handshake even though you don't want to? Or is it that you just take God's hand and walk through the mess? Knowing that that's why He came. Knowing that's why we celebrate Christmas. This beautiful story of a man opening his door and seeing a scandalous couple and making the choice to let them in. That's a beautiful story of Christmas. So, Central Lutheran Church, who or what is at your door? Amen.
