More than eight centuries ago, St. Francis of Assisi filled a cave with live animals, a manger and hay, and real people portraying the Holy Family to help Christians visualize the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth. But that first nativity scene had another purpose: to stand in contrast to the materialism and greed of Italian society at that time. From the beginning, then, Christmas crèches have included a prophetic purpose.
So I’ve been surprised by the backlash to a handful of churches in the United States that have used their public nativity scenes this year to highlight the dignity of immigrants. As part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), unidentified masked agents have kidnapped and brutalized people, including those with legal status, detained them without due process, and violently attacked protesters, sometimes using chemical agents. Some churches, using public art to do public theology, have chosen to be prophetic about this key political and moral issue of our time.
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