Nativity Scene To Remember
Many of today’s Religious Holists and Humanists are cultural Christians. Our current beliefs notwithstanding, we remember – and often still celebrate – Christmas. Our focus may be more on family and the pagan Christmas tree now than on the Holy Family. And there’s nothing wrong with that. (Evolving into a Religious Holist or Humanist shouldn’t erode family ties or demolish cherished traditions: it should enhance our lives, not diminish them.)
As a Holist / Humanist pastor, I occasionally speak against hypocrisy of the Christian Church. This time, I have to make an exception.
This year the Claremont United Methodist Church (http://claremontumc.org) in Claremont, CA – like all other Churches in the world – prepared for Christmas by recreating the nativity scene. It may seem unremarkable and it would be, except that this nativity scene is different than all others.
As you see, it depicts the Holy Family separated: each family member in a separate cage, with Baby Jesus wrapped in a Mylar blanket and kept away from his parents. I can’t think of a more fitting statement for Christmas 2019.
I’d like to thank Rev. Karen Clark Ristine and the Congregation of the Claremont United Methodist Church for their courage and honesty and for making the refugee crisis on our southern border the focus of their Christmas display, again. Putting ideological differences aside in the spirit of the Season, I and the Holistic Church’s Congregation stand together with Claremont United Methodist Church in hope that their dramatic statement evokes empathy the plight of separated families and children deserves from every person who considers themselves ethical regardless of their political or religious affiliations.
Our backgrounds, ethnicity, language, etc. aside, we are all human beings. We all love our families. We cherish and protect our children; they are our most valuable “assets”. We’ll make every sacrifice to keep our children safe, healthy, well taken care of, well-educated and happy.
Treating refugees not like the survivors they are but as criminals; jailing them; separating children from their parents; subjecting innocent children to the trauma of separation; neglecting the welfare of detained children is a crime against humanity that never before took place in the United States of America.
Lady Liberty is a statue. She can’t see or react. We see what’s happening. We are horrified and ashamed that crimes against humanity are committed in our name. I’m not a Christian for many years now, but the image of Baby Jesus covered with a Mylar blanket – in real life, probably on concrete and not in a manger – and separated from his parents is a visual that expresses the state of our Country’s morality, right now. Today, our Country is HEARTLESS toward the most vulnerable: foreign AND domestic.
Thank you and Merry Christmas to Pastor Karen Clark Ristine and the Claremont United Methodist Church’s Congregation!
To all who celebrate Christmas and all who celebrate a different holiday in December: Happy Holidays!
To those who merely enjoy time off work during the holidays, savor every moment!
Regardless of your December tradition or plans, take a moment to think of Baby Jesus covered with Mylar and locked up in a cage. Would you take any baby (yours, mine or stranger’s) of any kind (human or animal) away from its parents, lock it up in a cage and cover it with a Mylar blanket?… Neither would I. And yet, we all share responsibility for the treatment of refugees in the US today, including migrant children traumatized by family separation, conditions of detention, with poor prospect of ever being reunited with their parents. We all share responsibility for children deaths that occurred due to neglect in our detention facilities.
If another Holly Family with Baby Jesus was among them, WE would have torn them apart, caged each separately, had them sleep on concrete under Mylar blankets and forced them to drink toilet water.
Not one of us stepped between the “authorities” and the refugees and at least tried to stop the inhumane treatment of refugees. As a nation, we don’t follow the doctrine of Christianity or even basic rules of right and wrong. Let the Claremont United Methodist Church’s nativity scene remind us of our humaneness!
Thank you Pastor Ristine and Claremont United Methodist Church’s Congregation for putting our moral failings on full display. May the unforgettable images you created inspire each of us to be better and do better. May the horror depicted by your nativity scene never take place in our Country – or anywhere else! – again. NEVER FORGET!
