A Nativity scene at the Claremont United Methodist Church shows Mary,
Joseph and baby Jesus separated by cages.
(Meghan Bobrowsky • The Student Life)
An untraditional Nativity scene depicting Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus as refugees separated in cages was put up at the Claremont United Methodist Church over the weekend.
With its life-size figures, towering cages topped with barbed wire and baby
Jesus wrapped in an aluminum blanket, the church alludes to President
Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has separated thousands of undocumented families at the U.S.’ southern border since he took office in 2016 without a clear plan to reunite them.
The policy allegedly ended in June 2018 when Trump signed an executive
order stopping the practice, but families are still being separated,
according to NBC.
“In a time in our country when refugee families seek asylum at our borders
and are unwillingly separated from one another, we consider the most well-known refugee family in the world, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family,”
a plaque accompanying the display reads.
The plaque explains how the family was forced to flee from Nazareth — a city located in modern-day Israel — to Egypt to escape a tyrant and possible persecution or death.
“Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus, no older than two, taken from his mother and placed behind fences of a Border Patrol detention center as more than 5,500 children have been the past three years,” the plaque said.
Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has separated thousands of undocumented families at the U.S.’ southern border since he took office in 2016 without a clear plan to reunite them.
The policy allegedly ended in June 2018 when Trump signed an executive
order stopping the practice, but families are still being separated,
according to NBC.
“In a time in our country when refugee families seek asylum at our borders
and are unwillingly separated from one another, we consider the most well-known refugee family in the world, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family,”
a plaque accompanying the display reads.
The plaque explains how the family was forced to flee from Nazareth — a city located in modern-day Israel — to Egypt to escape a tyrant and possible persecution or death.
“Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus, no older than two, taken from his mother and placed behind fences of a Border Patrol detention center as more than 5,500 children have been the past three years,” the plaque said.
The plaque accompanying the Nativity scene at the Claremont
United Methodist Church explains the display.
(Meghan Bobrowsky • The Student Life)
The church’s Nativity scene “takes the place of the thousands of nameless families separated at our borders,” according to the plaque.
Keck biology professor Lars Schmitz said he found out about the Nativity
scene through a Los Angeles Times article and visited it Sunday evening.
He described it as “a very powerful installation that provokes and makes
you think.
“I think it is good and necessary for the church, considered to be a moral
and ethical stalwart, to make the caging of children at the border a central issue,” Schmitz said via message. “This is not about politics, it is about what
is right.”
Inside the church, another Nativity scene shows the family reunited,
according to the plaque.
Karen Clark Ristine, Claremont United Methodist Church’s senior minister,
could not immediately be reached for comment, but posted a photo of the Nativity scene to her Facebook Saturday evening and said she was “stirred
to tears.”
The display has garnered national attention, including over 7,000 comments
and 19,000 shares on Ristine’s Facebook post as of Sunday evening and
articles in multiple national news outlets like The Washington Post and
NBC News, in addition to the LA Times.
https://tsl.news/nativity-scene-at-claremont-church-shows-mary-
joseph-and-baby-jesus-as-refugees-in-cages/
Keck biology professor Lars Schmitz said he found out about the Nativity
scene through a Los Angeles Times article and visited it Sunday evening.
He described it as “a very powerful installation that provokes and makes
you think.
“I think it is good and necessary for the church, considered to be a moral
and ethical stalwart, to make the caging of children at the border a central issue,” Schmitz said via message. “This is not about politics, it is about what
is right.”
Inside the church, another Nativity scene shows the family reunited,
according to the plaque.
Karen Clark Ristine, Claremont United Methodist Church’s senior minister,
could not immediately be reached for comment, but posted a photo of the Nativity scene to her Facebook Saturday evening and said she was “stirred
to tears.”
The display has garnered national attention, including over 7,000 comments
and 19,000 shares on Ristine’s Facebook post as of Sunday evening and
articles in multiple national news outlets like The Washington Post and
NBC News, in addition to the LA Times.
https://tsl.news/nativity-scene-at-claremont-church-shows-mary-
joseph-and-baby-jesus-as-refugees-in-cages/
...μήνυμα συμπόνιας στέλνει η φάτνη εκκλησίας στο Λος Άντζελες
Παράδοση χρόνων είναι οι φάτνες στον εορτασμό των Χριστουγέννων.
Μία, όμως, εκκλησία στο Λος Άντζελες στέλνει με τη δική της φάτνη ένα διαφορετικό
και βαθιά χριστιανικό μήνυμα συμπόνιας.
Η Claremont United Methodist Church έστησε μια μη παραδοσιακή φάτνη για
να μιλήσει για τη μεταχείριση των προσφύγων από την κυβέρνηση των ΗΠΑ: αντί
η Παρθένος Μαρία, ο Ιωσήφ και ο νεογέννητος Ιησούς να είναι κάτω από την ίδια στέγη, είναι τοποθετημένοι μέσα σε «κλουβιά», μακριά ο ένας από τον άλλον.
Η ιερέας Karen Clark Ristine ανήρτησε τη φωτογραφία στο Facebook,
στις 9 Δεκεμβρίου, συνοδεύοντάς την με ένα κείμενο:
«...Σε μια περίοδο που στη χώρα μας οικογένειες προσφύγων αναζητούν άσυλο στα
σύνορά μας και χωρίς οι ίδιοι να το επιθυμούν τους χωρίζουν τον έναν από τον άλλον,
αναλογιζόμαστε την πιο γνωστή οικογένεια προσφύγων σε όλον τον κόσμο.
Τον Ιησού, τη Μαρία και τον Ιωσήφ, την Αγία Οικογένεια.
Λίγο μετά τη γέννηση του Ιησού, ο Ιωσήφ και η Μαρία υποχρεώθηκαν μαζί με τον
μικρό υιό τους να δραπετεύσουν στην Αίγυπτο φεύγοντας από τη Ναζαρέτ για να
ξεφύγουν από τον Βασιλιά Ηρώδη, έναν τύραννο. Φοβόντουσαν διωγμό και θάνατο.
Κι αν αυτή η οικογένεια ζητούσε καταφύγιο στη δική μας χώρα, σήμερα;».
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/us/nativity-scene-cages-claremont.html
https://www.amren.com/news/2019/12/photo-nativity-scene-shows-holy-family-separated-caged-at-u-s-border/
https://www.boredpanda.com/nativity-scene-cages-claremont-united-methodist-church/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
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