Contrasting images of the Holy Family have shaken my reality as I write this column in mid-October and think forward to the Advent season when it will be published.
Last Sunday, I preached in the new Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Medicine Hat at an ecumenical service celebrating Alberta's centennial. The family of God in that community joyfully expressed unity and shared vision as we minimized the walls that often divide Christians. The massive metal sculpture in the narthex depicts a delighted family at play with Jesus, at about age seven, laughing with his parents.
In contrast, the following Friday, a grim image of the Holy Family was reflected in the border town of Sasabe, Mexico. There, I watched a young family, water jug in hand, begin a perilous trip across the Arizona desert. The family-a man, a woman and a baby propped on her hip-are Mexican migrants who are desperate to flee. Like Mary, Joseph and Jesus on their way to Egypt, they set out on a treacherous journey, vulnerable and poor.
My husband, Matthew, and I were at the border that Friday as part of a BorderLinks mission tour. BorderLinks is an ecumenical, faith-based organization that focuses on education around border issues. Our group of 14 was led by Rick Ufford-Chase, Moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and co-founder of BorderLinks in Tucson, Ariz. The trip was designed as an immersion experience to create dialogue among North Americans at the place where the First World and the Third World meet.
The day we crossed the border going south, over 1,000 undocumented migrants crossed the border going north. It was a slow day. In peak season, 3,000 migrants per day attempt the crossing. Many are returned by U.S. Border Patrol; many make it; and, tragically, many die in the desert.
In Mexico, we spoke with migrants and heard their heart wrenching stories of having to leave home to find work to feed their families. For two nights we stayed with families in a squatters' community in Nogales. We were received with grace by a family who could not offer plumbing or electricity, but whose hospitality was generous.
Since the creation of the free trade zone along the border, U.S. and Canadian companies have opened manufacturing facilities in Mexico. Farms and local industries that once supported Mexican communities are unable to compete. As a result, migrants move north to find jobs, resulting in massive social problems. Faced with these issues, along with scarce and low paying jobs, many Mexicans are unable to earn a living wage and cross the border looking for work. Due to increased militarization of the U.S. border, particularly in urban areas, undocumented migrants have few options but to cross at dangerous places-like the desert.
The issues are complex and relevant for Canadian Christians. As the church, in a time of globalization, we need to be aware of the ways that trade strategies and public policies affect us and our neighbours. As a global organization, the church can speak prophetically, giving voice to those who have no voice, in order that the gifts of the advent of Jesus Christ-hope, peace, joy and love-are truly experienced by the whole family of God.
There are national borders, but there are also boundaries and borders in our communities that create insiders and outsiders. As Christians, we must be aware of and attentive to the borders that divide and exclude people.
In the season of Advent and Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation which is a divine border-crossing in which God became human to dwell among us. Jesus crossed borders throughout his ministry, with those of other regions, with poor people and rich people, with women, with children, with those in authority. His life began when no one would make room for his family and his birth. The rest of his life was spent making room for outsiders to be included in the fullness of God's love.
May the gift of Emmanuel, God with us, bless you and your family, and all the families of the world this Christmas.
