At Oak Lawn United Methodist Church’s nativity, Mary and Joseph are silhouettes, surrounded by a chain link fence topped with razor wire. Their halos are old bicycle wheels. A shopping cart and two metal bins, frequently used by the unhoused as firepits, flank the scene.
The arrangement reflects the lives of multiple people on the margins, like immigrants, refugees and the unhoused, said Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison. It’s a nativity that asks passersby to consider what it would look like if Jesus’ birth took place today.
Posters with lines from the hymn “Holy is the Refugee,” declare “Holy are the profiled and patrolled,” and “Holy are our unsheltered neighbors” in English and Spanish…