The story of immigrants is Christ’s story. Some Catholic and evangelical leaders say they will unpack the Holy Family’s immigration plight during Christmas services to offer hope for immigrants worried about what’s coming under President-elect Trump.
Trump and his incoming administration are promising immigration raids — even inside churches — as part of their mass deportation plan, and church leaders say that’s already prompting some immigrants to go into hiding.
Undocumented immigrants appear to be taking Trump at his word — some have left the country, stopped coming to work or disappeared, said Allen Sánchez, New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops executive director.
Latino evangelical churches will be telling attendees at Christmas services to remember Jesus and his family were forced to migrate to Egypt.
Others are emotionally asking evangelical pastors for protection, Gabriel Salguero, president and co-founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, said.
“What I’m telling people in this advent of Christmas is… Jesus understands you because he lived your reality.”
In the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph is told through a dream that King Herod is sending soldiers to kill Baby Jesus over fears He’s the new King of the Jews.
Joseph then gathers Mary and Jesus in the dead of night to flee to Egypt, making them refugees who are escaping persecution.
They only return to the land of Judea after King Herod has died.
In the Gospel of Luke, Joseph is forced to take a pregnant Mary to Bethlehem to register for the required Roman Empire census.
She must give birth to Jesus and place Him in a manger because “there was no room for them in the inn.”
The dire situation highlights the humbleness and poverty of the Holy Family, who were forced to travel by order of the government.
Latino evangelical churches will be telling attendees at Christmas services to remember Jesus and his family were forced to migrate to Egypt for reasons that they could not control, Salguero says.
Salguero says the immigrant story is Christ’s story. “Our primary call is to love our neighbors and love the immigrant and love the stranger, and we’re going to live that through.”
“There may not be room at the inn, but there is room at the church.”Some English-speaking Latino evangelicals who belong to white-majority churches also supported Trump.
Religious leaders of many faiths have long played a role in immigrant rights.
Some have allowed undocumented immigrants to find sanctuary in churches, where immigration authorities have typically not arrested people.
During Trump’s first term, some churches erected nativity installations depicting Mary, Joseph and Jesus separated in cages to protest Trump’s immigrant family separation policy.
Now, church leaders say they want to use Christmas to send immigrants a message: The family of Jesus experienced what you experienced, and the church will be a place of refuge in the coming months.
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