A young couple arrives in an unfamiliar city, far from home, having made a difficult and dangerous journey, all the more perilous because the woman is nine months pregnant. Without connections or money, they must rely on the kindness of strangers. They are frightened and desperate to find a safe place to stay, but again and again they are turned away. The night is dark and cold and they have nowhere to turn. They begin to panic when she feels labor pains begin. Won’t anyone help them?
This scene sounds like those unfolding on the shores of Turkey and Greece, in the train stations of Germany and France, as Syrian refugees risk everything to travel far from home to seek peace and safety in unfamiliar lands. Desperate and frightened, families turn to strangers for help and are too often turned away. Here in the United States, more than half of our states’ governors have stated that such refugees will not be welcome within their borders, thus slamming the door shut and declaring, “There is no room for you here.”
Yet, the story is not from today’s headlines. Instead, it is an ancient and sacred story being told in churches around the great state of Maine as Christians celebrate this season of Advent and prepare for Christmas. The story is familiar even to those who do not attend church and to those who practice other faiths: the tale of Mary and Joseph knocking on door after door, asking, pleading, “Will you let us in? Can you make room for us, please?” Again and again they are turned away.
Some innkeepers are suspicious of these strangers who come knocking in the middle of the night — fearful they may be robbers using the pregnancy as a ruse to get inside. Others believe they don’t have enough to share and need to look out for those already inside. Finally, they find someone who opens the door, opens their heart, and says: “We will make room for you. We will not turn you away.”
This year, that familiar Christmas story has come to life in the very real struggle of refugees fleeing from violence and persecution. People of every faith and of no faith at all are facing the reality of frightened people, far from home, seeking shelter, asking if we can find room for them. We here in Maine must ask ourselves: How shall we respond to the knock at our door? Do we want to be the ones who slam our doors to families from Syria, from Burundi, from Rwanda, or from any of the other violent and war-torn places across this weary world? Do we want to turn away these families who are far from their homes, so very frightened, and desperately searching for safety and peace?
The Maine Council of Churches does not think so. We believe that most Mainers want to be — are called to be — the ones who open our doors, open our hearts, and say to these families, “We will make room for you. We will not turn you away.”
And as Christmas comes this year, let us not forget that the one whose birth we are even now preparing to celebrate taught us that when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked and welcome the outcast, we do so unto him. Let us remember that he stands in a long line of prophets who challenge us: “Refuse to let your fear or your ignorance prevent you from welcoming and accepting those who are seen as strangers.” That ancient and prophetic wisdom calls us to remember that we were strangers once, too, and in our remembering, to practice radical hospitality, welcoming strangers as people endowed with dignity and worth. When we practice such radical acts of hospitality, “creation takes another step forward, the world moves closer to community, and somewhere — everywhere — the voice of Mystery and Love says, ‘Good.’” So writes the great interfaith leader Rev. C. Welton Gaddy.
The Maine Council of Churches and our fellow Mainers respond, “Amen.”
The Maine Council of Churches wishes you a holiday season alight with joy, peace, love and hope.
The Rev. Jane Field is executive director of the Maine Council of Churches.