Nativity, Justice, and Fossil Free PCUSA by Aida Haddad

(based on Luke 2:5-7 and Matthew 2:13-23)

We all know some iteration of this story: a pregnant Mary and a confused Joseph, both brown second-class citizens in a hostile empire, travel to Bethlehem. They do so to add their names to a registry which would subsequently be used to hunt their newborn babe, Jesus the Christ.

Was the last part jarring to read? Fair.

In a sense, it should be. Because that part of the story is more disturbing than it is hopeful, it is more an unraveling than a resolution, and it has more connections to present U.S. policies towards people of color than we could even make.

Many church Christmas pageants have dwelled dramatically on the journey into Bethlehem; truthfully, the journey itself is only alluded to in two verses of Luke’s narrative while persecution riddles the rest of the Christmas scripture.

I recently re-discovered this truth when I went back to Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth and the Holy Family’s subsequent journey. Soon after Jesus is born, an angel tells Joseph to seek asylum in Egypt with his family–otherwise, Herod would ‘destroy’ Jesus. In short, Herod begins as a demagogue bent on controlling the lives of vulnerable peoples and, motivated by his fear of losing power (Matt. 2:3-8), eventually orders a full-on genocide. Jesus is spared, but Herod’s wrath falls on ‘all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under,’ per what he knew of the timeline of Jesus’ birth.

Sometime later, an angel arrives at Joseph’s home in Egypt, telling him that his family can return to Judea; they only move as close as Galilee because Herod’s son is now the ruler of Judea.

And so, one of the lessons we glean from the Nativity story reality is this: Christ may have brought a new Kingdom to Earth, but God worked alongside and through the Holy Family as soon as Christ arrived, in the midst of incredible suffering.

I was one of the Presbyterians who walked from Louisville (the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church USA) to St. Louis (where the General Assembly was held) this year, imploring that the PC(USA) divest from fossil fuels. We walked for change as witnesses to those who must walk in search of sanctuary from climate-driven natural disasters, climate-driven famine, climate-driven violence, and climate-driven poverty. Like the story of Mary and Joseph, our story did not end at our first stop in St. Louis. Our church rejected our cries for a fossil-free PC(USA) and in turn, they rejected frontline communities across the globe–there was no resolution, only an unraveling of trust. And yet, God is with us. And months after we’ve returned home, we continue our sprint towards justice.

Also, like Mary and Joseph, we sought welcome as we walked and were received into church after church with an abundance of love and fellowship. Unlike Mary and Joseph, who were on the front lines of a devastating tragedy, most of us who walked are not members of the frontline communities most directly facing threats to their existence every day.

May we acknowledge that God remains with frontline communities, our present Holy Families, in a more tangible way than we will ever experience. May we act accordingly in word and deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus. This is the Good News.

Let it be so.

Aida Haddad, M.Div., is presently pursuing an M.D. at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM). She feels called to work at the intersection of medicine and environmental justice, believing that Fossil Free PCUSA does just that. As a member of the steering committee, Aida looks forward to organizing delegation outreach to frontline communities. Pictured is Aida (center) with her siblings (/best friends) at IUSM’s white coat ceremony.