Artwork: Holy Family of the Streets by Kelly Latimore
(You can read Andrew's poem "This Isn't Bethlehem" below,
or click play watch the spoken word on the youtube video linked above.)
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This Isn't Bethlehem | by Andrew Reimer
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This isn't Bethlehem
Well, we've heard the words, "good tidings of great joy"
so now we've gotta scrounge to get our kids some toys
Somehow, it's all about a boy
a baby boy
born in Bethlehem
We've heard it again and again
We get the rent-to-own furniture flyers
with pictures of wise men
But this isn't Bethlehem
Out here we don't hear no angel choirs
just traffic and some squealing tires
And there aren't no shepherds keeping watch around campfires
Come to think of it, though,
we've got some shepherds, some folks labelled liars:
If the drunks outside the Yale or the gangsters in jail
or the kids at 7-Eleven
saw the shining hosts of heaven
who would believe them?
Who would follow these witnesses
to go searching for a babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, and lying in a CFS hotel room?
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This isn't Bethlehem
So where is the Messiah, where is the Lord?
We've got so many "messiahs" it's hard to know where to start
Their campaign signs dot the lawns like art
And our "saviours" come in church vans
to serve us pop and hot dogs every time they get the chance
And "lords," there's lots of them
Landlords, lenders, lawyers and more
They decide your life when you are poor
who gets a job, who gets your kids,
who gets to have keys that open a door
Mary and Joseph
would they understand
what it's like to be homeless
in the heart of your homeland?
--
This isn't Bethlehem
And Christmastime for some of us around here
can get so sad and lonely
that the choice is only, "More pain or more beer?"
No, this isn't Bethlehem, but could we still hear,
the holy angel saying, "Do not fear?"
And if it's all about a baby
could we hear about a
beautiful, brown baby boy
who knows our fears and hurts and joys?
A Lord who receives our gifts
who receives our little drummer girls and boys
There's been so many words, so much noise
So, if this isn't Bethlehem
then the word we need, the word that frees us
is God writing, "I am here, I know your tears"
in the flesh
of Jesus
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As a minister serving among people on the margins, I have learned to think contextually. How do the stories in Scripture connect with the lived realities of the people I am serving and with whom I am reading the Bible? How does the Gospel speak good news to my friends who are submerged in bad news?
I wrote the poem, "This Isn't Bethlehem," from the perspective of my friends in Winnipeg's North End, an inner city neighbourhood where I have been living and serving for many years. As I walked with people in the community, hearing their stories, and seeing some of their realities up close, I recognized that the cheery and peaceful sentiments of Christmas must often seem worlds away from their lived experience. Sure, Christmas is a nice idea. The birth of a Saviour in the little town of Bethlehem, announced by angels sounds beautiful, but our life here and now, "this isn't Bethlehem."
For some, the Christmas season is a reminder of their aloneness and isolation, or the relationships in their life that aren't working. I know parents who won't get to be with their kids this Christmas because of conflict with their children's other parent, because they are incarcerated, or because their kids are in foster care. At Christmastime we see people struggle more with depression, anxiety and substance abuse.
People in communities like Winnipeg's North End experience regular reminders that they are at the mercy of others with more power: "landlords, lenders, lawyers and more." Our Indigenous friends have often been treated as problems to be solved or recipients of charity, rather than people with gifts to be received and honoured. These experiences reinforce a sense of hopelessness and shame.
Sadly, my marginalized friends often conclude that their lives are inaccessible to the Christmas tidings, but I love to discover with them the many ways the Gospel accounts of the Incarnation describe suffering and social realities that are actually very close to their own experiences. Jesus' people were colonized, living under the oppression of the Roman Empire. Shepherds, the divinely chosen witnesses to the Saviour's birth, had much in common with the gang-involved youth I have visited in jail; both faced social rejection and mistrust. Jesus was born to poor, unsheltered parents. If Jesus were born today in Canada, I wonder if he would have been apprehended by Child and Family Services (CFS) due to his (un)stable living situation. Mary and Joseph would understand.
Jesus comes near.
Christmas is the celebration of the Word becoming flesh. The medium is the message(1); and God's message in Jesus is his nearness, his identification with humanity in all our suffering and brokenness. "God [is] writing, 'I am here. I know your tears,' in the flesh of Jesus." This message is good news to my lonely, poor, rejected and hurting friends in the North End.
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1. "The medium is the message" is a phrase coined by the communication theorist Marshall McLuhan.
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Andrew Reimer is a community pastor who has been living, learning and building relationships in the inner city of Winnipeg for over twenty years. He loves to walk alongside people who are on healing journeys or seeking to grow as disciples of Jesus and leading contextual Bible studies, exploring how the Good News of Jesus connects with people's lives and community realities.
Andrew is Director of Community Discipleship with Inner City Youth Alive, whose mission is to "bring hope and a future through Christ to youth and their families in the inner city." He enjoys books, music, being outdoors, and spending time with his wife Amie and their three daughters. He and his family are a part of Winnipeg Centre Vineyard.
