Already, I am sure, you will have begun to hear the familiar lyrics: “Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays …” and “I’ll be home for Christmas …” For many of us, home is a central theme of the holiday season.
In the midst of the dark and the cold, it’s not surprising we long for the warmth, light, and safety of those closest and dearest to us. It’s not surprising that our hearts and minds — and, yes, our bodies too — turn toward the familiar and the comfortable. We long for the places where we can be who we are, loved and accepted as we are.
At the same time, part of the Christmas narrative tells a different story altogether. It tells the story of how a “decree went out … that all the world should be registered” and that made large numbers of people travel away from their homes so they could be counted and taxed. It tells the story of how many of those traveling were left searching for the very things we celebrate during the holiday season: warmth, comfort, safety, security.
Among those traveling were Mary and Joseph, who — even though she was pregnant — could find no place to stay and who were forced to find shelter in a stable where “she gave birth to her first-born son, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Las Posadas is a Latin American tradition commemorating those days when Mary and Joseph walked the streets of Bethlehem looking for shelter and hospitality. Traditionally, on each of the nine nights before Christmas, processions of people move through the streets of cities or towns and in song ask for posada, that is, lodging. Each time the group is turned away until their arrival at a predetermined place where they are welcomed in with food, drink, games and fellowship.
At the same time, Las Posadas help us not only to remember the experience of Joseph and Mary, but also invite us to walk with them — literally and figuratively, and by extension to walk with all those who continue to seek a safe refuge; those who in our streets, cities, and nations long for the safety of a warm welcome. Las Posadas invite us, certainly, to share in the biblical narrative by walking in the steps of Joseph and Mary, but also to walk in spirit with all those who today seek a place that feels like home; a place of security, hospitality, and friendship, a place of belonging.
We all need a place to belong. We all need places where we are received and welcomed; a place that we can call home. Some of us are far more fortunate than others in having or finding such a place. Walking Las Posadas is a witness to the fundamental human need for home, but also a statement about the many who are still in search of it.
Join Las Posadas this year and walk in procession through the streets of our downtown. Come and walk with Mary and Joseph in the company of your fellow citizens. Come and walk in solidarity with those all who long for home, who seek safety and a welcome in our city.
On Dec. 16, you are invited to walk Las Posadas. Come gather at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (2216 17th St.) where our procession will begin at 5 p.m. From there we will walk for just under 2½ miles to a number of our city’s businesses and ultimately find warm and generous hospitality at Mill Creek Christian Church (1660 S St.). All are welcome to this event.
— The Rev. Luis M. Rodriguez is the priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
