God With Us in a world on the move
A Christmas reflection from the Acts 11 Project
‘Flight to Egypt’ by Francis Sekitoleko, (from The Christ We Share pack published by CMS, USPG and the Methodist Church)
Christmas is a reminder that migration has always been woven into the story of salvation.
by Joseph Ola
We know that Jesus enters the world into the margins: he was born away from home, visited by travellers from distant lands, and forced into exile as a refugee child. Through his birth and life, we see how God does not shy away from the precarity of human movement – in fact, God inhabits it.
The Yoruba have a proverb that offers a caution in this regard:
“Sún mọ́hùn-ún, a ó ṣorò ilé wa, tí kò jẹ́ kí àlejò di onílé.”
“Make room, we are about to perform our family ritual,”
which keeps the immigrant from ever becoming part of the household.
This proverb exposes a painful truth which has echoed loudly amid various migration policy conversations across the globe: communities can welcome migrants for a while, yet draw invisible lines when true belonging is at stake. A seat may be offered – but not a voice. Proximity – but not participation. Hospitality – but not home. Christmas confronts such boundaries!
In the incarnation, God does not stand at the doorway politely uninvited – he steps inside the human household. Jesus is not kept outside the rituals of belonging; he becomes the centre of the family story. He is not tolerated at the edge – he is welcomed by heaven and earth as Emmanuel: God with us.
May we practise the kind of welcome where newcomers share not just the table but the story
So, as migration continues to shape our societies, Christmas asks us uncomfortable but necessary questions: Are we truly making room, or only appearing to? Do we allow the stranger to become kin, or merely a guest who must not get too close?
May we practise the kind of welcome where newcomers share not just the table but the story – where those on the move discover that, in Christ, they already belong. May we tear down the lines that keep others out. For in Jesus – the eternal outsider – we meet the One who makes us all at home.
As we celebrate the birth of Christ, may we remember that God comes to us not in stability but in vulnerability; not from the centre but from the edges. May we find Christ anew in the migrant, the seeker, the stranger, the neighbour – and also in ourselves, as people continually invited to journey with God.
May the peace, joy, and hope of Christ be with you and those you love.
