{"id":428874,"date":"2025-12-06T13:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T13:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/428874\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T13:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T13:38:12","slug":"oak-lawn-umc-unveils-reimagined-nativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/428874\/","title":{"rendered":"Oak Lawn UMC unveils &#8216;reimagined nativity&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/olumc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oak Lawn United Methodist Church<\/a><\/strong> today (Friday, Dec. 5) unveiled what the church calls \u201ca powerful new public installation\u201d on its front steps \u2014 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/olumc.org\/nativity-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201can artistic reimagining of the traditional Nativity <\/a><\/strong>that places the Holy Family in the lived reality of thousands of migrants and asylum-seeking families today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The installation \u201cinvites the Dallas community to see the Christmas story through the eyes of those fleeing violence, poverty and political instability,\u201d according to a press release about the work.<\/p>\n<p>OLUMC Senior Pastor the\u00a0<strong>Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/dallasvoice.com\/lgbtq-texan-of-the-year-the-rev-rachel-griffin-allison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>recognized today as Dallas Voice\u2019s LGBTQ+ Texan of the Year<\/strong><\/a> for her leadership in painting the church\u2019s front steps in the colors of the rainbow as, in her words, a<\/strong>s \u201ca prayer of sacred resistance, declaring that God\u2019s love will not be silenced, [that] God\u2019s love can\u2019t be erased\u201d \u2014 said of the Nativity: \u201cThe Holy Family were migrants seeking safety. In Dallas, many families face the same uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said that by grounding the Nativity in a contemporary humanitarian crisis, the church hopes to spark deeper compassion and honest reflection during the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Christmas, we remember that God chooses to be with those the world pushes to the margins,\u201d said\u00a0<strong> <\/strong><strong>Griffin-Allison<\/strong> added. \u201cMay this scene call us to make room \u2014 in our hearts, in our city, in our policies \u2014 for the Christ who comes as an unhoused immigrant child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oak Lawn UMC, the press release notes, \u201cserves as a key community hub for hospitality ministries, including outreach to unsheltered neighbors and support for recently arrived migrant families through Dallas Responds. This installation reflects the congregation\u2019s ongoing commitment to embodying solidarity, justice, and radical welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Nativity will be on display throughout the Advent and Christmas season. Church leaders encourage community members \u201cto visit, take photos and reflect on how the story of Christ\u2019s birth speaks into the urgent realities facing Dallas today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">\u2014\u00a0Tammye Nash<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oak Lawn United Methodist Church today (Friday, Dec. 5) unveiled what the church calls \u201ca powerful new public&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":428875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,136892,5603,199457,199458,170494,170495,170496,170497,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-428874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-gayborhood","11":"tag-lgbtq","12":"tag-lgbtq-texan-of-the-year","13":"tag-nativity-reimagined","14":"tag-oak-lawn-united-methodist-church","15":"tag-olumc","16":"tag-rachel-griffin-allison","17":"tag-rainbow-steps","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115672901817215394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}