There is a lot said about immigration in this country. Words like invasion are tossed around as if millions of people are pouring on to our shores on a daily basis and that there is no land for them to live upon, no food to feed them with and that all our systems are falling to pieces because of this threat. Yet the reality is of a desperate few, who are left with no safe route to our land, risking everything to reconnect with family and friends and to make a better life for themselves and those they love. I sometimes ask myself, if the tables were turned. If I was having to flee from war or persecution, what would I do? The answer is always the same. I would do anything to keep my family safe. In the story of Jesus birth, Joseph has to make this decision. A tyrannical ruler is killing all the male children in the land to make sure he wipes out any threat to his throne. The choice Joseph faces is a difficult one. Stay in his homeland where he has family and friends but risk the life of his child or flee to a foreign land and hope that the kindness of others will mean your family survives. This is the choice those crossing the channel to reach the UK make. Not an invasion but a desperate journey to find safety. Like Jospeh, Mary and Jesus all they want is to be welcomed in and kept safe from those who seek to destroy them.
Photo Challenge: Take a picture of something inspired by the word Flee. Use the hashtag #woryem
Flee
Flee from danger
Flee to safety
Flee
What are you fleeing from in this season of advent
Stop for a moment
You do not need to run from this moment
We are a community of faith.
Strandlopers on a journey.
We can welcome those who flee in this season of advent
By God’s grace we go.
Amen