Advent invites us to make space to embrace the liminal space where we celebrate the coming of Jesus while experiencing a reality that feels incredibly distant from Jesus’ Kingdom. It is a space of sacred longing.
This last week of advent, Chasing Justice contributor Elena De La Paz, reflects on this week’s advent theme as she works at Casa Esperanza, a ministry that serves migrants in the northern border town of Los Chiles, Costa Rica.
Join along with us each day of Advent, by purchasing our guide, Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists. In this 20-day guide we lean into our longings for liberation, healing, flourishing and beauty. Together, we join a global chorus who proclaims that Creator is not done yet.
“A weary world rejoices.” I’ve found these words swirling in my head during this season of Advent.
What might provoke rejoicing in us when it seems as if our eyes only meet the gaze of violence and injustice all around us?
This month, I’ve been reminded that beauty provokes rejoicing, often springing up in the most unexpected and overlooked places.
“Though there is brokenness and injustice on all sides, it is beauty that inspires us and helps us to imagine another way for us to live together. Beauty is not just for our eyes, but something we are intended to receive, bathe in, breathe, and then create together.”
— Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists, Day 16.
In the Christmas story, Hope was birthed from below, in a simple stable, surrounded by livestock.
But this Hope, this Beauty, is a story of courageous collaboration and co-creation. God allows Godself to take on human flesh, and Mary joins herself to the creation of Beauty and Hope.
The temptation is to believe that liberation and change will come from the top… Israel begged and pleaded with God for a King. But a seed is first planted in the soil – life springs up from the low and humble places.
I’m currently sitting at a plastic table under some trees, breeze blowing through the branches as they hang down, with some of the kids that arrived with their families for breakfast at Casa Esperanza.
As I listen to pieces of their stories, I am struck by the way their stories reflect the story of the baby Jesus and his family. There are so many young families making the journey north, in hopes of finding a space, even as simple as a stable, safe enough for their children to lay down their sweet heads.
The children and I make paper garland chains together – each link decorated with a word or drawing of something that represents our families’ Christmas traditions. We have constructed a nativity scene made of toilet paper rolls and cotton balls. As we create I’m reminded of this truth in Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists, that the creation of beautiful things is what reminds us that the realities of a broken world are not “sole truth.”
Often, I hear parents lamenting when they arrive at Casa Esperanza:“if I would have known what the “selva” (meaning “jungle” in Spanish and referring to the Darien Gap – the approximately 90km harrowing land bridge connecting South America to Central) was like, I never would have brought my child through.”
It’s a journey that is far from beautiful. The physical path of the Darien is covered with bodies that are decaying. It’s the “infierno” or “hell,” a place of death.
Many people have died in the Darien, but dignity and innocence are said to die here too. People are robbed at gunpoint and knife point. People are swept away in the rivers while attempting to cross. People fall from rock lodges, twisting an ankle – or worse. The vulnerable are left behind by their groups. Women and children are violated.
Children walk out of the Darién still looking like children, but these experiences often rob them of their innocence.
I listen to the stories of what people have lived through as they have left their countries.
A mother with her daughters escaping an abusive partner. A family looking for work that will just pay the bills.
People escaping gang violence in their “barrio” (neighborhood). People looking for opportunities for education, and jobs, and the ability to flourish. People fleeing oppressive dictatorships. The stories are complex… the pain of leaving your home and your family, so evident.
Knowing that they’re journey is far from done and imagining what they might still encounter in a world that is increasingly hostile toward the “other” …. How does a weary world rejoice?
Here, I come back to the story of a baby, lying in a manger, the hope of the world.
And I look around me, seeing in these kids and their families, the reflection of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Beauty has been inspired in me alongside these kids, as we sing “Mi Burrito Sabanero,” and they (the children who are from Venezuela) tell me about the pan de jamón and hallacas that make them fondly think about Christmas time. I see the resilience, curiosity, creativity, and strength that is their heartbeat.
This simple nativity scene, creates space to dream about what it means to find and create spaces of refuge for our neighbor, as we cling to the truth that the baby Jesus longed for this too.
There is deep weariness that comes with the work of seeking justice. “while it takes courage to destroy what is dangerous, it takes sustained courage to build something healthy and beautiful. We carry in us God’s power to create beauty. Our longing for beauty, our creation of it, and the glimpses we see of it are what keep us alive” —Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists, Day 16.
During my stay in Los Chiles, I have witnessed Hope rise amidst the voices, laughter, and creativity of these children. While their voices are often unheard or overlooked, we need them desperately. Stopping to see the world through their eyes, causes a weary world to rejoice.
Purchase your copy of Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists($10) and join the Chasing Justice community as we make space for the reality of this promise, experience it daily and join God in making all things new. Want to try it out before you commit? This post is a sample from our Advent Guide.
Elena De La Paz is a content creator with Chasing Justice. She is passionate about storytelling that challenges the “othering” of people, aiming to reveal our shared humanity. As a biracial person of color and an advocate for multicultural and intercultural living, Elena works with migrant communities abroad at Casa Esperanza. She loves how her work is an embodiment of hospitality, generosity, and solidarity across cultures, races, and languages.
The views and opinions expressed on the Chasing Justice Blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Chasing Justice. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
