Posada

If I were in Mexico, I would be hearing about posadas in the neighborhood, and I would be planning one at church. Posada means “lodging.” During a neighborhood posada, groups of people walk in a procession through the street to your home, singing songs about how Jesus and his family found no room at the inn. The home offering the posada opens the home to Jesus for his birth day and provides food and drinks to the singing visitors. This would be the Mexican version of caroling. Remember that? Does anyone carol anymore? I miss that tradition! But if the tradition of caroling is gone, the tradition of Christians opening their hearts to families in need is still strong. I am proud of the way Canadians, both Christian and non, have responded to the call of the UNHCR and the Canadian government to welcome Syrian refugee families needing a posada this Christmas.

Carmen Lomas Garza

Today Janey and I listened to a two-hour information session on how to sponsor Syrian refugees in Canada. I learned that the countries around Syria, especially Turkey, have been bearing the brunt of supporting millions of Syrian refugees, but the burden is too great, and the vast numbers are more than these countries can handle. It’s the greatest refugee crisis of our time. The UN is not only running out of food, having to cut refugee rations in half,  but they have also seen that the sheer numbers in these neighboring countries is starting to destabilize the region because no one can provide social services for so many. The UN has requested other countries to help take some of the burden off Syria's neighbors by resettling large numbers in their own countries. Canada has responded by accepting thousands. It’s really a drop in the bucket, but it helps. As the Canadian government brings over these people, it will be up to groups, communities, and neighbors to help these Syrians integrate into life in Canada. Not only do these families face a new culture, a new language, and winter, they also bring their own troubles. Some of them arrive with PTSD and other health issues. What a way to start. Janey and I are part of a group that is sponsoring Syrian families, and we are hoping to be involved in a group from our church, too.

The first family the group is sponsoring arrives Thursday! The leader thought we had until the New Year! And the papers for the apartment are not yet signed, and it has not a stick of furnishing. We aren’t ready! The guy on the MCC informational video, Moses (appropriate name), said one sponsorship group found out their family was arriving in a few days and called him up to plead, “Can’t you tell the family to wait?” His answer was, “This is a protection program. If we tell that family to wait, whom are we protecting?” Whom are we protecting? We are never ready for a crisis, are we? I’m sure that inn keeper would have loved to help out that woman rubbing her heavy belly and trying to keep from groaning out loud with the birth pangs, but he had a crisis on his hands, too, with so many people coming into town, and she should have called ahead and made a reservation like all the other responsible folk traveling at such a busy time. I mean, where were her own people?

Diego Rivera mural

I think that a posada is not something we do—clean the house and cook the food and plan the date to welcome expected, familiar guests—but an attitude we hold all year long, a willingness to fit a few more guests at the table, to blow up the air mattress on short notice, to welcome the family in need that is not coming on schedule. I think God works on us all year to teach us this attitude, but it’s an inconvenient lesson. All of us are that innkeeper sometimes (God is working on that), but I’m glad to be a part of Canada’s posada this Christmas.

P.S. If you would like to help a Syrian refugee family resettle in St. Catharines, let me know. If you are already involved in a group doing this, let me know; we can put our heads together.

Albrecht Dürer