"Making Room for Mary and Joseph."

I just don’t want this journey to end” is a regular cry from the contestants of BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. They are having the best time of their lives, transformative even, and they can’t bear to leave it! I have to admit that when the series comes to an end, I find myself in complete sympathy with them; the journey has been a great joy and I’d appreciate a few more weeks of it.

Many journeys are not that enjoyable though are they. In fact, for many folks a journey can be torturous, and they pray for it to end quickly and safely!

Take Maryam Nuri Mohamed Amin, aged 24 from Northern Iraq, journeying to the UK be with her fiancé who drowned in the English Channel two years ago. She was one of twenty-seven who died during that journey, seventeen men, seven women, two teenage boys and one teenage girl. According to one of her relatives, Maryam’s story “is the same as everyone else, she was looking for a better life”.

These journeys are an urgent humanitarian issue, yet the lives of Maryam and countless others have become politicised and her human dignity is denied with slogans such as “stop the boats”. It is overwhelmingly an issue of and for humanity but also it is a deeply theological issue, as every death in these circumstances is an affront to a loving God in whose image Maryam and everyone else was made.

And as we start this season of Advent, I am struck particularly by Maryam’s story. Maryam is the Aramaic word for Mary, now the Islamic version of Mary. Mary the God bearer, and such a central figure in what unfolds over these next few weeks. Mary who was herself a so-called migrant traveller, journeying through dangerous and potentially hostile terrains. Mary, chosen by God to be the mother of His Son.

It may be hard for us here in Shaw and Crompton to imagine what we can possibly do about the plight of Maryam and the countless others making terrifyingly dangerous journeys to find a safer place to stay. Maybe though the first thing is to face this issue head on and don’t pretend it isn’t happening. The story of Mary and Joseph might just help us to do that! They travelled about eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and the journey would have been hard, dirty and dangerous. Mary heavily pregnant and no doubt exhausted.

We all know well that when they got there, there was no-where for them to stay. There was no room for them, so they ended up in an unsuitable place to sleep, and an even more unsuitable place in which to give birth. It’s a far cry from what we know now to be the right circumstances for a birth but at least the journey had ended, and they were somewhere safe.

The Church is entering the season of Advent, ‘Adventus’ in Latin which means ‘coming or arrival’. It’s a time for thinking about that long journey made by Mary and Joseph and maybe it is also a time when it is good for us to think about the other Mary, or Maryam, and the countless others like her, and to pray for them as they make such dangerous journeys. Perhaps praying isn’t enough for you, and if not, see what you can do to help their plight.

In some of our schools we are honouring a tradition called ‘Posada’ which is a Spanish word for ‘inn’ or ‘place for stopping’. It’s a really lovely tradition, a tradition that encourages us to think about those less fortunate than ourselves, to think about those who just like Mary and Joseph can’t find a place to stay and so have to sleep in dangerous and uncomfortable places. Traditionally in Spain, people dress as Mary and Joseph and with their donkey go from house to house looking for hospitality and blessing. Another way of participating in the tradition is by passing on small figures of Mary, Joseph and the donkey from one home to another, and in each place praying for the journey.

Here there is a simple picture of Mary, Joseph and the donkey and I invite you to look at it as our Posada and as they travel around, looking for somewhere to rest, I challenge each one of you – amidst all the exciting preparations for Christmas - to make some room for Mary and Joseph in your hearts this Advent. And not only for them but for the others too.

This prayer might help:

As we welcome these travellers into our home

We remember all those who are travelling tonight

We remember all those who are looking for rest and shelter tonight

We remember all those who care for and comfort those in need

May God bless us and all those we love as we journey with Mary and Joseph towards celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Amen.

Every blessing for your Advent journey.

Paul.