The creche is a stark metal cage resembling a prison cell. Inside, baby Jesus lies under a silver blanket like those used by children in U.S. immigration detention.

The nativity scene outside Toronto’s Eastminster United Church aims to inspire Canadians to take a stand against the U.S. treatment of migrants and refugees, according to Rev. Michiko Bown-Kai and colleague Jane Sanden, who came up with the idea when considering issues that require parishioners’ urgent attention.

To mark the season of Advent — the time in the church calendar leading up to Christmas — they chose to put Jesus in a cage to shed light on the plight of migrant families south of the border. Christians believe that, like asylum seekers around the world, the holy family endured the hardships of being refugees, having been forced to flee to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod.

“This art installation is our modern take on the creche tradition which depicts Jesus’s birth in a manger. We believe that we are all made in God’s image, each and every one of us, which is why when we see images of children separated from parents in detention centres, we also see the image of an incarcerated Christ,” said Bown-Kai, after the display was unveiled Tuesday outside the Danforth Avenue church.

This comes just days after a Methodist church in southern California caused a stir when it coincidentally unveiled its own outdoor manger scene depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph as border detainees, each in their own chain-link cage topped with barbed wire.

In the United States, church communities have over the years installed “protest nativities” to draw attention to issues from gun violence to human rights violations.

In Canada, the United Church has had a long tradition of social advocacy and this is part of the ongoing activism by the community on migrant issues, including sponsoring refugees and attending migrants rights rallies, said Bown-Kai.

Under the Trump administration, thousands of families have been detained, with more than 5,400 children separated from their parents since the summer of 2017, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Bown-Kai said the treatment of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border is a big concern for Canada, which has been complicit in the Trump administration’s action as a signatory to a bilateral agreement that deems the U.S. safe for refugees and denies asylum at its official land ports of entry.

“Our hope is that for those of you who have lived this reality, or are worried about family and friends living this reality, that this art installation is understood as a sign of solidarity. We see you, we are praying for you, and we are responding to the call to create a better world,” said Bown-Kai.

“As Christians, our faith calls us to seek justice and to work to build a world where all life and all people are treated as sacred.”

The caged creche, made of plywood and wire, took two days to finish and had been on display at services inside the church since Dec. 1 before it was moved outdoors Tuesday, said Sanden, Eastminster United’s communication and program manager. It is meant to provoke thoughts and conversation on a divisive issue even among Christians, she noted.

Sanden said some of those in favour of the Trump policies against migrants and refugees are “vocal” about calling themselves Christians. “We want people to reflect on what it means to be Christian and rethink this story over and over again.”

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