Imagine getting dozens and dozens of boxes in the mail and as you open them one by one, what you find inside fills you with surprise and awe.
It’s no wonder Kimberly Adams “felt like a kid at Christmas” a couple weeks ago as she and two other members of New England Congregational Church unpacked 40 creches on loan to the Aurora congregation from Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago, known for its exhibits that explore the spiritual in art from all cultures and faiths.
That includes its expansive collection of Nativity scenes from around the world.
Now envision all those borrowed displays set up in the narthex of the Aurora church at 406 W. Galena Blvd.
Fortunately, you won’t have to use your imagination because New England Congregational is inviting the public to a free open house on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. featuring this beautiful display that uniquely celebrates the diversity of the Christian faith.
The seed for the Aurora event was sown by members of the church’s Students of the Beloved Community, a social and racial justice committee formed in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd to promote better understanding of other races and other cultures in this predominantly white congregation.
One of the group’s accomplishments over the last three years was to display non-Anglo/European depictions of the Nativity, all of which came from the congregation’s home collections. This partnership with Loyola University Museum of Art, says committee member Rick Guzman, “is taking this idea to a new level.”
The Loyola collection started in 2009 when James and Emilia Govan gifted the museum with a large number of creches from their worldwide travels, said Loyola University Museum of Art Manager Kyle Mathers. It now contains over 700 Nativity scenes, with many donated and others purchased through donations.
“The Govans traveled all over the world to meet the artists in person and to commission these pieces,” he added. “Their goal and ours is to mass a collection as complete as possible.”
Because the collection is so vast, it is often displayed at the downtown Chicago museum on a rotating basis. That prompted members of the New England Congregational committee, which also included Maureen McKane and Ellen Bonewitz, to see if the university would be willing to loan some of the pieces to this Aurora church dedicated to promoting diversity.
Much to their surprise, “they said yes right away,” Adams told me.
Parts of the collection are loaned out about once a year, but it is far more common to work with museums, rather than a church or community group requesting such a partnership, said Mathers.
This was an obvious win-win for both groups.
“Not everyone can make it into the city to come to our creche display,” Mathers said. “This gives us a good opportunity to not only help out New England Church but to share our collection with others would would not normally see it.”
While the vast majority of the large Loyola University Museum of Art collection is American or European in origin, New England Congregational chose Nativities from South America, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific islands. The display not only highlights varied skin colors of the Holy Family, each scene is made from natural material native to that part of the world.
“It is so cool to see what each (country) is using, how they are making it and the art that goes into it,” said Adams, noting as examples “bamboo from the Philippines, local fabrics and recycled material from Ghana, ebony wood from Tanzania, beads strung on wire from Zimbabwe and banana leaves and wood from Uganda.”
“It was great to hear their focus is on pieces that look a bit different than what we see on display in our homes or in a store or outside a church,” said Mathers. “It was a little unusual not loaning to another museum but we were very happy to do it.”
In addition to the Nativity display, the open house on Sunday will include a live concert with pianist and composer Jose Valdes, who will perform South American and African music in the sanctuary of the church. Refreshments will also be served.
On Saturday, a team of six people, wearing surgical gloves to protect these precious pieces, was “oohing and aahing all the way through” as they set up this display, noted committee member McKane.
“To see the Christmas story through the eyes of so many peoples from the rest of the world has been amazing,” she added.
“It’s a reminder that we are only a small portion of mankind.”
