Manger Square meets Dewey Square: Occupy protesters mark Christmas

(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com)

Rev. Stephanie Spellers, at left, led the singing of “O Come All Ye Faithful” in the Boston Public Market at Dewey Square.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Around 20 members of Occupy Boston returned to Dewey Square Park for a holiday-themed protest today, the first day the park reopened to the public following the eviction of protesters by police Dec. 10.

Arriving at noon, protesters and protest chaplains — a group of clergy and lay people who have brought a spiritual framework to the Occupy movement — donned biblical garb and held up signs with messages such as “There is still no room at the inn” and “Peace on Earth, goodwill to the 99%.”

They gathered amid the Boston Public Market at Dewey Square to sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” before returning to the roped-off edge of the grassy area where their camp once stood to perform a Nativity play incorporating themes from the protest movement that began in September with Occupy Wall Street and spread to Boston on Sept. 30.

Harvard Divinity School student Robin Lutjohann, a Lutheran, helped organize Thursday’s brief protest. He said the goal was to get away from the consumerism that can overwhelm the holiday and focus on the “revolutionary” themes he finds in the New Testament.

“The message is to show people that Christmas at its heart is about liberation,” said Lutjohann, 25. “It’s not about how expensive is the gift you give to your loved one. It’s not about jump-starting the economy. It’s about liberating the oppressed.”

He said singing cheerful holiday songs can make people forget “that ‘the weather outside is frightful’ actually means people die on the streets.”

The Rev. Stephanie Spellers, 40, a priest at the Crossing at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, led the group in singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” in the public market. Spellers said she became a protest chaplain because many of her parishioners are young adults and people supportive of the movement.

She, too, pointed to the similarities between Christ and protesters in the Occupy movement.

“The point is just to remind people as they celebrate the Christmas season that you can’t celebrate Christmas without acknowledging that Jesus was poor, homeless, disenfranchised and willing to give his life for the many,” she said. “Can we be that generous?”

E-mail Jeremy C. Fox at jeremycfox@gmail.com.
Follow Jeremy C. Fox on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @DowntownUpdate.

(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com)

Micael Zahniser, 29, a parishioner at the Crossing at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, held a sign.