On Thursday, vandals knocked down an outdoor Nativity scene in front of Evanston’s Lake Street Church, smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Nativity display, which was put up in late November, was altered this year to pay tribute to community members targeted by President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign.
When church staff saw the scene the next morning, the Rev. Michael Woolf said, they chose to respond, not retaliate. They replaced the figure with a sign stating that Mary had been beaten and dragged away in front of her son — and is now being detained by immigration agents.
“We decided that we were going to continue to say what we had to say,” Woolf said. “Vandalism isn’t going to keep us from our message.”
This is the second time the Nativity scene outside the church has been vandalized. Earlier this month, Woolf said, someone removed the zip-ties from baby Jesus’ hands.
Before it was vandalized, the Mary figure wore a gas mask like those used by protesters to mitigate the effects of gas deployed by federal agents. A sign sits where Joseph would normally be in the scene, stating that he “didn’t make it,” acting as a space to honor and remember individuals taken into custody in the deportation campaign.
Baby Jesus is wrapped in an emergency reflective blanket with his hands zip-tied, symbolizing the feds’ raid on a South Shore apartment building in September. Masked Roman centurions, which were knocked down by vandals but have since been put back up, are dressed as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Kendra Robinson, an Evanston resident, said she had seen the Nativity scene on her walks. She said she felt disappointed but not surprised by the vandalism.
“I love the response back from the church,” Robinson, 54, said. “I think it’s very smart, and I think it just continues with the commentary they were already making. It’s trying to make something good out of [the vandalism], and I think it’s a powerful message.”
Lake Street Church is among several churches around the Chicago area and country that have reimagined their Nativity displays in response to the federal immigration campaign.
The church has used its Nativity scene in previous years to provide commentary on local and international events. In 2023, the church’s scene had baby Jesus lying beneath rubble to call attention to the destruction of Gaza during the Israel-Hamas War.
Woolf said he and other church members feel that they will be able to adapt the Nativity scene no matter what happens: “If there’s gonna be a time where someone destroys all the figures, for instance, then we’ll be able to talk about ICE disappearing people from our community.
“We’re adaptable,” he said. “We imagine it as a living art piece that can withstand anything that somebody throws at it. It’s unfortunate that someone would make this choice, but that doesn’t limit us.”