In Wuppertal we are Catholics in the diaspora, the city has long been a stronghold of various Protestant groups. However, the gap is getting smaller: 18 percent of the people here are Catholics. 24 percent are Protestants, but it used to be 60 percent. Our task as the Catholic City Church is to approach the people. When the dealers of the Friedrich-Ebert-Straße interest group asked us in 2009 whether we wanted to set up a nativity scene for Christmas, we came up with the idea of a graffiti nativity scene, which has now become a tradition with us.
Initially, the Wuppertal artist Martin “Megx” Heuwold designed the crib. He has already won prizes and made many exhibitions. After ten years he wanted to take a creative break where we worked with another artist. This year “Megx” is again at work for us. The nativity scene was created in front of the eyes of visitors over the past few weeks, and the graffiti nativity scene is traditionally finished at twelve o’clock on Christmas Eve. It stands on Laurentiusplatz in front of the church, is six meters wide and over 2.50 meters high. It has a black and white graffiti look and forms a kind of backdrop with a small pedestal. There is also a crib stand.
You can walk through this nativity scene and take photos of yourself. This year’s motto is a quote from the mystic Angelus Silesius: “And if Christ were born a thousand times in Bethlehem and not in you, the world would not be saved.” Mirrors are attached to the crib in which the viewer sees himself. In this way one can check whether the Word of God really takes shape in oneself. I blow the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram’s horn, at the manger. The instrument is used by Jews to announce the end of Yom Kippur, for example. I use it to show that Jesus, the child born on Christmas Eve, was a Jewish child.
