More than two billion Christians around the world celebrate Christmas this week, but those celebrations are very different where Jesus Christ was born. Christian leaders in Bethlehemlocated in the West Bank occupied by Israel, decided Cancel public celebrations due to devastating war in Gaza.
There has been little joy in the Holy Land this year, and certainly little peace.
There has been little joy in the Holy Land this year, and certainly little peace.
After Brutal Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, Gaza neighborhoods were subjected to sustained Israeli bombardment. The 800 to 1,000 Christians in Gaza are ” Endangered “ Israeli bombings, according to Reverend Dr. Mitri Raheb. “We know that in this generation, Christianity will cease to exist in Gaza,” said Raheb, president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem.
A tragedy has shaken the small Christian community of Gaza. An IDF rocket hit the convent of the Sisters of Mother Thérèse and two Christian women were shot while walking around the grounds of the Church of the Holy Family on December 16 according to has the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. (The IDF has denied responsibility.)
“As Christians around the world celebrate the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, Palestinian families in Gaza will struggle to find food, shelter and medicine, and will attempt to pull their loved ones out of the rubble,” Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Quaker Friends Committee on National Legislation, told MSNBC.
Canceling Christmas in Bethlehem is a drastic decision, which should shock Christians around the world and prompt them to heed the calls of Palestinian Christians.
“I always say we need to de-romanticize Christmas,” said the Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. said in an interview with NPR on the cancellation of Christmas festivities. “In reality, it is the story of a baby born in the most difficult circumstances and under the occupation of the Roman Empire, who himself survived the massacre of children at birth. So the connection was natural for us.
In the United States, Christian calls for a ceasefire are also growing louder.
The same day, the IDF reportedly killed two Christian women in Gaza, The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for “an immediate cessation of all hostilities, the release of the hostages and serious negotiations with a view to a peaceful resolution of this conflict.” The UCSSB tends to be much more conservative than Pope Francis, and the bishops’ advocacy carries considerable weight with the nation’s second Catholic president. “We resolutely add our voices to those of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to remind all parties involved in this conflict that war is never the solution but always a defeat,” said the USCCB President. , Timothy P. Broglio.
Pope Francis spoke directly by telephone with President Joe Biden on October 22. White House official reading out loud Their conversation said they “discussed the need to prevent escalation in the region and work toward lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Bishop William J. Barber II, director of the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy and president of Repairers of the Breach, stressed the need for consistency on the part of Christians. “When Hamas indiscriminately murdered, raped and kidnapped civilians on October 7, it was wrong,” he told me. “When Netanyahu’s government – and not the Jewish people – responded with vengeful and indiscriminate bombings and killings, that was also wrong. Likewise, the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people over the years are false. Anti-Semitism and violence are wrong. Islamophobia and violence are bad.”
Barber also highlighted her interfaith allies in the cause of peace.
“As a Christian, I also cannot take a moral position without recognizing that my brothers and sisters from other faith traditions share these concerns,” he said. “I have Jewish friends and Muslim friends who are just as committed to peace as I am – Jewish friends who deeply disagree with Netanyahu’s approach; Muslim friends deeply at odds with Hamas. As Christians, we must always do this together, in moral fusion, with our Jewish, Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters, because Jesus prayed that we would be one.
And in this interfaith solidarity there is perhaps a small kernel of hope.
“Our faith in Christ reminds us that war is not the end of history and that darkness and evil will not prevail,” the Rev. Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Peace, told me. Middle East. “We cling to this truth as we pray for the return of the hostages and for the Palestinians in Gaza who desperately await an end to the bombing and ground invasion. »
The devastating toll of the Israeli war in Gaza is difficult to imagine and impossible to justify from the point of view of Christian ethics.
A creative form of Christian peace activism has been Ceasefire songs. Adapting traditional Christmas carols, singers demonstrated for a ceasefire across the country. Organizers Sarah Abbott and Anna Lemler told MSNBC that they started the project “in response to questions raised by anti-Zionist Jewish organizers and by Palestinian, Arab and Muslim organizers: Where are the many Christians protesting against terrorism? ? this genocide, for the return of the hostages and against the occupation of Palestine?
The devastating toll of Israel’s war is difficult to imagine and impossible to justify from the point of view of Christian ethics. So far it is estimateted that nearly 15,000 children were killed or injured in Gaza. U.S. support for the war is also a political decision that Americans, and American Christians in particular, have the political power to influence. We can help ensure that the sounds of celebration resonate again in Bethlehem.
“The call of Scripture, the example of Jesus, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit can never bend to the politics of any country,” Barber told me. “We must speak the truth in love and repent when we do not.”
