Christmas traditions suspended in Bethlehem this year

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This article was published 09/12/2023 (965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Christmas has been cancelled in Bethlehem this year. That’s what Palestinian church leaders in that city have decided, because of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

As a result, there won’t be any public celebrations, Christmas lights or a decorated tree in Manger Square — not as long the war continues.

There will still be a manger scene, however, located in the sanctuary of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. But instead of the baby Jesus being surrounded by his adoring parents, shepherds, wise men, animals and angels, it will feature a swaddled doll lying in the debris of a shattered building.

According to the church’s pastor, Munther Isaac, it’s impossible to celebrate the Christmas season in the traditional manner with so much suffering going on in the region.

“This is what Christmas now means to us — that we see Jesus being born among those who have lost everything, who are under the rubble,” he said.

In late November, Isaac was part of a delegation to Washington that implored the U.S. government to support calls for a full-scale ceasefire.

The delegation went to the White House to deliver a letter for President Joe Biden signed by the leaders of the Christian community in Bethlehem, including Isaac’s Protestant denomination and his Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic counterparts.

“We want a constant and comprehensive ceasefire. Enough death. Enough destruction. This is a moral obligation. There must be other ways. This is our call and prayer this Christmas,” the letter said.

Of the two million or so people in the Gaza Strip, fewer than 1,000 are Christians. But like their Muslim neighbours, they too have been suffering as a result of Israeli airstrikes and bombardments. Many of their homes have also been destroyed or damaged. Many in the Christian community in Gaza “are now homeless,” Isaac said.

Also damaged was the Church of Saint Porphyrius, thought to be the third oldest church in the world. Hundreds of people were sheltering there when it was hit; as many as 18 were killed and many others injured.

Some Christians with foreign passports have been able to escape, while the rest feel abandoned, said Tamar Haddad, a regional co-ordinator of the Lutheran World Federation.

“They are calling to us, saying, ‘Let us leave; we either die or we leave,’” she said.

It’s hard to get current information about Christians in Gaza. One source is an article in Christianity Today, an evangelical publication, from late November.

In the article, Nashat Falamon, director of the Palestinian Bible Society, says, “The body of Christ all over the world should work hard on maintaining, providing for, protecting and helping the Christians inside the Gaza Strip.”

A Christian woman in Gaza is also quoted as saying, “Our hearts are broken and we are full of fear and sadness. We are peaceful Christians and reject violence from both sides. Love, as Christ taught us, is the most effective weapon for peace.”

The woman, who is a mother, bemoaned the psychological toll on her children, who have been impacted by the bombing and hunger.

“We see death everywhere. We smell death everywhere,” she said. “(But) in the midst of sadness, pain and heartbreak, we look at the face of Jesus Christ.”

Shadia Qubti, a Palestinian Christian born and raised in Nazareth, now serves as a community engagement animator at Trinity Grace United Church in Vancouver. In a reflection in Canadian Mennonite, she noted that in the gospel of Luke, the shepherds are told to “go and find a child wrapped in bands of cloth lying in a manger.”

It’s difficult for Palestinian Christians to make sense of that bucolic idea today, she said, considering the “barrage of images and sounds of death: numerous images of Palestinian babies plucked from the rubble, babies with death certificates accompanying their birth certificates.”

For Palestinians this Christmas, it’s more about pain and suffering than the traditional sentimental manger scene. “Some of us are grieving the loss of loved ones. Others fear their loss. And many of us are grappling with hope. In this reality, we are afraid,” Qubti said.

If there is any hope to be found in this Advent season, she added, it is “when we look to the stories of our ancestors, of faith and respond to the promise that God is with us. In this season, we Palestinians look to the stories of our ancestors’ fears and cry out: God be with us!”

This Christmas, as Canadian Christians celebrate the birth of the one they see as their saviour, they might join her in prayer on behalf of all who are suffering in the land of Jesus’ birth — Christian, Muslim, Jewish and others. And, perhaps, also pray with the angels who welcomed the Christ child’s birth with songs of peace and goodwill toward all.

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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