This is the first Christmas when I will sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and actually know what Bethlehem looks like, who lives there, and what life is like for them.
Bethlehem is not a little town. It is not still. And very few Christians live there today. It is in the West Bank of Palestine, and the guide who led us through the city last June described it as an "open air prison." The sign on the Bethlehem tourism bureau asks visitors to "Pray for Palestine." Arabs who live there are under constant control by Israeli troops, who have built separation walls that inhibit travel by the majority Muslim population.
I just received an email from Nazareth, the site of the angel's annunciation to Mary two thousand years ago. The mayor of Nazareth Illit, which is an Israeli twon with a 7 percent Arab Christian minority, has decided to ban the public display of Christmas trees. He said that Nazareth is a "Jewish city" and wants to maintain the ban as long as he is in office.
There is work to do, friends. The work of love and justice.
This is a prayer written by a man named Raj Patta from Bangalore. He recently visited Bethlehem in a group that included our own member Pauline Coffman.
I thought young Joseph would be there welcoming
but it was young men with guns at checkpoints incoming.
I thought young Mary would be there welcoming
But it was young women with guns at checkpoints incoming.
I thought then it would be the manger that's welcoming
but shockingly, it was the huge concrete wall of separation.
A wall of division
A wall of segregation
A wall of occupation
A wall of humiliation
A wall of discrimination
Making the birht of Jesus' place invisible.
O Jesus, come now to be born again here
to break these walls of domination
to tear down thse walls of demonization
to break open the cruel hearts of oppressions
to restore liberation and peace on this earth
and to bring glad tidings of joy to all these people.
Come Jesus, and come now!
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