"The Christ child still lies among the rubble, reminding us that God chose not safety, not power, not palaces—but vulnerability and solidarity with the crushed of the earth. And yet now, rising from that rubble, stands a tree - a living tree. For me, this is a profoundly Palestinian image—and a profoundly Christian one. The tree is declaration. It is the tree of life. It is defiance in the face of death. It is hope planted where despair is expected to rule. The tree appears almost as if it grows out of the rubble itself. Not beside it. Not after it is cleared away. But from within it. This is our story." Rev. Munther Isaac

Rev. Munther Isaac منذر اسحق

@MuntherIsaac

 

Today I had the chance to visit Christmas Lutheran Church, where I served for more than ten years—eight of them as the main pastor. 

 

Returning to a place that shaped so much of my life and ministry is never an easy experience. It carries memory, prayer and appreciation. 

 

Under the faithful and courageous leadership of my dear friend Rev. Ashraf Tannous, the church made a deliberate and meaningful decision: to keep Christ in the Rubble—but to place it under the Christmas tree. 

 

This old-new crib spoke to me again. 

 

The rubble remains. 

 

The broken stones are still there. 

 

The Christ child still lies among the rubble, reminding us that God chose not safety, not power, not palaces—but vulnerability and solidarity with the crushed of the earth. 

 

And yet now, rising from that rubble, stands a tree - a living tree. 

 

For me, this is a profoundly Palestinian image—and a profoundly Christian one. 

 

The tree is declaration. 

 

It is the tree of life. 

 

It is defiance in the face of death. 

 

It is hope planted where despair is expected to rule. 

 

The tree appears almost as if it grows out of the rubble itself. 

 

Not beside it. Not after it is cleared away. But from within it. This is our story.

 

A cry from the heart and a call to action from a Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian

In this impassioned and incisive book, Munther Isaac challenges Western Christians’ uncritical embrace of Zionist theology and politics. Speaking from his unique vantage point as a prominent Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian, he proclaims a truth that is rarely acknowledged in Christian circles: Israel’s campaign to eliminate the Palestinian people did not begin after October 7, 2023. Rather, the campaign is a continuation of a colonial project with nineteenth-century roots that has, since 1948, established systems of entrenched discrimination and segregation worse than South Africa’s apartheid regime. 

Writing with close-up knowledge of conditions on the ground, and rooted in a commitment to nonviolence and just peace, Isaac argues that support for the State of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza reflects a failure to apply a properly Christian theological critique to colonialism, racism, and imperialism. He calls on Christians to repent of their complicity in the destruction of the Palestinian people. And he challenges them to realign their beliefs and actions with Christ―who can be found not among perpetrators of violence, but with victims buried under the rubble of war.

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]