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| Holy Family art work is by the Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour |
Rev. Imad Haddad
As we sing “silent night holy night” this Christmas let us remember the nights in which the silence was shattered by the sounds of bombs, gun shots, and aircrafts.
The only silence people in Gaza can hear these days is the horrendous silence of death.
There is nothing holy in the nights or the days in which human life is desecrated. The only holy thing during those days are the sound of prayerful cries that comes out of a broken heart rising up to disturb the evil silence of death.
As we sing “Away in a manger” this Christmas let us direct our attention to those kids in Gaza whose only manger is a coffin, and their crib is a tomb under the rubble. The “stars in the sky” cannot “look down where [they]lay” for the smoke of bombed and shattered houses cover the scene of the sky.
This Christmas, as we celebrate reading from Luke: “Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” Let us think of those who take refuge in Churches, mosques, schools, hospitals, or in the open air for the only thing that shines around them are light bombs. They try to find life away from home but even their shelters are bombed. The only words that speak to them from this reading is the status of the shepherds who were terrified. For terror and fear describe the story of the present days in Gaza.
As we sing “let every heart prepare him room” remember to see the face of Jesus in every refugee so we can accept, serve, and protect them as we would do for Jesus. Remember that Jesus was a refugee too. His family was first forced to leave their home in Nazareth due to the orders of the empire, then they were also forced to escape and take refuge in Egypt due to political tyranny.
This Christmas as we pray for those who are afflicted in our world, and as we pray for Justice and peace, let us remember that Jesus was incarnate in our world during a situation that does not differ much from our own. The “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” to bring justice and peace to a world that is torn apart. He dwelt among us to be with us, to be one of us, and to free us from the bonds of oppression. The dwelling of the Word among the people has transformed the incarnation to be “intra-carnation.” This is the message of hope that we give to the world as we go through these times of injustice, oppression, and ethnic cleansing: Jesus is with us, he is one of us, he chose to unite himself to us
Christ is born…Halleluiah…. The savior is born…. Halleluiah…. “Let earth receive her king” …. Halleluiah
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