Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Bethlehem’s bombed-out nativity sculpture sends a powerful message
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VBNVBGml_Q
This year, Bethlehem is sombre and quiet.
There is no Christmas tree and there are no holiday lights or tourists to see them. Instead, the city of Jesus’s birth – which is in the middle of a war zone – is marking Christmas with a powerful and poignant message: solidarity with Palestine.
The Holy Family Cave is a sculpture [by Tariq Salsa https://tariqsalsa.info/the-holy-family-the-first-palestinian-refugee-family/ ] that depicts a harrowing tableau: a bombed-out version of the traditional nativity cave, which many Christians traditionally believe is where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It is the site of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reports from Bethlehem. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter:
/ ajenglish
Find us on Facebook: 
/ aljazeera
Bethlehem Pastor Rev Munther Isaac criticises Western hypocrisy and Church complicity in Gaza crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l75yhhAAPt0
“If you fail to call this a genocide that is on you, it is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace.”
In his address at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem on 23 December, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac expressed deep outrage over the global silence and inaction towards the Gaza crisis.
Isaac highlighted the tragic loss of life, including over 9,000 children, and the displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians.
He strongly criticised the Western world for its hypocrisy and racism and particularly denounced the church's complicity in the crisis, stating:
“We are outraged by the complicity of the church.”
Subscribe to our channel: http://ow.ly/AVlW30n1OWH
Subscribe to MEE Telegram channel to stay up to date: https://t.me/MiddleEastEye_TG
Middle East Eye Website: https://middleeasteye.net
Monday, December 25, 2023
Basilica of the Nativity in Nazareth has a patinated bronze statue of St Joseph with shiny knees from the affection people have show him through the years #Palestine
 |
“When
Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him;
he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until
she had borne a son; he named him Jesus.’” St.George's College Jerusalem |
This icon is placed over the altar above the place of Jesus’s birth on the Feast of the Incarnation, at the place of the birth of the Christ-child in the Basilica of the Nativity, Bethlehem.
Our Advent Calendar concludes at the place of the birth of the Christ-child in the Basilica of the Nativity, Bethlehem.
This icon is placed over the altar above the place of Jesus’s birth on the Feast of the Incarnation.
And so we come also to worship the one born to be Messiah.
As we celebrate this Christmas in the midst of war and division, we remember all those who suffer the impact of the war, the hostages and their families, and especially the innocent in Gaza whose suffering knows no bounds. We pray that the Christ-child who comes as the Prince of Peace will lead us into that peace with justice for which he was born, which he lived and preached and for which he died.
At St George’s College we send this with prayers for the blessings of Christmas to be with you all.
Sunday, December 24, 2023
I’m a Palestinian Christian in Gaza. I want peace—for my homeland and my family.
 |
| Rami, his wife Maryan, and their daughter Kylie on the day his daughter was baptized, which occurred in late October while they were sheltering in Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius. |
I have been living in Gaza my whole life but, honestly, I can barely remember the details of my life before two months ago. So much has changed—and it was already a year of major change in my personal life.
In May of 2022 I married my wife, Maryan. Over the past year, we designed and built our house together, inch by inch. Maryan chose the color of the curtains, the furniture. We did everything together, going here and there, to restaurants, to people’s homes. We had a life. We had community. And in June of this year, we had a daughter.
Even though we have lived through other conflicts before, this is the first one that has happened since I married and had a child. It is totally different. I don’t know how to describe it, but with everything that happens to me, I always think about my wife and my daughter, Kylie. It is not like before. I have responsibility as a new father.
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/12/20/christian-gaza-wartime-church-community-246754
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES or quotes or watch videos IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
“Jesus Would Be Killed in Gaza” Peter Oborne’s Alternative Christmas Message
"The conflict is not actually about religion, it's about land."
In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Bethlehem cancels its annual Christmas festivities. #Palestine #Christians
 |
| Church of Nativity photo by Isam Telhami |
Shibley Telhami
In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Bethlehem cancels its annual Christmas festivities.
"A message of great hope accompanied by this light of the Christmas star despite the great sadness and despite the ugly occupation…" Bethlehem's Manger Square Christmas 2023 "The Holy Family, the first Palestinian refugee family" illustrating the ongoing Nakba by artist Tariq Salsa
 |
| Bethlehem's Manger Square 2023 https://tariqsalsa.info/the-holy-family-the-first-palestinian-refugee-family/ |
This idea portrays the suffering of the Holy Family, the first Palestinian refugee family that also suffered from oppression, rejection, and displacement, and was exposed to the first historical “Nakba” when they fled to Egypt after the birth of Jesus Christ.
In this work, all historical Christmas figures were costumed to depict the human scene with feelings and messages that would not be able to express the massive destruction and systematic genocide against the Palestinian people by colonialism and all its allies throughout the ages and different time periods.
The appearance of Virgin Mary this time is embracing Christ in a way similar to the way mothers of martyrs do, while Joseph is embracing her for consolation despite of grief and sorrow…
The angels hanging around the rubble are the souls of Palestinian children, martyrs of repeated massacres throughout history, starting with the killing of the children of Bethlehem city by Herod at the birth of Jesus Christ, passing through all the historical massacres by all colonial parties against the Palestinian people and their ancestors, all the way to the occupation’s massacres nowadays against Palestinians in Gaza.
As for the Magi, this year he will not carry gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but rather a white grave clothes. The shepherd was forced to evacuate the cave and walk away, carrying in his hand a bundle “bugja” of the Palestinian Exodus.
This completely destroyed house mimics the shape of the familiar grotto of Christ. As for the roof, whose area from an overhead view embodies the shape of the geographical map of Gaza, it was bombed this time, and the explosion of its roof carved the shape of a star to emit light inspired by the star of the nativity scene… an emanating light…
A message of great hope accompanied by this light of the Christmas star despite the great sadness and despite the ugly occupation…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)