Advent and Christmas Resources: Sermons and Reflections

God is under the Rubble in Gaza
By Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
https://sojo.net/articles/god-under-rubble-gaza

Sojourners Editor’s note: This sermon of lament and anger, a cry against the ongoing war on Gaza, was preached in Palestine on Oct. 22 at both Evangelical Lutheran Church of Beit Sahour and the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. The sermon followed the Israel Defense Forces’ strike on Gaza’s oldest active church, the historic St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church. The bombing killed 18 people, injured others, and displaced about 400 civilians who were taking shelter in the church’s complex.

They besieged our Palestinian family in Gaza, described them as monsters, and blamed them. Israel Defense Forces bombed their homes, razed their neighborhoods to the ground, displaced them, and blamed them. Our families — brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nephews, and nieces — took refuge in schools where they were bombed, in hospitals where they were bombed, in places of worship where they were bombed, and then they were blamed.

We are broken. The people of Gaza are suffering. They have lost everything except their dignity. Many attained glory — they attained martyrdom — even if they did not ask for it. Now, again in our history, they find themselves facing the same choice: death or displacement. Our Nakba continues!

Where are they to go? There is no place for them in this world!

The nations of the world — including the U.S. — are against them. They use money, weapons, diplomacy, and theology against the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza. They talk among themselves about where we will end up after our ethnic cleansing, as if we were extra boxes that have no place in the house!

There is no mercy. Humanity is gone. There is no one to mourn our death. There is no one to stop this war machine because we are not from a certain people, religion, or race. We are not among the “chosen ones.” The political powers of the world see us as an obstacle, not an ally. We were broken and are broken again every day by the images of death, especially when it comes close to us — our families, our sisters, our relatives, and loved ones to whom we spoke daily. We are all broken. We hear terrifying stories about hell on earth. Hell is a reality in Gaza today. Our Palestinian siblings are in it now.

What is happening in Gaza is not a war or a conflict, but an annihilation — continuous genocide and ethnic cleansing through death and forced displacement. World political powers are sacrificing the people of Palestine in order to secure their interests in the Middle East; they say our annihilation is needed to keep the people of Israel safe. They offer us as sacrifices on the altar of atonement, as we pay the price for their sins with our lives.

Where is the justice? They talk about international law. They lecture us on human rights and look down upon us as if they are superior to everyone else in terms of values and morals. I say to them, “Go away with your laws and your talk about human rights.” You Europeans and Americans have been stripped naked in front of the whole world today. Your racism and hypocrisy have been exposed. Truly, is there no shame? I personally do not want to hear about peace and reconciliation.

The people of Gaza today want life. They want a night without bombing. They want medicine and surgical operations with anesthesia. They want the simplest of life’s necessities: food, clean water, and electricity. They want freedom and life with dignity. Those under bombardment, beatings, and persecution do not want to hear about reconciliation and peace. They want the end of aggression!

They asked us to pray. The people of Gaza are still asking us to pray, and they are still praying. Where do you get this faith?

We prayed. We prayed for their protection ... and God did not answer us, not even in the “house of God” were church buildings able to protect them. Our children die before the silence of the world, and before the silence of God. How difficult is God’s silence! Today we cry out with the psalmists:

“My God, my God, why did you leave Gaza? How long will you forget her completely? Why do you hide your face from her? In the daytime I call upon you, but you do not answer; by night we find no rest.

Do not depart from the people of Gaza, for distress is near, for there is no one to help. O Lord God of our salvation, day and night we have cried before you ... let our prayer come before you ... incline your ear to our cries ... for surely you have been satisfied with afflictions. Our souls and our lives approach the abyss ... our eyes melt from humiliation. We call upon you, Lord, every day. We stretch out our hands to you. Why, Lord, do you reject our souls? Why do you hide your face from us?” (Adapted from Psalms 13, 22, and 88)

We search for God on this land. Theologically, philosophically, we ask: Where is God when we suffer? How do we explain his silence?

But away from philosophy and existential questions. In this land, even God is a victim of oppression, death, the war machine, and colonialism. We see the Son of God on this land crying out the same question on the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why do you let me be tortured? Crucified?

God suffers with the people of this land, sharing the same fate with us. As Mitri Al-Raheb wrote in his article “Theology in the Palestinian Context,” which appeared in an Arabic book I edited:

“As for the God of this land, he is not like all the gods... His land is plowed with iron... His temples are destroyed by fire ... His people are trampled underfoot, and He does not move a muscle. The God of this earth is hidden from view. You search for His traces but do not see them. You long for Him to split the heavens and come down to see. To listen, to be compassionate, to be saved. The God of this land does not repel brutal armies, but rather shares one fate with his people. His house is demolished. His son is crucified. But his mystery does not perish. Rather, he rises from the ashes, and with the refugees you see him. He walks, and in the dark of the night he raises springs of hope. Without this God, Palestine remains a scorched land ... it remains a field of destruction. But if God tramples its foundations, he will only make it a holy land, a land in whose hills the good news of peace resounds.”

Beloved, in these difficult times let us comfort ourselves with God’s presence amid pain, and even amid death, for Jesus is no stranger to pain, arrest, torture, and death. He walks with us in our pain.

God is under the rubble in Gaza. He is with the frightened and the refugees. He is in the operating room. This is our consolation. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. If we want to pray, my prayer is that those who are suffering will feel this healing and comforting presence.

We have another comfort, which is the resurrection. In our brokenness, pain, and death, let us repeat the gospel of the resurrection: “Christ is risen.” He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. When I saw the pictures of the bodies of these saints in the white bags in front of the church, during their funeral, Christ’s call came to my mind: “Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

In front of images of death and pictures of the deaths of children, we hear today the immortal call of Christ: “Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14). If there is no place for the children of Palestine and the children of Gaza in this cruel and oppressive world, then they have a place in the arms of God. Theirs is the kingdom. In the face of bombing, displacement and death, Jesus calls them: “Come to me, you who are blessed by my Father. Let the children come to me, for theirs is the kingdom.” This is our faith. This is our consolation in our pain. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac is the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, academic dean at Bethlehem Bible College, and the director of the Christ at the Checkpoint conferences. His latest book is "The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope."

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From Fear to Joy
By Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
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“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-11

In the Christmas narrative, we read about the fear of the shepherds. Imagine the scene: how in the silence and darkness of the night, the shepherds saw this glorious yet sudden vision. They were naturally afraid. Yet, I wonder if Luke was alluding to a more general fear that was prevalent in Palestine in Biblical times. We read in Luke’s introduction to the birth narrative many references to the yearnings and expectations of Israel, and how there was a reality of fear. We see this in the hymn of Zacharias in Luke 1 who prayed “to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear.”

It is safe to say that fear was common in the days when Jesus was born. The people of the land were afraid of their occupiers, the unknown, or that God has forgotten them. They were afraid, and where there is fear, there is despair and slavery. When we are afraid, we become prisoners to our fears, chained in despair and hopelessness.

We see this reality of fear in our world today. Today in Palestine and in the midst of the occupation, many are afraid of the future. In places like Iraq and Syria, where Christians and other religious minorities are persecuted, the prayer of Zachariah is as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago: “...grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear.” Even in places where there is stability we encounter fear. In Europe and North America many are afraid of the refugees and migrants. Politicians are utilizing and encouraging this fear for selfish, evil reasons. Because of this fear, many Christians are not willing to serve and embrace the refugees, which is as close a thing to being Christ-like and following Jesus’ teaching as you could get! Fear is causing many Christians to reject and in some cases hate others! Fear is a reality that is crippling our world today, and at the same time it is a reality that is damaging our Christian witness to that world.
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The Escape to Egypt
Bishop Dr. Munib Younan
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Now after they (the wise men) had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’
Matthew 2:13-15

When we think of the Christmas story, there are many familiar images that come to mind: Joseph and the greatly- pregnant Mary looking for a place to sleep in Bethlehem; the manger; the star; the wise men visiting from the East. Perhaps because it isn’t represented well by our beloved nativity sets – or perhaps because it is uncomfortable to move so quickly from “Silent Night” to “flight by night” – the Holy Family’s escape into Egypt is not often remembered as an integral part of our Christmas celebrations.

However, the flight into Egypt is essential to our understanding of the Christmas story, because it emphasizes that this is about much more than the birth of a baby. First, we note that in Exodus, God’s people are led out of Egypt and into freedom. In Matthew, this little family is led back into Egypt, seeking safety. The reader of Matthew is invited (not so subtly!) to notice how God’s work of salvation and liberation is continuing through the baby Jesus.

But this chapter of the Christmas story also reveals a political reality. The birth of this baby was a real threat to the empire. Herod didn’t take kindly to foreigners arriving in his city, inquiring about a different king. It didn’t help that the religious authorities in Jerusalem confirmed that yes, the awaited Messiah was expected to be born just down the road in Bethlehem. Such a threat to the power of the throne would not be tolerated. Visitors from foreign lands could not be allowed to leave thinking Herod’s authority was compromised! Soon, Herod had employed these same visitors to serve his own purposes—promising to “pay homage” to this baby king, if only they would bring him news of his exact location. By any means necessary, the empire sought to put an end to the story of salvation.

The escape of the Holy Family took place in a context of political unrest, a threatened dictator, lies and abuse of power, and the promise of violence against innocent civilians – even children. Joseph didn’t just wake up from a bad dream and decide to take his family on a vacation. This wasn’t a career move or a travel adventure. Jesus and his family were refugees.
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Advent, Gaza and the coming of Christ
Grace Ji-Sun Kim
https://baptistnews.com/article/advent-gaza-and-the-coming-of-christ/

As the cold winter months are upon us and we are now approaching the third Sunday of Advent, we want to stop and reflect upon the coming of Christ into a broken and destructive world.

This Sunday’s Advent worship carries the theme of joy and love, but as the killing continues in Gaza, there is no joy. The death toll in Gaza is now more 17,000 people. This number is continuously rising as the airstrikes continue and people are dying from illnesses and lack of food, clean water and medical assistance. The situation in Gaza is dire and heartbreaking for us to watch and witness in real time.

Palestinian Christians who live in Bethlehem, the city where Jesus was born, are reminding us of their daily struggles under settler colonialism. Their families and friends in Gaza are dying and being covered by the rubble, as Gaza is now a city with broken, torn and dead bodies lying underneath the rubble. Palestinian theologian Munther Isaac shares: “If Jesus were born today, he would be born in Gaza under the rubble.”

More than 2,000 years ago, Christ was born as a Palestinian Jew under the Roman Empire, and today he comes to us among the most marginalized, oppressed and broken in our world.

During my visit to Palestine just before the Oct. 7 Hamas airstrike, my daughter and I toured the Church of Nativity, often called the Basilica of the Nativity, located in Bethlehem in the West Bank. This basilica is the oldest major church in the Holy Land and is revered as the place of the birth of Jesus.
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Take Another Road
By Revelation Velunta
Facebook post

It is time we took another road. Over and over again we take the same road. We never learn. We imagine that doing the same thing will change the outcome. It never has. It never will.

The Empire strikes back--always. In the case of the Magi, innocent children were massacred. And innocent children will continue to die as long as we try to save Baby Jesus from Herod. We should stop. He is not a baby anymore. He also does not need saving. The Magi did that already.

The Empire always strikes back. There are more Herods today. They are purveyors of war. Last year alone, over 2 trillion US dollars were spent on the arms industry. Over half a trillion more was spent in the illegal drug trade. The War on Terror and the War on Drugs have left a trail of suffering and death on the innocent. Over 20,000 people, mostly women and children, have been massacred by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza and the West Bank using US-made arms and weapons of mass destruction.

Thus, you and I need to be wiser. We need to be Magi-er. We need to be more sensitive to the warnings in our shared dreams. We need to know when to beat swords into plowshares. And when to beat plowshares into swords. We need to take other roads.

We need to do all these to make sure that the massacre of the innocents in the Holy Land and elsewhere ends now! We need to make sure that the Herods and their ilk are made responsible. We need to act, wherever we are, right now!

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A Christmas Plea from Palestine
Rev. Imad Haddad
https://www.fosna.org/preach-palestine-blog/a-christmas-plea-from-palestine

As Christians sing, “Silent night, Holy night,” we ask you to remember the nights in which the silence is shattered by the sounds of bombs, gunshots, and aircraft. The only silence our Muslim and Christian siblings in Gaza hear these days is the horrendous silence of death. There is nothing holy about the nights—and the days—in which human life is desecrated. The only holy sounds are the prayerful cries of broken hearts rising up to disturb the evil silence of death.

As we sing “Away in a Manger,” we ask you to think of those kids in Gaza whose only manger is a coffin, their crib a tomb under the rubble. The “stars in the sky” cannot “look down where [they] lay”, for the smoke of bombed and shattered houses obscures their view.

This Christmas, Christians celebrate the reading from Luke:
Then an angel of the Lord stood before [the shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified (Luke 2:9f).

We ask you to think of those who are taking refuge in churches, mosques, schools, hospitals, shelters and, for many, in the open air. Their terror is not before “the glory of the Lord” shining round them—as that of the shepherds—but before the light of the explosions of repeated bombing. Terror and fear mark Christmas these days in Gaza.

As we sing, “Let every heart prepare him room,” we ask you to see the face of Jesus in every refugee in order to receive, serve, and protect them as we would for Jesus. Let us 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 later forced to escape and take refuge in Egypt due to political tyranny.

This Christmas, join us as we pray for all those who are afflicted in our world, and as we pray for justice and peace. We 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 (John 1:14)” 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.

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!
See it here:
https://www.fosna.org/preach-palestine-blog/a-christmas-plea-from-palestine
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Holy Innocents: Mourning 8,000 Children Killed in Holy Land Since October
By Staff of Ignatian Solidarity Network
https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2023/12/28/holy-innocents-children-killed-holy-land/
EDITOR’S NOTE: A group of ecumenical partners in Bethlehem shared the following with ISN. The group coordinated a prayer service today, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to honor the 8,000 children lost in the Holy Land since October 7, 2023. Nearly 7,800 of the children were members of families living in Gaza.

These 8,000 olivewood hearts represent 8,000 children killed in the Holy Land since October 7th, nearly 7,800 of them living in Gaza. This is the human cost of war and the choice not to end war. This is what 8,000 hearts look like – what do 8,000 children look like?

On the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the Church mourns the children killed by King Herod in his enraged search for the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1-18). Today in Bethlehem, Christian faith communities came together to mourn the children killed by this ongoing war, innocent victims of conflict, and long injustice.

Catholic parishes across the United States, including a number of Ignatian Solidarity Network member parishes, have joined with other Christian congregations to support the Bethlehem- area olivewood artisans who carved each of the 8,000 wooden hearts. The artisans have been otherwise largely jobless since the war began in October due to the lack of tourism. The faith communities will also receive wooden hearts to commemorate the lives of the 8,000 children through prayer and action in their own communities.

Each of these handcrafted 8,000 hearts represents a child’s life. Each of these 8,000 hearts represents a call to prayer and a call to action. They will soon be headed to homes and to Capitol Hill with questions attached: How am I raising my voice for peace, for change, for justice? How can we stop this? How can we keep this from happening again? Where and how can love work through me?

Liturgy like this refuses to give darkness the final word. Liturgy like this gives our response to these questions the final word. Placing each heart on the white burial cloth in prayer is a way of saying, “I remember,” “I care,” and “I’m bringing you with us” towards whatever step we take towards peace and justice, where and how we can, alone or – like today – together.
See photos and video:
https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2023/12/28/holy-innocents-children-killed-holy-land/
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A reflection for the Feast of the Holy Innocents
by Vickie Machado
https://paxchristiusa.org/2023/12/27/a-reflection-for-the-feast-of-the-holy-innocents-december-28-3/

1 John 1:5-2:2 | Matthew 2:13-18

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Matthew 2:13

In pursuit of one child, Herod massacred all of the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity. Mothers and fathers lost their children. Sisters and brothers lost their siblings. Grandparents lost their grandchildren. All of this loss was due to unjust orders that targeted a particular demographic —the search for one baby boy.

Years later, we still live in a world that perpetuates unwarranted loss as families continue to lose children at the hands of injustice. It is important to recognize that every person killed at the hands of an unjust system has a network of loved ones to which they are bound. They have parents, siblings, partners, and people who care deeply for them. Immigrants facing treacherous crossings at the border and harsh detention centers, incarcerated people on death row, and young men and women of color who are shot by police all have mothers and fathers. Each and every one of these individuals belongs to someone, just as Jesus belonged to Joseph and Mary.

On this day as we recognize the Feast of the Holy Innocents, think about how many lives have been lost because a person ‘fit the bill’—because they looked a certain way. Remember that we are our brothers and sisters keepers and most importantly, remember that we are each a child of God. We belong to our Creator and it is not within anyone’s right to take that from us.

For reflection:
Continue to say the names of those whose lives are cut short at the hands of injustice. Recognize we are all someone’s child and think about what actions you can take to ensure that we stop the cycles of violence that continue to take lives and break apart families.
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An Advent 2023 Reflection
By Rev. Alex Awad
Member of the UMKR Steering Committee

As I write this advent devotional, a 4-day ceasefire has been implemented by Israel and Hamas. During the last 47 days, we have watched Israeli and Palestinian civilians massacred in real time and great numbers—all from the safety and warmth of our homes and workplaces, due largely to Internet, social media, and TV networks, among other information sources. This man-made catastrophe capturing the world’s attention erupted on October 7th. Having arrived in Israel two days earlier, I was leading a group of Americans on a tour of the Holy Land.

On our first day, we enjoyed visiting Christian ministries in Bethlehem. On the 7th, we were scheduled to visit Herodium, a hill south of Bethlehem where Herod the Great built a grand castle and the site where he is buried. Early that day as we ate our breakfast, we heard rockets and explosions in the distance, and quickly learned that fighters from Hamas had fired rockets, crossed into Israel, killed soldiers and civilians, and took hostages. We knew then that our tour plans were going to be disrupted.

With some trepidation, we made the decision to move forward with our planned visit to Herodium, and we were the only tour group visiting on that day. As the day went on, knowledge of the day’s events invoked in me a sense of the conditions in the Holy Land during the time when Jesus was born. We know from Matthew’s nativity narrative that when Herod learned from the wise men that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he told them to go find the babe, then return to him and inform him where he was so that he might “worship” the newborn king. When the angel of the Lord directed the wise men not to return to Herod and they complied, the king was outraged and ordered the slaughter of many children. As we visited the palace of this great liar, deceiver, and mass murderer, little did we know that in the next 45 days we would watch news of Herod-like-leaders commit atrocities on the civilians of Gaza, leading to the death of over 5,000 children. Other world leaders both directly and indirectly lent a hand in the massacre of over 14,000 men, women, and children in Gaza.

Herod’s massacre of the children did not achieve his desire to destroy the baby born to be the Prince of Peace. Neither will the Israeli massacre of Palestinian children achieve Israel’s goal of forever subjugating the Palestinians and denying them the dignity and the freedom that they deserve. Light is more powerful than darkness and life is more powerful than death. The Palestinian people who aspire for freedom will overcome the darkness of today just as baby Jesus overcame the wrath of Herod. The Christmas story gives oppressed people around the world hope—hope that light, truth, and goodness will overcome evil.

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Give Back the Song: Choose Another Way Home
By Rev. Loren McGrail
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[...] The Wise Ones decided not to collaborate in facilitating Herod’s raid on the Holy Family. Rev. Kate Jones Calone asks us to ponder the significance of the fact that God chose to move this salvation story forward through these holy non-collaborators who understood it was unjust and unwise to serve as Herod’s enforcers.

The question, then, is how are we not only following our own star but refusing to serve as enforcers of injustice? How is the community of Seattle, this church, standing up for asylum seekers at our border who like the Holy Family that fled to Egypt, are fleeing violence in their home countries?
How are you helping your police force draw the line in becoming collaborators with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in tracking down and turning over undocumented individuals? How are you making sure they are learning how to de-escalate in times instead of using excessive force? Are you making sure they are not receiving military training from Israeli police forces? Are you standing up for the rights of all our children, including Palestinian children who can be locked up at age 12 for allegedly throwing a stone?
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Above: Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac and the nativity display at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, December 2023. This display and Rev. Isaac's sermon on this page were widely reported around the world.