- Palestinian churches cancel festive Christmas celebrations, expressing unity with Gaza and denouncing the ongoing genocide.
- Bethlehem’s Lutheran Church symbolically places Baby Jesus in a nativity scene amid rubble, highlighting the plight of Gaza’s children. Heads of Jerusalem’s churches urge focus on spiritual meaning, calling for prayers and a just peace.
The churches of Palestine have declared the cancellation of festive Christmas celebrations, expressing unity with Gaza and denouncing the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. The celebrations are now confined to masses and prayers.
In Bethlehem, the Lutheran Church asserts that the portrayal of children living and being born in present-day Palestine will be depicted during the holiday season. The Christmas nativity scene will symbolically place Baby Jesus (AS) in a manger surrounded by rubble and destruction.
The church explain how this will showcase the plight faced by the children of Gaza, who discover themselves entombed beneath the remnants of their homes—a consequence of ceaseless Israeli bombardment.
Reverend Munther Isaac reflects, “If Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble and Israeli shelling. This sends a powerful message to the world during the holiday season.”
The heads of churches in Jerusalem have urged congregations to forgo “any unnecessarily festive activities”. They have encouraged the devout and priests to focus on Christmas’s spiritual meaning and called for “fervent prayers for a just and lasting peace for our beloved Holy Land”.
Pictured: Seated within the deserted Grotto, believed to mark the birthplace of Jesus Christ, a man occupies the sacred space in the Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem. [Hazem Bader/AFP]
In the days leading up to Christmas, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem reported the tragic murder of two Christian women in a Gaza church compound due to Israeli sniper fire. The Israeli military stated that they were targeting Hamas fighters in the area and are currently investigating the incident.
According to the US State Department’s international religious freedom report for 2022, there are an estimated 50,000 Christian Palestinians residing in the West Bank and Jerusalem. In Gaza, approximately 1,300 Christians live, with additional Christian citizens in Israel. Many Palestinian Christians also reside in diaspora communities.
“A comprehensive and just peace is the only hope for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” A letter endorsed by multiple Christian pastoral leaders in Bethlehem, directed to President Joe Biden, appealed for his intervention in halting the ongoing genocide. “We want a constant and comprehensive ceasefire. Enough death. Enough destruction. … This is our call and prayer this Christmas”.
