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I was so
grateful when I heard about those going on pilgrimage to Bethlehem this
week from Churches Together in England. It must be so hard at present
for the population of the little town. They must feel so forgotten, so
cut off from the rest of the world.
Back in May, in the Assembly Hall at the top of the Mound in Edinburgh,
during the Church of Scotland's general assembly, the Rev Dr Mitri
Raheb, a Lutheran minister from Bethlehem, won the rapt atttention of
the gathering when he spoke movingly about what it feels like to be
living in the birthplace of Christ surrounded by the high wall erected
by the Israeli Defence Force in the West Bank.
I was thinking about him again this week as I read his Christmas letter.
He describes being in China recently and being asked by a young person,
"What if Jesus was to be born today?" This minister from Bethlehem
replied:
"If Jesus were to be born this year, he would not be born in Bethlehem.
Mary and Joseph might not be allowed to enter through the checkpoint,
and so too the Magi, while the shepherds will be stuck inside the walls
and can't leave their little town. Jesus might have been born at the
checkpoint like so many Palestinian children, while having the Magi and
the shepherds on both sides of the wall."
This weekend, on the very edge of Christmas, churches around the world
will be full of worshippers gathering to celebrate the birth of a child.
Here in this country, as I have travelled about this year, I have met so
many people who have told me they normally don't go to church but that
they will be at a watchnight service on Christmas Eve, or morning
worship on Christmas Day. For these services, I will be going back to
the congregations in St Andrews, where I am the minister, but which I
have had to leave behind during this year as Moderator. Like so many
people all over Britain, as part of going home for Christmas, I am
looking forward to singing the familiar words of much-loved Christmas
carols, such as the hymn that in Scotland we always regard as one of the
Scots Paraphrases of 1781, with its wonderful beginning, "While humble
shepherds watched their flocks in Bethlehem's plains by night."
However, the message of Christmas is not a history lesson about events
2,000 years ago. As well as joining in the singing of the carols it is
important to listen to our sisters and brothers who actually live in the
little town of Bethlehem today. Acutely aware of the desperate need for
a renewed peace process in the Middle East, and conscious of how
isolated the birthplace of Christ has become, Mitri Raheb and his fellow
citizens of Bethlehem will certainly be in my thoughts and prayers at
midnight tomorrow.
I have found these words of his helpful this week: "As the world
continues to talk peace, Israel continues to build the wall and while
Christians continue singing 'O little town of Bethlehem', Israel makes
sure that this town stays as 'little' as possible. As 'little' as 2
square miles of open-air prison, surrounded by walls, fences and
trenches, with no future expansion possibilities."
Earlier in the year, when the conflict in Lebanon was at its height, I
asked Rev Jane Barron, the Church of Scotland minister in Jerusalem, to
send me a new prayer from the Middle East. She and Mitri Raheb wrote a
prayer together. These words from that prayer are still achingly
relevant this Christmas: "Lord Jesus Christ, born a little child in
Bethlehem forced to flee with a terrified family. We pray for the
children of this region, that we leave a legacy of justice with walls
and war no more."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1978160,00.html
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