Above their deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by

written in the late hours of Christmas, 2023

Crèche, December 2023, Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, Bethlehem. Photo: Munther Isaac.

Silently observed the birthday of a martyred revolutionary prophet today, who is and was deeply misunderstood in his own time and now and left behind a warning — a prediction, not a threat, but a possible tragic consequence — that if peaceful words and cries for justice are ignored over and over, if one people’s prosperity requires another people’s subjugation, if excusing violence, protecting it, using it to oppress causes one to become the terror they fear, inevitably there will be stronger words and deeds to follow. Even a revolutionary prophet who encourages radical forgiveness despite growing up in an occupied land would find this unforgivable, but the Israeli government seems to be in no hurry to atone or reflect, so they will have to live in a world where the rest of us saw in real time what they did. As they make plans to build beachfront resorts on top of mass graves — trenches full of people whose lives they controlled through violent oppression and apartheid from the day they were born until the day missiles sent by Israel destroyed their homes, schools, hospitals, day care centers, churches, mosques, and businesses, they will hope we look the other way or shut up about it, or praise their efforts.

Nothing Good is Built On a Grave

Anyway, his home, holy to so many around the world, was raided on the day his birth is celebrated, and the seismic waves to places where his followers celebrate him are far too faint, drowned by people calling it the will of God or self-defense when US bombs deployed by Israeli nationalists rain on fleeing Holy Families in Gaza, and soldiers raid and terrorize the West Bank. It isn’t that they can’t see or hear it, they can, we can. It is that leaders try to justify it or deny it, and followers simply go along and continue shopping.

It is not surprising to me. The church I grew up in taught me valuable lessons, many unintentional, and once again I am learning to my horror that they continue to encourage and celebrate “End Times” and see this as a fulfillment of prophesy, and not a genocide partially funded by donations to Christian Zionist causes. I’d remind them of these words from our shared prophet and caution them against using his name to justify their crimes:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7, New International Version

I agonize over finding words — why write at all? Why do I write at all? It can’t be to be read, I mean, my effort to promote my writing are at best half-assed — I can’t guarantee that I’ll keep up with it enough for it to be worth the price of admission. It is much more important to listen, to put the shopping bags down and suspend our tenacious adherence to normalcy and comfort, and stop a moment, listen as the years of dogma and weird indoctrination clash with the soul of the text as the body count rises, listen to how Christmas is observed in the birthplace of a revolutionary kneecapped by his own followers for centuries. Please take a moment.

For a transcript, visit DemocracyNow! “Christ in the Rubble”: Watch Palestinian Pastor Deliver Powerful Christmas Sermon from Bethlehem

I pray for a ceasefire without end, I pray for the return of all prisoners and hostages to their families, and I pray that we can one day see our common presence on this planet as miraculous, valuable, and holy, and protect each other and our shared home. May we gain perspective and show empathy, may we hold evil to account, may we remember and never allow this to happen again, anywhere, to anyone. Peace and Love.