CPTnet
Dec. 26, 2000
BETHLEHEM: O Come all Ye Faithful
by Kathleen Kern
[SPECIAL THANKS to those who wrote letters on behalf of the
residents of Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala during Advent.
Those who observed the five minutes of darkness and silence in
soldiarity with the people here during their Christmas services are
welcome share reflections and actions that came out of this
experience. Write to CPT@igc.org.]

Those of us who have worked with CPT in Hebron and Bethlehem
for the last few months have know that this Christmas would not
be a festive occasion in Bethlehem. With unemployment at 60
percent because of the Israeli closure on Bethlehem, and the shelling
by Israeli military of civilian homes in Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit
Sahour, few of the area's Palestinian Christians felt they had much
to celebrate.

The Christmas spirit was likewise not in large supply within our two
teams. Those in Beit Jala had experienced several nights of heavy
Israeli shelling and watched their landlady burst into tears as she
saw the piles of broken glass, bullet and missile holes in the house
where she and her late husband brought up seven children. The
Hebron team came to Bethlehem feeling helpless from watching
families we love coming apart at the seams from the stresses of
home demolitions, poverty, soldier and settler violence.

The cold, drenching rain on Christmas Eve did not help the mood,
but when our two teams got together at the Beit Jala apartment to
exchange gifts, the sun came out for a short time. A friend of the
team saw the rainbow first and called for the rest of us to come
outside. It was one of the longest, most complete arcs that any of
us had ever seen, stretching from Gilo over to Bethlehem. Looking
back on the rest of the evening, perhaps it was our first reminder
that God was still at work here in this troubled region.

The rain returned and we slogged through the downpour to get to
the five o'clock service at the Christmas Lutheran church in
Bethlehem. By the time I arrived, my feet were soaked and I had
to wring out my socks. I felt the discomfort was worth it, though,
once we began singing, in Arabic English and German, the
opening hymn, "O Come All Ye Faithful."

I know this Christmas hymn so well that I can nail the alto part in
any key. The full impact of its words, however, never hit me as they
did on this Christmas Eve. Tears filled my eyes as I looked around
and saw that it was indeed the faithful who had come to church in
Bethlehem that evening.

The pressures of the Israeli Occupation have made hundreds of
thousands of Palestinian Christians emigrate. Those who were
worshipping in their church this Christmas Eve had stayed, in part,
because they want the oldest Christian community in the world to
continue, because they want there to be Living Stones in the Holy
Land, not just monuments and shrines for tourists.

Among the dozens of internationals present were those who had
chosen to stay in the West Bank and Gaza even though their
governments had told them to leave once the new Intifada had
started. Still more had come through via complicated routes into
the city when Israeli soldiers told them Bethlehem was closed for
the holiday.

Looking around at my teammates, I realized that we, too, were part
of the faithful. We had come to church because we wanted to, not
out of a sense of obligation, but nevertheless, we had come to
Bethlehem to join that long line of faithful and fallible witnesses who
had come to meet Jesus when he shared our human condition.
Later in the service, we sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem"--which I
have always considered too schmaltzy, but after the familiar first
stanza, the second, alternative, stanza brought on fresh tears:

"O little town of Bethlehem, the organs still do play
Of Jesus in a manger and angels on the way;
Our music and our singing is louder than a gun,
And church bells in their ringing remind us we have won."

 From that moment the weight of the misery here lifted from my
heart--or perhaps I should say that I found fresh confidence to face
it and know that it would not have the last word.

This confidence lasted through the prayers, sermons and singing in
different languages until the end of the service, when the children of
the Palestinian congregation of the Lutheran church began lighting
the candles of all the worshippers. As I saw their eyes shining
from both the reflected light and their own awe and wonder, I once
more thanked God for the reminder that the prayers and hymns of
the faithful are stronger than weapons, and that where Jesus is
concerned, joy can happen in the most unexpected times and places.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Brethren, Quaker and Mennonite
Churches. CPT P. O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 tel. 312-455-1199 FAX
312-432-1213, E-Mail cpt@igc.org WEB www.cpt.org