No Christmas in Bethlehem
Just about every Christmas eve, except on occasion, I go to Christmas Eve Mass with my family. This year was no exception. Going to Mass and participating in organized religion is not something that is spiritually important to me, personally. I do see how it can be an important part of people’s lives and I try to remain respectful of those who find God in attending and are there to participate in an important ritual and sacrament, in the Eucharist. Churches and faith communities are also important as networks within our communities. This is across faiths. People have a right to be safe while they are practicing their religion and they should have the freedom to celebrate and express their faith without persecution, and they should not be intimidated, coerced, or influenced by religions that they don’t choose to be part of.
I believe in the existence of human’s ability to commune with God/life interconnectedness in various individual and collective settings and through various means. This might be explainable by neuroscience and that is fine if you feel that way. Many people feel value in finding the experience of connecting with a greater sense of being in religious practice and I think they should have a safe and respected environment to do so. These experiences can include meditative states, sports, music, communing with nature, in love, sex, drugs, sports, exercise, witchcraft or occultism or participating in something they love. People should be free to experience their conception of God in whatever way they choose, responsibly, with or without an organization or a dogma and without fear of persecution or being in danger from a government, bigotry and hate, etc.
The Catholic Church, has, as we are all aware, participated in some pretty horrible scandals, in recent centuries from the child sex abuse scandal and associated coverup to the carrying out of Native American genocide at Canadian boarding schools. Pope Francis seems to want to right a lot of this. Jesus was not known as a cold hard capitalist, in fact, he was generally reported to be in favor of helping the poor and Pope Francis echos this. I certainly don’t remember anything about Jesus’ defense of militarism or imperialism. Pope Francis has also been outspoken in calling for a ceasefire in all wars, including Gaza, even using the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘genocide’ to describe what is happening to Palestinians, while also appropriately condemning Hamas for their part. He has also been heavily critical of the arms industry, calling them ‘instruments of death’ that fuel wars.
Pope Francis is kind of like early President Obama, where he went around the world on a sort of post-Bush era apology tour and then continued the same awful overall economic and foreign/military policy. Maybe that is all Francis is, but I like a lot of what I see in him. As a disaffected member, it is nice to see the person in that position taking such socially-progressive, anti-imperialist, anti-genocidal, economically-critical, anti-arms industry positions in his interpretation of the faith. I think it says a lot that it is so surprising to see a Pope actually taking Christ-like positions.
This year, given the heightened goings-on in the Holy Land and around the world and Pope Francis’ statements on the situation, I was interested in knowing what would be said at Christmas Eve Mass on the topic, if anything. While it’s not typical for priests to delve too deeply into current events during mass, I felt as though this year, this holiday, this location in question in its relation to the present and to the holiday, was worthy of something. Even the most minimal non-specific nod to ‘people living through war’ would have been something, but I heard next to nothing.
I heard the word Bethlehem mentioned no less than 30 times, but it was always the Bethlehem of the past and not the Bethlehem of the present. There was no mention of Christian leaders in Bethlehem (West Bank) canceling Christmas in protest of Israel’s indiscriminate mass killing in Gaza. Killing so indiscriminate that they accidentally killed 3 of Hamas’ Israeli hostages that were waving a white flag the other week. There was no mention of West Bank Palestinians living under occupation by Israel’s internationally illegal settlements and increasing Israeli state sponsored and conducted violence.
In the Mass that I attended, there were many empty non-specific mentions of peace. More empty talk of humanity with Merry Christmas kid gloves.
I am sure there are some American Christian clergy that are saying the right things about this, as there are those saying the wrong things. Perhaps I should be happy with nothing, as opposed to the alternative, and less critical. There wasn’t a “Stand with Israel” American flag fading into an Israeli one as may certainly be found at other Christian churches in parts of America, but I can only criticize what I can touch and in my own experience, on Christmas 2023, a stronger stand, even a subtle one, could have been made in this simple right vs. wrong issue that becomes more clear every day.
Americans are such a soft population, incapable of facing the reality of what we are doing around the globe. From our complicity in constant escalation of war and destruction, to our arming of some questionable nations and groups, and the large financial benefit we derive from the weapons industry. As an American, I hope that we as a population can be strong and find ways to be united in our imperial dying days and can remain some of what we are supposed to be, both domestically and in the world, but our credibility is diminishing fast. American Christians can sit for an hour listening to a 2000 year old story of the past about an important baby being born under an imperial occupation whilst sitting in the gaze of a wood-carved life size sculpture of the adult version of that baby being executed by these imperial occupiers for causing too much trouble for the political and spiritual establishment, but we can’t stomach the reality of the present, where to that very land, we ship bombs for the mass killing of mostly-innocent Palestinians. Worse yet, we get paid for those bombs, particularly in my region, but as a nation as a whole, there are probably not that many degrees of economic separation between the average worker and the ‘defense’ industry. In other words, you probably bought your loved ones’ Christmas gifts in whole or part with blood money that comes from crushing innocent children under bombed buildings and you should feel something about that.
A more worthwhile sermon, than the one I attended, was the one delivered by Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. Reverend Isaac was previously known for his involvement with the Christ at the Checkpoint conferences, which tell the Palestinian Christian perspective living among occupation and checkpoints surrounding Israeli settlements. This year, with Christmas effectively canceled in Bethlehem due to the ongoing events, the church set up a nativity featuring baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh scarf, on a pile of concrete rubble. In his sermon, Rev. Isaac said that “If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.” He took aim at America’s favorite consumerist holiday and our empty words of peace among our complicity. Referring to American Christians at Christmas he said, “They send us bombs, while celebrating Christmas in their lands. They sing about the prince of peace in their land while playing the drum of war in our land”. “People just celebrated Christmas, millions sang and read about Bethlehem. I wonder if they know that Bethlehem is a real city in Palestine with real people and a long cry for justice.” I am not sure we do. Or maybe we just can’t face the realities of it and our complicity with all of it.
