On Wed, Dec 24, 2025 at 10:43 PM Charles Keener via groups.io <ckeener20005= [email protected]> wrote:
> > Christmas Is Not a Western Story–It Is a Palestinian One - Peace & Planet > News > <https://peaceandplanetnews.org/christmas-is-not-a-western-story-it-is-a-palestinian-one/> > > > *Christmas is a story of empire, injustice and the vulnerability of > ordinary people caught in its path.*EEvery December, much of the > Christian world enters a familiar cycle of celebration: carols, lights, > decorated trees, consumer frenzy and the warm imagery of a snowy night. In > the United States and Europe, public discourse often speaks of “Western > Christian values”, or even the vague notion of “Judeo-Christian > civilisation”. These phrases have become so common that many assume, almost > automatically, that Christianity is inherently a Western religion — an > expression of European culture, history and identity. > > It is not. > > Christianity is, and has always been, a West Asian / Middle Eastern > religion. Its geography, culture, worldview and founding stories are rooted > in this land — among peoples, languages and social structures that look far > more like those in today’s Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan than > anything imagined in Europe. Even Judaism, invoked in the term > “Judeo-Christian values”, is itself a thoroughly Middle Eastern phenomenon. > The West received Christianity — it certainly did not give birth to it. > > And perhaps nothing reveals the distance between Christianity’s origins > and its contemporary Western expression more starkly than Christmas — the > birth story of a Palestinian Jew, a child of this land who was born long > before modern borders and identities emerged. > What the West made of Christmas > > In the West, Christmas is a cultural marketplace. It is commercialised, > romanticised and wrapped in layers of sentimentality. Lavish gift-giving > overshadows any concern for the poor. The season has become a performance > of abundance, nostalgia, and consumerism — a holiday stripped of its > theological and moral core. > > Even the familiar lines of the Christmas song Silent Night obscure the > true nature of the story: Jesus was not born into serenity but into > upheaval. > > He was born under military occupation, to a family displaced by an > imperial decree, in a region living under the shadow of violence. The holy > family were forced to flee as refugees because the infants of Bethlehem, > according to the Gospel narrative, were massacred by a fearful tyrant > determined to preserve his reign. Sound familiar? > > Indeed, Christmas is a story of empire, injustice and the vulnerability of > ordinary people caught in its path. > Bethlehem: Imagination vs reality > > For many in the West, Bethlehem – the birthplace of Jesus – is a place of > imagination — a postcard from antiquity, frozen in time. The “little town” > is remembered as a quaint village from scripture rather than a living, > breathing city with actual people, with a distinct history and culture. > > Bethlehem today is surrounded by walls and checkpoints built by an > occupier. Its residents live under a system of apartheid and fragmentation. > Many feel cut off, not only from Jerusalem – which the occupier does not > allow them to visit – but also from the global Christian imagination that > venerates Bethlehem’s past while often ignoring its present. > > This sentiment also explains why so many in the West, while celebrating > Christmas, care little about the Christians of Bethlehem. Even worse, many > embrace theologies and political attitudes that erase or dismiss our > presence entirely in order to support Israel, the empire of today. > > In these frameworks, ancient Bethlehem is cherished as a sacred idea, but > modern Bethlehem — with its Palestinian Christians suffering and struggling > to survive — is an inconvenient reality that needs to be ignored. > > This disconnect matters. When Western Christians forget that Bethlehem is > real, they disconnect from their spiritual roots. And when they forget that > Bethlehem is real, they also forget that the story of Christmas is real. > > They forget that it unfolded among a people who lived under empire, who > faced displacement, who longed for justice, and who believed that God was > not distant but among them. > What Christmas means for Bethlehem > > So what does Christmas look like when told from the perspective of the > people who still live where it all began — the Palestinian Christians? What > meaning does it hold for a tiny community that has preserved its faith for > two millennia? > > At its heart, Christmas is the story of the solidarity of God. > > It is the story of God who does not rule from afar, but is present among > the people and takes the side of those on the margins. The incarnation — > the belief that God took on flesh — is not a metaphysical abstraction. It > is a radical statement about where God chooses to dwell: in vulnerability, > in poverty, among the occupied, among those with no power except the power > of hope. > > In the Bethlehem story, God identifies not with emperors but with those > suffering under empire — its victims. God comes not as a warrior but as an > infant. God is present not in a palace but in a manger. This is divine > solidarity in its most striking form: God joins the most vulnerable part of > humanity. > > Christmas, then, is the proclamation of a God who confronts the logic of > empire. > > For Palestinians today, this is not merely theology — it is lived > experience. When we read the Christmas story, we recognise our own world: > the census that forced Mary and Joseph to travel resembles the permits, > checkpoints and bureaucratic controls that shape our daily lives today. The > holy family’s flight resonates with the millions of refugees who have fled > wars across our region. Herod’s violence echoes in the violence we see > around us. > > Christmas is a Palestinian story par excellence. > A message to the world > > Bethlehem celebrates Christmas for the first time after two years without > public festivities. It was painful yet necessary for us to cancel our > celebrations; we had no choice. > > A genocide was unfolding in Gaza, and as people who still live in the > homeland of Christmas, we could not pretend otherwise. We could not > celebrate the birth of Jesus while children his age were being pulled dead > from the rubble. > > Celebrating this season does not mean the war, the genocide, or the > structures of apartheid have ended. People are still being killed. We are > still besieged. > > Instead, our celebration is an act of resilience — a declaration that we > are still here, that Bethlehem remains the capital of Christmas, and that > the story this town tells must continue. > > At a time when Western political discourse increasingly weaponises > Christianity as a marker of cultural identity — often excluding the very > people among whom Christianity was born — it is vital to return to the > roots of this story. > > This Christmas, our invitation to the global church — and to Western > Christians in particular — is to remember where the story began. To > remember that Bethlehem is not a myth but a place where people still live. > If the Christian world is to honour the meaning of Christmas, it must turn > its gaze to Bethlehem — not the imagined one, but the real one, a town > whose people today still cry out for justice, dignity and peace. > > To remember Bethlehem is to remember that God stands with the oppressed — > and that the followers of Jesus are called to do the same. > Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac > <https://peaceandplanetnews.org/author/revdrmuntherisaac/> > > Rev Dr Munther Isaac is a Palestinian pastor and theologian. He pastors > Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ramallah and is director of the > Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice. He is also the academic dean of > Bethlehem Bible College and the director of the highly acclaimed and > influential Christ at the Checkpoint conferences. Munther is passionate > about issues related to Palestinian theology. > He speaks locally and internationally and has published numerous articles > on issues related to the theology of the land, Palestinian Christians and > Palestinian theology, holistic mission and reconciliation. He is the author > of *The Other Side of the Wall, From Land to Lands, from Eden to the > Renewed Earth, An Introduction to Palestinian Theology* (in Arabic), a > commentary on the book of Daniel (in Arabic), and more recently a book on > women ordination in the church, also in Arabic. His latest book is *Christ > in the Rubble*. > <https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802885548/christ-in-the-rubble/> > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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