Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Israel! We hope that you are all enjoying this wonderful holiday. We are having a fantastic experience, but we admit that we miss friends and family…the traditions and festive nature of Christmas at home.

We are still reeling from a busy couple of days in Bethlehem. Yes, in Bethlehem, it is still a bit surreal. Neither Andy nor I had really any way of expecting what Christmas would be like in Bethlehem. We arrived on Tuesday from Jaffa and had afternoon coffee with a friend of several of you, Sami Awad. He runs an organization called the Holy Land Trust which has a variety of different avenues to promote positive leadership within Palestine, media about the state of Palestine to the world, and seeks for ways to find peace with Israel. Through his own history and his faith, he was able to teach us a lot about life as a Palestinian.

After a quiet evening at the guest house, we jumped in with both feet on Christmas Eve. Thanks to David (thank you!), we had a wonderful friend, Noor, to host us throughout the day. She led us through the town as the day of festivities began. It turns out that Christmas is really celebrated more on the 24th in Bethlehem. We didn’t expect that, and I think a lot of tourists show up late on Christmas Eve expecting a big Christmas Day. We also didn’t expect the parade of scouts on Christmas Eve playing drums and… bagpipes. Bagpipes? Apparently a Scot – thus the bagpipes – started the tradition of boy/girl scouts in this region, and it is a popular thing for small children all the way up until adulthood. It was neat to see dozens of scout troups from throughout Palestine and Jerusalem work their way through Bethlehem playing hymns and displaying their community pride. They led the way for the Catholic Patriarch from Jerusalem. He is welcomed by the head priest and the mayor of Bethlehem.

After the parade, the city basically celebrates in Manger Square until Midnight Mass begins there. We instead attended a service at the Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church where we were staying. They were broadcasting live to Christian Arabic TV and to Cyprus. The congregation was made up of English, German, and Arabic speaking people for the most part so several times we sang hymns in all three languages…it was very special.

Christmas morning we went to the Church of the Nativity to see the traditional birthplace of Christ in a cave below the site where this church has stood in one form or another since the 300’s AD. You would think that visiting the birthplace of Christ on Christmas Day would be deeply impactful to our faith. Ironically, the real impact was that our time in Bethlehem reminded us of how deeply personal and internal our own faith is and that we take Christ with us wherever we go. It is not about a place.

The real jewel of our time in Bethlehem was Noor Hodaly. She spent the day with us, showing us her city, explaining her Palestinian experience, and helping us have a great Christmas. Everywhere we go during this trip, it has been people and relationships that have been the most impactful to us. Noor was so sweet to take care of us, and to allow us to ask what I’m sure were deeply personal questions about her experiences of life in a very difficult, disputed place. It was without a doubt our best Christmas present this year.