Most years, amidst the horrors & disappointments of life, Christmas and Easter have provided comfort, hope and challenge: seasons to reflect and recommit, chances to once more receive divine gifts freely and dedicate myself to the good of my neighbours (near and far), to solidarity in suffering, struggle and in seeing those sometimes only momentary glimpses of how another world is possible.
But this Christmas, Christian communities across #Palestine cancelled Christmas celebrations. #Bethlehem was raided by the #IDF (while far worse atrocities were being inflicted on #Gaza just miles away). How then could we sing "O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see you lie"?
And this Easter just passed, nearly all the Christian communities in the holy land, descendents of those who have lived & worshipped there for almost 2,000 years, were refused access to #Jerusalem, while the survivors from the tiny Christian communities in Gaza huddled together–hungry, wounded, scared, grieving–amongst the rubble of their lives and society.
The weapons killing them were supplied by wealthy western nations, whose Christian leaders remain largely silent.
