Every shopping experience in Manila since mid-November has involved Christmas carols and to my surprise most of them have been carols as opposed to Christmas songs like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman. Joy to the World and Hark the Herald Angels seem to head the charts.
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
I had the privilege to visit Bethlehem earlier this year to see the town where Christ was born, but to do that I had to pass through military checkpoints since the Israeli's through fear have encircled the town with a 30 foot high wall.
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth
Needless to say the experience for tourists is surprising but fairly straightforward, however for the few Palestinians who have a permit to leave Bethlehem the experience is far different, like entering and leaving the "open-air" prison that they are subject to. The young Israeli soldiers who man the checkpoints and towers on the wall do not "watch with wondering love" the people of Christ's birth community.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
Palestinian Christians point out that if Jesus were born now the military restrictions would mean that Mary and Joseph could not make the journey from Nazareth (in Israel) to Bethlehem (in the West Bank). Fear is real and injustices many in the Holy Land and yet God is not disconnected from this pain, grief and anger. Jesus entered a world of sin, along with occupation and injustice. He did not enter because he had to, he entered because his love gave him no alternative. He was born in Bethlehem due to the occupying powers decree for a census for taxation.
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