Fourth Sunday of Advent; December 22, 2019

Dear Friends at Saint Frances Cabrini and Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parishes:

Praised be Jesus Christ!  I had the opportunity while on my recent sabbatical in late August and September to spend some time hanging around Bethlehem.  What is it like today?  One major feature of contemporary Bethlehem is that in order to get there, both for tourists and also for locals, one has to pass through the Israeli-erected and controlled security wall that allows one to enter what is commonly called “The West Bank,” which is where Bethlehem is.  The wall is large and imposing, and covered with graffiti in many places, especially by residents who are upset by its presence in their neighborhood.  

Once the wall has been crossed, Bethlehem is regular Arab or Palestinian city, built on a set of several steep hills and valleys, with Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives in view on the edge of the horizon.  While there I visited a butcher shop, a bakery, a small grocery store, a Christian grade school, and also on several evenings the home of one family whom I know there.  In Bethlehem one finds the usual odd Palestinian mix of Western or American cultural markers, combined with Muslim and Near Eastern social institutions.  For example, there is one of my favorites on one of the main streets: “Rodney Fried Chicken,” which on the outside looks a lot like Kentucky Fried Chicken, except that it is clearly a Palestinian intentional copy.  I did not go in; I presume there is chicken in there.  Same goes for the coffee shop “Stars and Bucks,” which looks a lot like Starbucks, except that it is not.  On my most recent visit I noticed that next to it, a new look alike coffee shop simply called “Bucks” has also opened.   I am told Starbucks was going to sue them, but they just gave up because the back channel world of the West Bank made it essentially a waste of time.  I suppose Starbucks is not losing a ton of sleep over these places.

Of course, perched on a hilltop in Bethlehem is the Basilica of the Nativity, among the oldest of the churches that one finds in the Holy Land.  It is across the street from a very large Mosque.  And, it is surrounded by a ton of gift shops.  Why not?  The church is built over the very place that the Lord was born.  Pilgrims are able to bend down and venerate the marble and silver marker that indicates the location that we have on very good historical authority to be accurate.

I describe Bethlehem in this way not to belittle it, and not out of any type of irreverence, but simply because this is how I encountered it.  Life goes on around it with all the usual buzz, and even corruption and sin, of any other city in the world.  All this happens in the vicinity of the very spot that God was born as a man, among men. 

One cannot help but marvel at this truth.  One cannot help but stand back and contemplate the Starbucks rip off, as well as the Basilica all in nearly the same city block, marveling at the mystery of God’s interaction with humanity.  Doesn’t God want to send down some fire or something?  Isn’t there some magic zone of perfection that is supposed to surround God’s birthplace for like a mile radius or so?  Shouldn’t I be standing in the midst of sanctity?  Is there any heavenly thunder, lighting, armies of angels-  anything out of the ordinary?

Nope.  Not at all.  This is not a basis for discouragement, doubt, or a lack of faith.  On the contrary, it simply reinforces the profound Christian truth of the Incarnation, as God enters again and again into the ordinary.  God is not a magician.  God does not impose his will on us his most favorite creatures.  He allows us the freedom to choose him, or reject him.  He comes and exists without fanfare or attention. In the midst of sin, he embraces the humanity all around him in its raw reality.  He works to redeem the world in the quiet of human hearts, and often slowly.  God’s profound humility and gentle disposition as a child, his absolute truth, and the absolute truth of his simple birth, are simply proven by the ongoing humanity of Bethlehem itself, even to today.  Our God is so awesome that he can be ordinary.  He can blend in.  This is the gift and mystery of Christmas.    This is why he is truly our Savior:  because he was and remains one of us. 

Merry Christmas!

Father Nathan is planning to lead another pilgrimage to the Holy Land in late January of 2021.