On the 3rd of December, Dar al-Kalima University organized an event titled “Hope from Bethlehem: Peace for Palestine A Christmas Solidarity Campaign with the People in Gaza”. Well-known artists from Palestine and abroad performed to encourage the call for an immediate ceasefire, an open and sustainable humanitarian corridor into Gaza, and a just and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel. As we enter the season of advent, many in the Western Church have marked the first Sunday by lighting the candle of “Hope”, and many in the eastern Church began their “Nativity Fast”.
Emmauel, God with us, Advent in Palestine this year feels like a paradox. We meditate on the hope of the incarnation whilst we live in a hopeless reality where children are killed, lives lost become mere numbers and statistics, women have no safe place to give birth, and injustice is celebrated. Lord, this is your story. As we meditate on your incarnation, let it be a time of active waiting which feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, heals the sick, and struggles with the oppressed for their liberation.
Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer