Bethlehem Bible College sits within walking distance of the birthplace of Jesus and about 200 metres from the eight-metre-high concrete wall that hems in Palestinians such as those who lead and attend the college.
Bethlehem is no less troubled today than it was for Mary and Joseph, who, despite the “Silent Night,” had to flee by dark, according to Matthew, before Herod eventually killed “all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or younger.”
The region is again home to violence and tension. Palestinians face arbitrary detention (including detention of minors), outright displacement from their homes and lands, and military violence. They have virtually no recourse.
I acknowledge that Palestinian extremists occasionally kill Israelis and create fear in Israel, as we see on the news. Without justifying this, I note that Israel, as an occupying power with billions of dollars in American support, carries out far more violence.
The only Bible college in Bethlehem, and all of Palestine, is shaped by these circumstances as it also seeks to shape them. In addition to peacebuilding activities at home, the college seeks to shift attitudes abroad, especially among fellow evangelicals, as Byron Rempel-Burkholder explains in his feature. Canadian Mennonites are pitching in.
Ironically, Christians in the Holy Land are often neglected. The majority of Palestinians are Muslim, but the Holy Land is also home to Palestinian Christians, some of whom trace their lineage back hundreds of years. Yousef Alkhouri, an instructor at Bethlehem Bible College, is one of them. Alkhouri, along with college president Jack Sara, visited Canada this past fall, at the invitation of Mennonite Church Canada.
I spoke with them after an adult education session and sermon at Morden (Man.) Mennonite Church.
Alkhouri had shared how he can only travel to see his family in Gaza, 60 kilometres away, around Christmas and Easter as those are the only times Israeli authorities will grant permission to travel. He showed pictures of an apartment building reduced to rubble by Israeli air strikes. It had been home to his sister and her family. They were given 10 minutes notice. Alkhouri clarified that his sister is a Sunday School teacher not a terrorist.
I asked Alkhouri and Sara about the Song of Mary which talks about God lifting up the lowly and bringing down the mighty. For Sara, the passage means God came to the poor, not to Herod’s palace.
“Even if we don’t see hope,” Sara said, “there is a gift in us. . . . God is on the side of the poor and marginalized and lowly. . . . [T]he oppressive structures will not last forever.”
Alkhouri added: “We suffer oppression like Mary. . . . We are longing for God’s intervention.”
Unpacking the Arabic word sumud, he talked about how Palestinians stretch their roots deep to create a space to thrive.
Then I asked about enemies. Surrounded by overt antagonism and constant military presence, what does Sara teach his children about loving their enemies. His kids go to school with Israelis. He wants them to see Israelis as humans not devils. Humans can be “transformed by my humanity” he said.
Alkhouri added that for them, loving their neighbour and their enemy are often the same thing. “We are called to be peacemakers,” he said, and that “requires sacrifice.”
Much has changed since the first Christmas; much has not. To understand Emmanuel, our notions of a serene manger must combine with current realities of people like Jack Sara and Yousef Alkhouri. For in Bethlehem is born—and reborn—a tender, humble mystery amidst trouble and tumult.
Announcement
Thanks to Jessica Evans who served as Alberta Correspondent since spring 2022. We acknowledge the good work she did for CM and wish her well in her new position with MCC Alberta.
Digital Issue
Finally, we have a digital-only issue coming out on Dec. 26 (to sign up contact office@canadianmennonite.org). The next print issue will be mailed on Jan. 16.
—Corrected Dec. 21, 2022. The date for the next print issue was originally misidentified.
Read more editorials:
My prayer
3 lessons from a bumpy Sunday
Today, in the town where the Prince of Peace was born, a concrete wall hems in local residents. (Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)
Comments
2000 years later in Bethlehem has this "Back to the Future" kind of ring to it. Christianity returning to its roots full circle and Mennonite Church Canada "leading the way."
This return of the Christian church to the Middle East would likely have been applauded by now deceased Sioux/Lakota philosopher/theologian Vine Deloria Jr. In Deloria's 1973 book entitled "God is Red," Deloria bemoans the historically (post 1492) negative impact of Christianity imposed upon the people of Turtle Island and its environment.
Deloria posits (from an Indigenous cultural point of view) that Yahweh, the God of Christians is an imported Middle Eastern God, whose valules were and are unsuited for North America. Deloria posited that the God of this land (North America) is "Red," meaning Indigenous cultural values should be paramount.
It seems to me that Mennonite Church Canada is not in a strong position to make argument against Deloria's assertion. With Mennonites being willing participants and complicit in colonialism in Canada, and great beneficiaries of land, resources, and the resulting genocide, there seems to be a penchant, a partiality, a preference to look away. For MC Canada to look to foreign lands for missions, for church planting, for Mennonite Central Committee relief projects, and now back to the Middle East, the Holy Land.
I don't think that humanity and Christianity is furthered by a strategy which seems to "ignore injustice at home, while continuing missions abroad," all in the name of Christ. I think rather that MC Canada should have a stronger focus on how to right Mennonite injustices here at home. I think the missions need to be focused on the values and actions of Mennonites in Canada, where much healing is needed.
Thanks for commenting, Peter. Your concern that we not focus on injustice abroad to the negligence of justice at home is entirely legitimate. I'll just point out that Mennonite Church Canada has done some amazing justice work on settler-colonialism in Canada through its Indigenous-Settler Relations ministries. Also, we in the Palestine-Israel Network are constantly making comparisons between what is happening in Israel and Palestine, and what has happened in our own colonial history in Canada. Our Palestinian visitors in Manitoba this fall (see the other articles in the series) were quick to make those connections, too. When it comes to colonial history in North America and in the Middle East, it's not either/or. It is both/and.
Palestinians are constantly firing rockets into Israel, a fact ignored by CM and many others. They are supported in this by Iran and others who are sworn to Israel’s destruction.
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