From DC to the Vatican, baby Jesus wears a kefieh

(RNS) — The scene depicting the birth of Jesus is a common sight in December, artfully arranged on church lawns or entrances across the country.

But in some churches this year, the nativity scene looks a little different.

The manger has been replaced by a pile of rocks, and the baby Jesus is swaddled not in a thin blanket but in a black-and-white keffiyeh, the Middle Eastern-style headscarf that has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli aggression. .

This painting, often called Christ in ruins, first appeared last year in the city of Bethlehem outside the Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church, pastored by prominent Palestinian minister and activist Munther Issac. All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, quickly copied it and built one on its lawn.

This season of Advent, leading up to Christmas, they are becoming more and more frequent. Even Pope Francis was presented with a nursery on Saturday (December 7) by two artists from Bethlehem, with a baby. Jesus nested in a kefiie.

The pontiff declared “Enough wars, enough violence!” while we receive the delegation of the Palestinian groups that organized the project.

In Washington, DC, less than half a mile from the United States Capitol, another church put together a Christ in the Rubble nursery last week.

Nativity scene outside the Episcopal Church of St. Mark shows a black baby Jesus wrapped in a kefieh, lying on a bed of broken bricks and clumps of concrete and wire.

It is intended to raise awareness of Israel’s ongoing war, which has leveled the Gaza Strip and killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, as well as the plight of Palestinians in Bethlehem, located in the occupied West Bank. While most Palestinians are Muslim, there is a thriving Palestinian Christian community in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

“At Christmas, we sing about Bethlehem and put up our manger scenes and talk about this story of Jesus being born in this town of Bethlehem, with its themes of peace and love and joy and hope,” said Lindsey Jones-Renaud, a layperson . member of St. Mark’s who was part of the team that assembled the nursery last week. “But there’s such a disconnect between all of that and what’s actually happening in Bethlehem right now and in the surrounding lands.”

Since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have skyrocketed. Israeli settlers have vandalized Palestinian property and burned homes and cars, often while Israeli security forces stand by. About 900 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in 1,400 attacks, according to the United Nations. More than 50 Palestinian communities in the West Bank were forced to do so abandon their homes.

On Sunday, Jones-Renaud flew to Israel with a 10-day delegation that will tour the West Bank in a show of solidarity with Palestinian villagers — and, if necessary, to act as a buffer to protect them from escalating attacks of the Israelis. settlers and the Israeli army. It is the fourth trip planned by the Christians for a Ceasefire group.

Several Christian organizations in the US have protested Israel’s harsh military regime on Palestinians. They called for a ceasefire and an end to US military aid to Israel. The US provided more than 22 billion dollars in military aid to Israel since the start of the Gaza war, according to a Brown University study.

Now, during Advent, these organizations are working on campaigns to bring greater awareness to the plight of the Palestinians.

“We need to take more risks to stop killing in the spirit of Christmas and the birth of the Prince of Peace,” said Eli McCarthy, a professor of theology at Georgetown University and a member of the Franciscan Action Network for Just Peace. (Jesus is often called the Prince of Peace.)

Friends of Sabeel North America, an interdenominational Christian organization working on Palestinian justice, is encouraging a Preach Palestine Day of Action in conjunction with International Human Rights Day, which falls on Tuesday.

The Michigan chapter of FOSNA plans to set up two mobile “Christ in the Rubble” nurseries this month, one in a park and one at a market — both in Detroit.

“Symbols matter and images matter, and our understanding in all our traditions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, is that God is always on the side of the oppressed,” said Kim Redigan, FOSNA Michigan group member and Catholic. “God is on the side of those who suffer. God is on the side of those who are crushed.”

Some churches will also participate in a Mennonite Action event on December 21 called “The Longest Night for Gaza Service” to mourn the loss of Palestinian lives. And on December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, some churches will take public action on the day Christians commemorate the Gospel story of King Herod’s massacre of the male children of Bethlehem.

“Scripture reminds us to seek justice, show mercy and protect innocent life,” said Steven Scammacca, a member of the Episcopal Church of St. Marcu, who worked at the Christ in the Rubble nursery with Jones-Renaud. “These values ​​are clearly violated by the violence in Gaza.”