The Work of Christmas During a Genocide

How Mainstream Christianity Has Lost the Thread

Last Christmas, thousands of Christians all over the world heard listened as Bethlehem pastor Rev. Munther Isaac said in his Christmas sermon that if Christ were to be born in the world today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza. A year later, sadly, he was forced to repeat himself, for the genocidal assault on Gaza continues.

How is it that so many Christians could have heard Rev. Isaac’s sermon, and then go on with business as usual? How, when the shocking reality is now being reported that babies are freezing to death in Gaza? How, when hospitals are being raided and doctors kidnapped and detained in torture camps because they refuse to leave their patients bedsides? How, when Israel continues to bomb refugees in their tents? How, when Christ is still being born under the rubble?

I do have to pause and recognize that much of this news is not being reported in America’s mainstream media. I did a quick, cursory search of the New York Times and the Washington Post, and didn’t find a single headline about babies freezing to death in Gaza. It’s possible the facts are hidden in an article somewhere, but quite frankly, if babies freezing to death in Gaza isn’t headline-worthy, I’m not sure I know what is. I will give NBC news some credit, as there is a story on their website (though, notably, not on their home page). Still, for Americans who only get their news from mainstream, western sources, it’s quite possible that they just aren’t hearing about this. I can only hope that is the case, because if people are hearing about it, and not screaming with rage to anyone who will listen, I don’t know what to say.

Some might wonder, upon hearing this news for the first time, how this is happening. After all, Gaza is not known for having a super cold climate. But consider how everything up to this point has compounded. People are in tents, it is cold and rainy, disease is rampant and everyone is malnourished. Infants are being born prematurely to malnourished mothers, in extremely unsanitary conditions. These are not healthy, hearty babies. They are born sick and weak. They cannot withstand the conditions they are born into.

Now is perhaps a good time to remind people that in the convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide, two factors that define a genocide are “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” and “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.” Both of these factors are present as babies die, days after being born, because Israel has inflicted upon Gaza conditions of life calculated to ensure that people, including infants, cannot survive. For those who are still on the fence— this is genocide. It’s blatantly obvious at this point.

In the midst of this, we are still in the Christmas season, and I’ve been thinking a lot about Howard Thurman. Thurman famously wrote a poem entitled, The Work of Christmas, reminding Christians that long after the celebrations are over and the lights have been taken down, the work of Christmas (feeding the hungry, healing the broken, finding the lost, etc.) continues, and that what Christmas is really all about is the birth of love, compassion, justice, and peace into the world. If Christ is to be born again this Christmas, we have to become his hands and feet, and we have to do the work of Christmas.

Considering this, I thought perhaps that the work of Christmas in a time of genocide might call for a slight revision to Thurman’s original text. Here is what I wrote for UCC PIN’s Weekly Pause for Palestine this past week:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find those lost under the rubble,
To heal the bodies broken by war,
To feed those who are freezing and starving,
To release the prisoners and hostages,
To demand a ceasefire,
To rebuild Gaza,
To break down the walls of apartheid,
To sing for a free Palestine.

Mainstream Christianity has lost the thread when it comes to the meaning of Christmas. The work of Christmas has to be about caring for the marginalized and brutalized in our world, or it is nothing but an empty celebration. Indeed, I think that if God were to observe most of our Christmas celebrations and comment upon them, we might hear echos of the book of Amos, when God said, “I hate, I despise your festivals. Your assembles are a stench to me.” To churches that let Christmas celebrations pass by without a word about Gaza, God might say the same thing today.

Let us not be among those Christians who have lost the thread of what Christmas is all about. Let us do the work of Christmas as best we can. Granted, we can all feel pretty powerless about what’s happening in Gaza, but we can’t let up the pressure— not on our government officials, not on educational institutions, not on our news media, not on corporations (read about BDS and get involved!), and not on our fellow Christians. Keep talking about Gaza. Keep praying for Gaza. Keep advocating for Gaza. For as long as Christ is still being born under the rubble, and as long as Christ is still dying under the rubble, there is still much work to be done.