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Bethlehem Is Not a Storybook: An Advent Journey Toward Peace\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.<\/span>\u201d Luke 1:46\u201347 <\/span><\/p>\n We often feel a tender ache when we read that Mary and Joseph were turned away from the inn. A young mother about to give birth, a weary father doing all he can to provide shelter. It stirs something deep in us. They found refuge not in comfort but in a cave, surrounded by animals and hay, giving birth to the Prince of Peace in humility and vulnerability. And yet even there, <\/span>joy<\/span> broke in, the <\/span>joy <\/span>of being seen by God<\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He saw their journey, their exhaustion, their courage and heaven responded. A star marked the spot. Angels filled the sky with music. And shepherds were told to come and see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That invitation echoes through the ages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCome and see,\u201d <\/span>say the Palestinian Christians of today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Come and see the land of the Nativity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Come and see the Living Stones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Come and see how faith endures even under occupation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Come and see what it means to follow Jesus where He was born and where His teachings still take root.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Come and see what <\/span>joy <\/span>looks like when it survives the night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is not about taking sides in a political war. It\u2019s about choosing to see. About stepping across thresholds that others want to keep closed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When we accept the invitation to \u201ccome and see,\u201d we step into solidarity, not to solve, but to witness; not to argue, but to learn. Like the shepherds who left their flocks to behold the newborn Messiah, or the Magi who crossed empires searching for the hope of the world, we are being summoned, not just to remember Bethlehem, but to meet Christ again in His people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When Western pilgrims arrive in Bethlehem, what surprises them most is not the ancient stones but the living ones: the people who still gather, worship, and serve in the land of Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/span><\/p>\n People like Shireen Awwad Hilal, a humanitarian, educator, and peacebuilder who lives in Bethlehem with her family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Shireen works with the <\/span>Shepherd Society<\/span>, the social outreach arm of Bethlehem Bible College. Her days are spent offering food, medical care, and microloans to those in need. In the wake of devastation in Gaza, the Shepherd Society expanded its aid even further offering hope where governments failed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But Shireen\u2019s story isn\u2019t just about her work. It\u2019s also deeply personal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On October 18th, her family church in Gaza was bombed. Her uncle, an engineer, and her aunt, a school principal, were killed. Another aunt, injured so severely she required a hip replacement and underwent surgery without anesthesia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Shireen\u2019s voice breaks when she tells this story,not in anger, but in sorrow and compassion. Despite this, she clings to the path of peace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter is in Montana now,\u201d she shares. \u201cWhen she told people her family was in Gaza, they laughed. They said the photos were fake. A teacher told students she was spreading lies, even called her a Hamas supporter. Then my family died. Then they began to believe.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And yet still, Shireen teaches peace. Still, she stays rooted in Bethlehem. She carries <\/span>joy <\/span>like a quiet flame, not happiness, but the strength to keep loving. She embodies what it means to forgive seventy times seven, to love enemies, to live the Sermon on the Mount in flesh and blood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Shireen is not alone. In Nazareth, Pastor Yohanna Katanacho opens his Bible and teaches the Abrahamic Covenant, not as a weapon to divide people, but as a promise that invites all nations to bless and be blessed. At the Church of the Beatitudes, Palestinian Christian teachers guide visitors through Jesus\u2019 words, line by line:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Blessed are the peacemakers. Love your enemies. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These aren\u2019t slogans in the Holy Land. They are survival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To live them under occupation, under the threat of checkpoints, house demolitions, travel restrictions, and bombs, that is discipleship. That is what the Western Church must come and learn. That is the <\/span>joy <\/span>of faith that endures when fear should have won.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Bethlehem and its surrounding towns, you\u2019ll find ministries like<\/span> ANAR,<\/span> where children traumatized by war receive counseling and play therapy. You\u2019ll find the <\/span>Shepherd Society helping families without homes or food. You\u2019ll find <\/span>women\u2019s collectives teaching the ancient art of embroidery as a form of resistance and livelihood. You\u2019ll find cooks teaching guests to make <\/span>maqloubeh <\/span>and <\/span>musakhan<\/span>, not just to nourish the body, but to preserve a culture under threat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These ministries are not just charity. They are witness. They say:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We are still here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We have not returned evil for evil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We still believe in the Prince of Peace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Their <\/span>joy <\/span>is their resistance, the <\/span>joy<\/span> of refusing to let hate define them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But as in the original Nativity story, Herod is never far away. Back then, Herod tried to silence hope with violence. Today, bulldozers demolish homes, walls carve up communities, and drones strike neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Modern-day Herods justify these acts with fear, but the result remains: suffering, displacement, death. Herod feared a child because he represented a different kind of kingdom, one not built on swords, but on love. On a different kind of power, the kind that kneels, heals, and walks alongside the hurting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The question remains: Will we recognize this kingdom? Or will we, like Herod, cling to the illusion of control?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The invitation to Bethlehem is not to rubberneck warzones or to collect spiritual souvenirs. It is an invitation to follow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To learn from people who still love where it\u2019s hard. To pray in Arabic with those who have every reason to give up, and haven\u2019t. To understand the Gospel not as a Western export but as a radical truth born in the margins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Palestinian Christians are not asking us to fix their problems. They\u2019re asking us to come and see the truth. To walk with them as they walk with Christ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You are invited. Come and see. Come and share their <\/span>joy<\/span>, the <\/span>joy <\/span>that is born in faithfulness, sustained by love, and multiplied in peace<\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n An excerpt from the book, \u201cBethlehem is not a Storybook, Learning to Listen: A Journey Toward Peace\u201d by Lani Lanchester to be published in 2026.<\/p>\n Week 3: Joy\u00a0 The Invitation of the Living Church in Bethlehem Bethlehem Is Not a Storybook: An Advent Journey Toward Peace\u00a0 \u201cMy soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.\u201d Luke 1:46\u201347 The Invitation of the Living Church in Bethlehem\u00a0 We often feel a tender ache when we read that Mary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2426,82,3099,179],"class_list":["post-12605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-bethlehem","tag-church","tag-invitation","tag-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Invitation of the Living Church in Bethlehem\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Not Choosing Sides: Choosing to Show Up\u00a0<\/h3>\n
\u201cWe Are Still Here\u201d: The Witness of the Church\u00a0<\/h3>\n
An Invitation from the Church of the Beatitudes\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Ministries of Mercy, Peacemaking, and Hope<\/h3>\n
Who Is Herod Today?\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Come and See: An Invitation to Discipleship\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Advent Practices (Do one today)\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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Advent Discussion Questions\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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