Christmas Message
The following is a Christmas message from Archbishop Atallah Hanna, the Greek Orthodox Patriachate from Jerusalem who came to Wellington United Church of Christ to join area faith activists for an Ingathering Service celebrating Palestinian Solidarity Day in 2011. His call for us to become the manger or the cave "to enfold the Savior" comes from the same incarnational theology that demands that the racist walls that separate us come down and be replaced by bridges of love including the wall that surrounds Bethlehem now.
Breaking Down the Dividing Walls of Hostility
During these sacred days in which we receive the divine child born for our salvation,
the church, with all its various traditions and denominations, helps the faithful gradually
enter into an atmosphere of this celebration. In some traditions, there is a period of fasting and special prayers intended to purify the faithful in order to welcome the Savior as their hearts become the manger, the cave that enfolds the Savior, who has come to elevate them into a life of grace and blessings.
The coming of the Messiah into this world is to unite all humanity for He has come to instill love in people's hearts and to build bridges of understanding and togetherness among all.
Anchored in our faith, we totally reject the construction of discriminating and racist walls that separate human beings from their brethren imposes a feeling of living in a large prison.
Our Palestinian people suffer because of this discriminating separation wall that deprives access of movement. As Christians, believers in the values of the Holy Book, we demand the dismantling of the separation wall. The world is in need of bridges not walls; bridges of love and cooperation.
We pray for peace based on justice and the elimination of all aspects of racism and discrimination, starting with the separation wall.
His Eminence Archbishop Atallah Hanna
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
published in PNN Palestine News Network
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