“Glory to God in the highest and peace to God’s people on earth”   (Lk 2:14)

Christmas celebrates the transformation that takes place in the lives of men and women across the world. This transformation is no less than a genuine renewal of the inner lives of each and every Christian, filling them with the presence of God. Indeed, this is the mystery of the Birth of Christ. It is the greatest miracle that could touch any human life by virtue of the Son of God becoming man, so that our lives could be transformed into the divine.  If the birth of Christ does not shine forth from our hearts, from our very beings, then it shows that we have failed to commune with the mystery of the Incarnation which is synchronous with the mystery of meekness. As such, the Nativity becomes a meaningful feast as we prepare ourselves prayerfully for its celebration in order to render our lives a spring of life for all those around us.

Over the past few weeks, all the Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical churches of the Holy Land have been celebrating the nativity of the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. Given the differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, this week is the turn of Armenians to celebrate this feast. But in so doing, they also share today the same trepidation and unease about the unknown that lay ahead of the shepherds of Beit Sahour some two thousand years ago when the angel proclaimed to them too the birth of a Saviour.

However, those hopes and fears that the shepherds experienced when they saw the angel were met in Christ with the Good News. The shepherds’ response to the message of hope from the angel was to seek out the One who brings peace.  From their encounter with Jesus, they learnt the truth of what the angel had told them and went out to announce to all they met what they had discovered.

Can we have the same bedrock of faith as did the shepherds?  Can we learn from them to seek, to learn, and then to go out and speak?  In these times of fear and worry about the future, theirs is a universal message for all people of faith. We are called to search out the truth for ourselves, and having found it, we have an obligation to proclaim it.  The truth might challenge us, it might daunt us, it might upset our little worlds and even scare us, but it still remains the truth - unchangeable and unavoidable.

In fact, despite the high-octane expectations of the new third millennium - with an influx of pilgrims on the one hand and a comprehensive peace on the other - mutual negation, hard-line policies and provocative acts still continue to foment further mistrust and tension between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews in our own land. But in the face of all the signs of bereavement, suffering, hopelessness and bitterness throughout the past year, the supreme truth remains that Jesus Christ was born as the harbinger of hope for us all. As such, we must look to the way forward and seek the path that will take us on God’s way.  After all, we Christians believe fervently that God’s way is indeed the way of true peace.

“The Lord said to his people,  ‘Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is.  Walk on it, and you will live in peace’ ”  (Jer 6:16).  The Holy Koran adds, “The servants of the All-Merciful are those who go about the earth with gentleness, and when the foolish ones address them, they answer, ‘Peace’ ” (25:63).  And a Yiddish proverb says, “The just path is always the right one”.

All of us must reject the path of exclusive claims and mutual recriminations, of blatant stereotyping and unbridled violence.  Let us seek to learn wisdom from the Abrahamic faiths and choose the path lit by the Star of Bethlehem some two thousand years ago.  If we walk on it, keeping the light of the Star before us, we will move fearlessly and justly toward inclusiveness and mutual understanding.

At this time in the Holy Land, we who live here stand yet again at a troubling crossroads.  The future can only be determined by whether we choose to walk in the way of a just peace or choose instead to pursue the road toward further polarisation, deception and pain.  Let us pray that all peoples can be inspired by the light of that first Christmas - that like the shepherds, our spiritual and political leaders can seek the truth, and that the two peoples and three religions of this land of the Incarnation and Resurrection can walk together towards a convivial peace that embraces a message of hope.
 

And in the midst of all our celebrations, we must not forget the holy city of Jerusalem.  This is a city sacred to us all, where the Mother Church of Jerusalem has been a continuous witness since the First Pentecost.  Jesus came to this land so that through him we might have life in all its fullness. He came so that through him the world might be saved.  However, he also wept over a Jerusalem which had spurned him and his teachings and which had failed to see him as a prime peacemaker. During this period, and as Christians live the real joy of Christmas, let us recall the Psalmist,  “May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers”   (Ps 122:6-7).

This year is doubly significant for Armenians the world over.  Not only is it the first Christmas of the third millennium, it also happens to be the 1700th anniversary of Armenia becoming the first nation-state to adopt Christianity as its state religion.  With this marking event very much in my mind, I wish all members of the Armenian community in Palestine and Israel a Theophany of hope and renewal.  I would like to conclude with a wish to the Prince of Peace who was made incarnate in this very land. It encapsulates the message eloquently: “Today is the Feast of Holy Nativity.  Proclaim the good tidings of the revelation of our Lord.”

Shnorhavor Sourp Dzenount, Merry Christmas!