C is for Carolyn on Christmas

Carolyn Schneider

Carolyn Schneider, Assistant Professor of Theology at Texas Lutheran University, is spending her Christmas in and around Bethlehem as part of her sabbatical. She writes, "I spent the first three months of it (from July to October) with the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (<http://www.eappi.org>). I was placed with two teammates, one Swede and one Norwegian, in Bethlehem during that time. From October to January, I will be working with Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land (<http://www.holyland-lutherans.org>). My assignment is to use the distinct tools of Law and Gospel to make a theological analysis of the significance of Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians and their significance for Jerusalem. The primary intended readership is American schools and churches."

Without the internet's web, we would have a hard time catching up with Carolyn this Christmas, also to hear her Christmas message from Bethlehem. Yet how wonderful is the season of Christmas for reaching out precisely with a message of joy and peace, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God's people on earth!" From the crib at Bethlehem the message has extended through angels and shepherds, through apostles and missionaries, through faithful sisters and brothers today, to bring us all that joy and peace, to lead us to sing like "living stones" in the rocky hills of Bethlehem, or wherever you may be.

mhoy