Christmas 2005

Art by Ruth Frerking

• C is for Carolyn on Christmas
  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."

• R-O is for Rocky Occupation
  In so many ways, when one visits "the Holy Land" one visits a land of stones. They lie all over the ground, on the surface and just beneath. They can be used to kill, control, or defy, as well as to shelter or to mark a site. Jerusalemites are required to use local limestone in their buildings. Only Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum) and the 30-foot wall surrounding Palestinian urban centers near Jerusalem are not stone; they are concrete. Palestinian farmers use stones to build terraces and retaining walls on their sloped fields in the hill country. Young Palestinian boys sometimes throw stones at the Israeli soldiers stationed in their midst. David threw a stone at Goliath. Stephen was stoned to death on charges of speaking against the temple, some of the magnificent stones of which are still visible at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

• S is for Sepulchre
  That brings me to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the stone of Golgotha on which Jesus died and over the stone tomb in which he was laid and from which he was raised. The fear all around is the fear of death. Israelis and Palestinians alike are afraid of the extinguishing of their own communities. Therefore it "was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children [of Abraham] to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ...Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death" (Hebrews 2:10, 14-15).

• S-I-N-G is for Sing, of the Stone the Builder's Rejected
  Afraid and confused, his disciples encountered Jesus alive again after three days in Jerusalem, and then they had to rethink everything. Jesus came back not only alive but also in peace, and he "interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures" (Luke 24:27). Psalm 118 made sense to them in a new way because Jesus, "the stone that the builders rejected," had become for them "the chief cornerstone" (Psalm 118:22). Because God had vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead, they sang, "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:23). Jesus became for them the fulfillment of the promise conveyed by Isaiah when the first temple lay in ruins and the people in exile: "[T]hus says the Lord GOD, See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: 'One who trusts will not panic.' And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies" (Isaiah 28:16-17). The cross became for them no longer a display of the occupier's power but a display of the occupier's injustice caused by impotent servitude to the fear of death. It became a place where their own sin and fear was nailed. So they were "buried with [Christ] in baptism" and "raised with [Christ] through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12).

• S is for Sparks
  Sparks were flying, to the delight of all, at the Festival Eucharist and ceremonies to honor one of the founders of Crossings, Edward H. Schroeder, on his 75th birthday. The festivities were held at Bethel Lutheran Church, where one of Ed's former students, Bill Yancey, serves as pastor. Ed's bishop and former student, Jerry Mansholt, presided at the Eucharist. Another former student, Fred Niedner, chair of the Department of Theology at Valparaiso University, preached. Jerry Burce, yet another former student, composed a beautiful hymn, Gospel Blazes in the Dark, for the event which provided the theme for the day and also for a Festschrift put together by a whole host of his former students (myself included), Gospel Blazes in the Dark: A Festival of Writing Sparked in Honor of Edward H. Schroeder presented by former student and Crossings President Steve Kuhl. (See ad, left column, for how to obtain a copy.)