#Christ child

[didoofcarthage]

Prayer Nut with the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi, attributed to the workshop of Adam Dircksz

Netherlandish, c. 1500-1530

boxwood, silver, and gold

Rijksmuseum 

#Merry Christmas! #Nativity #Adoration of the Magi #Christmas #Jesus #Christ Child #Adam Dircksz #Netherlandish #Northern Netherlands #art #sculpture #prayer nut #boxwood #silver #gold #religious art #Christian art #Rijksmuseum

[hussyknee]

Jesus is Under the Rubble

“This Advent, while global Christians prepare to commemorate the arrival of the Prince of Peace, our Palestinian kin in Gaza suffer unthinkable violence. Their cries of deliverance, echoing those of two millennia ago, seem to be falling unheard on the United States.”

— by Kelly Latimore icons. All proceeds from sales of this digital image will go toward Red Letter Christians trusted partners in Gaza.

Transcript: Christ in the Rubble A Liturgy of Lament Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church Bethlehem Saturday, December 23rd, 2023 We are angry…

We are broken…

This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful.

Twenty thousand killed. Thousands under the rubble still. Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Day after day after day. 1.9 million displaced! Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed. Gaza as we know it no longer exists. This is an annihilation. A genocide.

The world is watching; Churches are watching. Gazans are sending live images of their own execution. Maybe the world cares? But it goes on.

We are asking, could this be our fate in Bethlehem? In Ramallah? In Jenin? Is this our destiny too?

We are tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so-called “free” lined up one after the other to give the green light for this genocide against a captive population. They gave the cover. Not only did they make sure to pay the bill in advance, they veiled the truth and context, providing political cover. And, yet another layer has been added: the theological cover with the Western Church stepping into the spotlight.

The South African Church taught us the concept of “The state theology,” defined as “the theological justification of the status quo with its racism, capitalism and totalitarianism.” It does so by misusing theological concepts and biblical texts for its own political purposes.

Here in Palestine, the Bible is weaponized against our very own sacred text. In our terminology in Palestine, we speak of the Empire. Here we confront the theology of the Empire. A disguise for superiority, supremacy, “chosenness,” and entitlement. It is sometimes given a nice cover using words like mission and evangelism, fulfillment of prophecy, and spreading freedom and liberty. The theology of the Empire becomes a powerful tool to mask oppression under the cloak of divine sanction. It divides people into “us” and “them.” It dehumanizes and demonizes. It speaks of land without people even when they know the land has people – and not just any people. It calls for emptying Gaza, just like it called the ethnic cleansing in 1948 “a divine miracle.” It calls for us Palestinians to go to Egypt, maybe Jordan, or why not just the sea?

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” they said of us. This is the theology of Empire.

This war has confirmed to us that the world does not see us as equal. Maybe it is the color of our skin. Maybe it is because we are on the wrong side of the political equation. Even our kinship in Christ did not shield us. As they said, if it takes killing 100 Palestinians to get a single “Hamas militant” then so be it! We are not humans in their eyes. (But in God’s eyes… no one can tell us we are not!)

The hypocrisy and racism of the Western world is transparent and appalling! They always take the words of Palestinians with suspicion and qualification. No, we are not treated equally. Yet, the other side, despite a clear track record of misinformation, is almost always deemed infallible!

To our European friends. I never ever want to hear you lecture us on human rights or international law again. We are not white— it does not apply to us according to your own logic.

In this war, the many Christians in the Western world made sure the Empire has the theology needed. It is self-defense, we were told! (And I ask: how?)

In the shadow of the Empire, they turned the colonizer into the victim, and the colonized into the aggressor. Have we forgotten that the state was built on the ruins of the towns and villages of those very same Gazans?

We are outraged by the complicity of the church. Let it be clear: Silence is complicity, and empty calls for peace without a ceasefire and end to occupation, and the shallow words of empathy without direct action— are all under the banner of complicity. So here is my message: Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Gaza was hell on earth before October 7th.

If you are not appalled by what is happening; if you are not shaken to your core— there is something wrong with your humanity. If we, as Christians, are not outraged by this genocide, by the weaponizing of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness, and compromising the credibility of the Gospel!

If you fail to call this a genocide. It is on you. It is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace.

Some have not even called for a ceasefire.

I feel sorry for you. We will be okay. Despite the immense blow we have endured, we will recover. We will rise and stand up again from the midst of destruction, as we have always done as Palestinians, although this is by far the biggest blow we have received in a long time.

But again, for those who are complicit, I feel sorry for you. Will you ever recover from this?

Your charity, your words of shock AFTER the genocide, won’t make a difference. Words of regret will not suffice for you. We will not accept your apology after the genocide. What has been done, has been done. I want you to look at the mirror… and ask: where was I?

To our friends who are here with us: You have left your families and churches to be with us. You embody the term accompaniment— a costly solidarity. “We were in prison and you visited us.” What a stark difference from the silence and complicity of others. Your presence here is the meaning of solidarity. Your visit has already left an impression that will never be taken from us. Through you, God has spoken to us that “we are not forsaken.” As Father Rami of the Catholic Church said this morning, you have come to Bethlehem, and like the Magi, you brought gifts with, but gifts that are more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You brought the gift of love and solidarity.

We needed this. For this season, maybe more than anything, we were troubled by the silence of God. In these last two months, the Psalms of lament have become a precious companion. We cried out: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Gaza? Why do you hide your face from Gaza?

In our pain, anguish, and lament, we have searched for God, and found him under the rubble in Gaza. Jesus became the victim of the very same violence of the Empire. He was tortured. Crucified. He bled out as others watched. He was killed and cried out in pain— My God, where are you?

In Gaza today, God is under the rubble.

And in this Christmas season, as we search for Jesus, he is to be found not on the side of Rome, but our side of the wall. In a cave, with a simple family. Vulnerable. Barely, and miraculously surviving a massacre. Among a refugee family. This is where Jesus is found.

If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza. When we glorify pride and richness, Jesus is under the rubble.

When we rely on power, might, and weapons, Jesus is under the rubble.

When we justify, rationalize, and theologize the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble.

Jesus is under the rubble. This is his manger. He is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed, and displaced. This is his manger.

I have been looking, contemplating on this iconic image….God with us, precisely in this way. THIS is the incarnation. Messy. Bloody. Poverty.

This child is our hope and inspiration. We look and see him in every child killed and pulled from under the rubble. While the world continues to reject the children of Gaza, Jesus says: “just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” “You did to ME.” Jesus not only calls them his own, he is them!

We look at the holy family and see them in every family displaced and wandering, now homeless in despair. While the world discusses the fate of the people of Gaza as if they are unwanted boxes in a garage, God in the Christmas narrative shares in their fate; He walks with them and calls them his own.

This manger is about resilience— صمود. The resilience of Jesus is in his meekness; weakness, and vulnerability. The majesty of the incarnation lies in its solidarity with the marginalized. Resilience because this very same child, rose up from the midst of pain, destruction, darkness and death to challenge empires; to speak truth to power and deliver an everlasting victory over death and darkness.

This is Christmas today in Palestine and this is the Christmas message. It is not about Santa, trees, gifts, lights… etc. My goodness how we twisted the meaning of Christmas. How we have commercialized Christmas. I was in the USA last month, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and I was amazed by the amount of Christmas decorations and lights, all the and commercial goods. I couldn’t help but think: They send us bombs, while celebrating Christmas in their land. They sing about the prince of peace in their land, while playing the drum of war in our land.

Christmas in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is this manger. This is our message to the world today. It is a Gospel message, a true and authentic Christmas message, about the God who did not stay silent, but said his word, and his Word is Jesus. Born among the occupied and marginalized. He is in solidarity with us in our pain and brokenness.

This manger is our message to the world today – and it is simply this: this genocide must stop NOW. Let us repeat to the world: STOP this Genocide NOW.

This is our call. This is our plea. This is our prayer. Hear oh God. Amen.

(Source)

I found these on Twitter a while ago. Original creator unknown.

I can't stop you ascribing hateful, paranoid meanings to these images, but they're not about blaming religions. Jesus was a Jew born to a community of Jews in Palestine, the cradle of the Abrahamic faiths. He was raised and loved by them, betrayed by their rulers* and killed by Romans. He's a Prophet of Islam. End of.

*Y'know, like how the people of the Arab and Muslim nations love Palestine and crying to help them, except their leaders are greedy and rotted to the core. The ruling class will always only serve the empire.

Edit: alt text provided by @this-world-of-beautiful-monsters

#tag has stopped trending so please boost #catholicism #christmas #christianity #orthodox christianity #jerusalem #bethlehem #free gaza #save gaza #free palestine #christ child #racism #western imperialism #evangelical christianity #lutheran #us imperialism #fuck israel #israeli war crimes #israel is a terrorist state #white supremacy #colonization #manifest destiny #theology #anti zionism #christian zionism #human rights #war propaganda #i/p #knee of huss

[divinum-pacis]

December 2023: "In Bethlehem, the city of Christ's birth, Lutherans lit advent candles around a nativity surrounded by rubble, as God's children in Gaza still are today. God sent his only Son to be with us in times of doubt, fear, and grief. God is with them in Bethlehem, He is with His children in Gaza, and He is with his children under the rubble."

Photos and text from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

#religion #christianity #lutheran #evangelical lutheran church in jordan and the holy land #christ child #advent #bethlehem #palestine #divinum-pacis

[illustratus]

The Wilton Diptych (1395–1399)

The kneeling King Richard II is presented by Saints John the Baptist, Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr, each holding their attribute. In the right-hand panel the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child in her arms is surrounded by eleven angels, against a golden background and field of delicately coloured flowers.

#middle ages #medieval #mediaeval #england #altarpiece #richard ii of england #english #king #saints #kings #saint #john the baptist #edward the confessor #edmund the martyr #virgin mary #christ child #angels #art #christianity #christian #religious art #religion #history #gothic #heraldry #house of wessex #anglo saxon #anglo saxons #flowers #richard ii

[zal-cryptid]

Doesn’t the baby Jesus give gifts in some parts of Europe during Christmas. What’s the explanation for that in the other folk canon

Who do you think got Nick into the whole toymaking gig?

I really like the Christkind's design. My headcanon explanation for how Jesus comes back every Christmas Eve as a white blond-haired female-presenting angelic gift-giver is that the Christkind is a manifestation/personification of his childlike wonder. I'm all for this golden transfem!Jesus.

#ask #Tales of the Otherfolk #christkind #folklore #mythology #christmas #baby jesus #jesus christ #christ child #angel #nonbinary #transfem #christianity

[dramoor]

“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’” - Matthew 1:23

~Christ is Born!  Glorify Him!~

(Icon by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston)

#Icons #Orthodox Christmas #Nativity #Christmas #Christ Child #Virgin Mary #Theotokos #Panagia #Scriptures #Emmanuel #God with us

[mote-historie]

Giorgio di Tomaso Schiavone (Dalmatian, ca. 1433-1504), Madonna and Child with Angels, between 1459 and 1460.

In this altarpiece, the Virgin Mary wears gold brocade with pearls, and the Christ Child, with his necklace of red coral, stands on a tasseled cushion. Through these precious materials, the painter has communicated the divinity of the figures. On the parapet at the bottom of the painting is a carnation. Its Greek name, dianthus, means "flower of God."

Schiavone uses the vibrant color of coral throughout this painting and portrays the baby Jesus as wearing a coral necklace and pendant. Having these figures draped in luscious fabrics and fine gemstones set them apart and was a way to depict to the viewer how divine the figures were.

Children were gifted branches and strands of coral beads to wear as a form of mystical protection against evil. Once the child grew up and their strand of beads became too short, they might double the strand and wear it as a bracelet.

Schiavone was born in Dalmatia (present-day Croatia) and immigrated to northern Italy, where he studied with Francesco Squarcione of Padua. On the cartellino (little paper) in the foreground, he proudly identifies himself as the disciple of this master. Like his contemporaries, Schiavone was concerned with reviving the arts of antiquity, as seen by the garlands at the top that imitate Roman sarcophagus reliefs.

#Giorgio Schiavone #virgin mary #christ #baby christ #coral #coral necklace #christ child #jesus christ #religious art #art #painting #madonna #antique #Giorgio di Tomaso Schiavone #renessaince art #renessaince painter #dianthus #flower of god #croatian #croatian painter #croatian art #angels #corals #baby jesus #jewelery history #red corals #red coral necklace

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Madonna in Herrlichkeit mit dem Christkind, zwei Engelsmusikern, St. Peter, St. Dominic, St. Paul und St. Jerome (Pesaro-Altarbild) von Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (Undatiert, oil on panel)

#kunst #kunstwerk #art #artwork #giovanni girolamo savoldo #madonna #christ child #christkind #engel #angels #st. peter #st. dominic #st. paul #st. jerome #christentum #christianity #religion #jesus #christ #herr #lord #gemälde #painting #glaube #faith #heilig #holy

[ynhart]

Madonna and Child

#jesus christ #virgin mary #saint mary #mother mary #christ #christ child #catholic #catholicism #ynhart

[lilacsinthedooryard]

The Adoration of the Infant Jesus 1465

Fra' Filippo Lippi (Italy 1406-1469)

#fra' filippo lippi #navitity #christ child

[didoofcarthage]

Sketch of a woman and child, for The Holy Family Adored by Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist, by Guido Reni

Italian, c. 1640-1642

black, white, and red chalk

J. Paul Getty Museum

#nativity #Jesus #Christ Child #Virgin Mary #Guido Reni #Italian #baroque #art #sketch #drawing #chalk #Getty Museum #J. Paul Getty Museum

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Unto Us a Child is Born

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Pele-Yo’etz El Gibbor Avi-’Ad Sar-Shalom (Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God [The Powerful Living Word], The Father of eternity, The Prince of Peace). Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David [beloved], and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from from this time forth (from now on) even forever. The zeal of the LORD-Yehōvah (Messiah Pre-Incarnate) Tz’va’ot [of the Heavenly Armies] will perform this. — Isaiah 9:6-7 | New Messianic Version (NMV) The New Messianic Version Bible by Tov Rose © 2012. All Rights Reserved. Cross References: Matthew 1:1; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 28:18; Luke 1:32-33; Luke 2:11; John 3:16; John 12:34; Hebrews 7:24

#Jesus #birth #Christ child #titles #government #future ruler #peace #ordained and established by God #Isaiah 9:6-7 #Book of Isaiah #Old Testament #NMV #New Messianic Version Bible

[divinum-pacis]

A Nativity scene depicting Christ's birth with the figure symbolizing baby Jesus lying amid the rubble, a reference to the war in Gaza, inside the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. World-famous Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem have been put on hold due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

#religion #christianity #protestantism #lutheran #evangelical lutheran church in jordan and the holy land #christ child #advent #nativity #christmas #bethlehem #war #divinum-pacis

[illustratus]

Virgin and Child with Angels by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi

#art #religious #bartolomeo cavarozzi #saint #holy #angels #angel #saints #religion #christian #christianity #crown #vision #dream #christ child #baby jesus #jesus #christ #jesus christ #saint catherine #divine infant

[moethh]

Happy Father’s Day!!

here’s a lil drawing i made for my family :)

#catholic #christian #catholic art #christian art #jesus #jesus christ #jesus art #saint art #st joseph #child jesus #christ child #young jesus #Joseph has no lines in the Bible yet so many people including myself think he’s awesome. absolutely insane. #we need more St. Josephs out there #father’s day #happy father's day #my art

[dramoor]

"I went into the Christmas cave; there was no Child upon the straw. The ox and ass were all I saw.

I sought His stable where He gave His goodness in the guise of bread. Emptiness came to me instead.

Filled with my Father’s words, I cried “Where have You hid Yourself?” and all the living answered to my call.

I found Him (and the world is wide) dear in His warm ubiquity. Where heart beat, there was Christ for me.

I went back to the Christmas cave, glad with the gain of everywhere. And lo! the blessed Child was there.

Then at His feasting board He gave embrace. He multiplied His good and fed in me the multitude."

~ A poem by Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit (Jessica Powers), O.C.D.

(Art: Baby Jesus, by Vladimir Fokanov)

#Christian art #Nativity #Christmas #Christ child #Lord Jesus #poetry