Biden White House Christmas Tree-Lighting And Vigil Centering Christ In The Rubble Of Gaza

By Laurie Gagne Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Instagram\Wikimedia Commons While the Biden administration proclaims “a season of Light and Peace” as the theme of its Christmas celebrations this year and thousands gathered in Washington on December 5th& to view the lighting of the White House tree, a group of around 50 activists held another kind of commemoration of Jesus’s birth.& Lined up along 17th& Street, in full view of the crowd heading toward the Ellipse to hear Biden’s speech and performances by James Taylor and Tricia Yearwood, Christians4Ceasefire, a Pax Christi-affiliated ecumenical organization formed right after the Hamas attacks of 2023, highlighted Christ in the Rubble.& In a dramatic departure from the traditional nativity scene, their Baby Jesus was all alone in a bombed-out space. And the carols they sang, sounding so familiar to the crowd at first, turned out to be ceasefire songs.& According to the flyer advertising the event, it was inspired by a photograph of the creche displayed at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem last Christmas and the words of the church’s pastor, Munther Isaac: “If Christ were born in our world today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.”& Beyond their one-off tree-lighting vigil, Christians4Ceasefire...