“Jesus in The Rubble”
Make a Creche Kit to Remember the Children in Gaza
In the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, city and church leaders canceled all Christmas festivities in December 2023 to mourn the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza (at that time). A Christmas sermon, “Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament,” delivered by Reverend Munther Isaac at the landmark Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, received international attention for a nativity scene depicting the figure of baby Jesus in a keffiyeh, surrounded by rubble. “If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza,” preached Isaac, who condemned using theology to justify Israel’s killing of innocent civilians. “If we, as Christians, are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness, and we are compromising the credibility of our gospel message.” A link to a video of the sermon and an interview with Rev. Isaac can be found at the Democracy Now website, the show of December 26, 2026.
In our places of worship, we can remember the children in Gaza with a small, portable creche of “Jesus in the Rubble” made with simple materials. Wrap a baby doll in cloth or paper printed with a keffiyeh pattern. Darken the skin a bit if the doll is pink. Some Styrofoam painted grey and cardboard packaging materials can serve as the “rubble.” The lid of a box for shipping reams of paper can serve as the base for the scene. The whole box functions as a kit for transporting and storing the creche. It can quickly be “rebuilt” each time you set it up; there’s no need to glue all the parts in place.
At your place of worship, you could set up the creche alongside literature of your choice on the topic of peace and justice in Palestine. A backdrop/poster at the back of the scene reads:
Jesus in the Rubble
At the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem,
Rev. Munther Issac explains why the Christmas manger
is on a pile of rubble. A liturgy of lament.
Friends of SABEEL North America
www.fosna.org/preach-palestine-blog/born-under-the-rubble
This creche is not terrifying in any obvious way. Children in your congregation may look at it, read the backdrop, and ask questions. For thinking adults, however, this simple artwork might be a reminder of the ongoing violence in Gaza, which has been described as a “war on children” (as nearly half of the Palestinians in Gaza are children), a “holocaust,” and a “probable genocide” by the International Court of Justice. Who would have thought that nations of world would enable the violence to continue unabated for more than a year, with no cessation in sight. The statistics of the killed, the maimed, and the orphaned are there for anyone who cares to read them. But children are not numbers. And words fail us. Could a simple work of art rekindle some viewer’s empathy, and inspire them to action?
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Materials for making the creche shown below.
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Steven Sellers Lapham is a board member of UUJME and volunteer for Voices From the Holy Land Online Film Salon
