December 21, 2022

The House of the Watchers: Reflections from Beit Sahour, Palestine
Luke 2: 8-20

By Rev. Dr. Lenore Hosier

While I had passed through Beit Sahour on my earlier trips to Palestine, it was on my trip in 2009 when I went with Global Ministries as one of our conference Mission Ambassadors where I was first introduced to the reality “on the ground” in that little town bordering up against Bethlehem. As part of our immersion experience, I was dropped off at the home of a local Palestinian Christian family to enjoy true Middle Eastern hospitality as I stayed in their home for the night. I confess, it was intimidating to go alone into a home in a strange town with people who seemed so different than those back home. I was not even sure if I would be able to communicate since I did not speak Arabic. There we sat, me with the husband, wife and five children from infant to teen, not quite sure where to begin. What began with food around their kitchen table, though, turned into laughter and stories that lasted well into the night.

Fast forward thirteen years, and I can share that I am still in contact with my family in Beit Sahour. I have spent many a wonderful meal at their table and have even enjoyed a few family weddings. I still do not speak Arabic, but I know a lot more than I used to know, mostly from the kids as we sat in their home playing cards and talking about life. Their eldest daughter has come to spend time with my family here in Pennsylvania, and I have had the privilege of seeing the “baby” of the family grow into a handsome, teenage boy. None of this would have been possible, though, if I (and this family) had not been open to God showing up in a new and unexpected manner.

Reading this very familiar passage from the Gospel of Matthew as we prepare to enter into the Celebration of the Birth of Christ, my mind immediately goes to those sloping, rocky hills of Beit Sahour where tradition locates those watching shepherds not far from Bethlehem, very close to my friends’ home. The shepherds sat there that night watching their sheep in the dark of the night, no streetlights to break through the darkness, probably only a glowing fire to warn away predators that might come looking to steal a sheep or two.
The name Beit Sahour translates into something like “house of the watchers.” The shepherds might have thought they were just watching over their flocks, but the Scripture reminds us that they saw so much more there on the hillside that night. Luke tells us that what they saw made them fearful, but they did not turn tail and run away. Instead, they heeded the “good news” of the angels. Despite the fact they were intimidated, nervous and even afraid, they were curious enough to see how God was going to show up in a new way, so they went to check it out for themselves.

And God did. God showed up in an unexpected manner as a little baby in swaddling clothes, born to a virgin, teenage mother and her carpenter husband. The Lord came to Earth in human form, and it was the unexpected shepherds that were the first to come to worship the newborn king. They were open to God doing something new and amazing while so many others missed it!

So, as we go through Advent, may we set aside our preconceived ideas, our fears, and our assumptions, as well. May we be open to sitting at the table together with those unlike us, maybe to share a meal, stories, laughter and even tears with our Palestinian and Israeli brothers and sisters. May we be watching to see what God might do in our midst, even through us, in unexpected ways.

I hope that we can be like those shepherds, too, in our willingness to glorify and praise God in what we have seen and heard. Despite the struggles that are experienced daily in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza, God is still at work. Throughout this season, keep your eyes open and watch to see how God is moving amongst us so that we might proclaim God’s goodness wherever we go!

Prayer: Gracious God, open our eyes during this season of preparation to see what you would have us to see. May our eyes not grow weary from watching, our heads not start to droop with fatigue or complacency, our spirits not become distracted and discouraged despite all the heartaches in our world today. Keep our eyes looking towards Jesus, our Prince of Peace, that we might experience your Peace today and every day. Amen.

You make our collective work possible by your witness for justice every day in your church, community, and Annual Conference. MFSA does not receive any financial support from the United Methodist Church's giving channels. 100% of our budget is funded through your membership dues and your generosity in giving.

Rev. Dr. Hosier is an ordained elder in the Susquehanna Conference of the United Methodist Church. She earned a D.Min. from Colgate Rochester Crozer in Peacebuilding and Interfaith Dialogue and completed her thesis work on the African American experience in the Methodist Tradition. Hosier has served local churches in her conference, spent almost three years serving cross-culturally/cross-racially as a Mission Volunteer with GBGM and now serves as an interfaith prison chaplain. She has travelled to Israel and Palestine on 16 trips since 2006 and continues to stay engaged with the people and the land by educating others in the Church and beyond through her work with UMKR.