As a Palestinian-American minister, I've long known that the Bethlehem in Christmas carols bears little resemblance to the occupied West Bank city my family struggles to hold on to

I lit my first Advent candle in Bethlehem as a child. This year, I joined the Red Candle movement because I realized how the global church still sings of Bethlehem with affection but rarely sees the people who live there today.

The delegation of the Supreme Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine concluded an official visit to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, organized jointly with the Palestinian Embassy in Hungary and the Hungarian Ecumenical Council, aiming to promote dialogue and highlight the situation of Palestinian Christians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

TWO Palestinian children in traditional dress lit a red candle in the Grotto of the Nativity in a ceremony to celebrate global Christian solidarity on Saturday — the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

A coalition of Catholic, mainline Protestant, historic peace church, and advocacy groups wants Christians in the U.S. to remember Palestinian Christians this Advent by lighting a red candle. The

“Red Candle”

initiative comes after two years of genocide in Gaza and generations of violence in the West Bank and across the Middle East.

If Jesus were born in Bethlehem today, His first cry would be inside a walled city. Mary and Joseph would travel a road divided by checkpoints and concrete, stopping again and again before soldiers with rifles and AI enabled machine guns. The donkey’s slow steps would be replaced by the shuffle of feet through narrow turnstiles, the hum of generators, the metallic click of gates unlocking.

Last month, pastors, theologians, thought leaders and Christians gathered in Chicago for a rare and urgent assembly. The event, called Church at the Crossroads, was led by Palestinian Christians and drew together voices across evangelical, Mainline, Catholic and ecumenical traditions. Its premise was stark: The church stands at a defining moment.