Page 84 - Nativity News Today

Christmases with you. tonight, we share our nativity moments. as a child of eight or nine, i often sat by the large nativity scene from italy, similar to this one my mother bought. when you wound it up, it would play silent night, as if to transport myself in time i would imagine myself becoming witness to the birth. >> at first i thought my father was kidding but then i thought of the nativity scene on the west coast highway, i was moved by his humility, so i asked must one be invited? >> and a...

Time, my siblings and i, home for an alumni basketball game in alaska. >> that is really the key. >> that is part of the family, not all, because this is a big family now. >> it has grown now, right? >> you know, i was reading the book, you had the kids go to the nativity. and they would always -- sometimes ask why after they got their oat meal so why is it important for you to take them every year? >> well it was real important when i was the city mayor and manager to kind of sanction the idea ...

And persians and greeks, then under the rowmans. >> people asks the question, when is our god going to do what he said he would do? when is he going to act to bring justice and peace to the world? >> regardless of the facts, fictions and faith, the nativity stories become much more meaningful when we know the history of the first century in the holy land. >> most christians today think of christmas as a cute family festival with christmas trees and so on. its actually the most powerful and subve...

>> what doesnt mean christmas other than mr. t. >> a lot of bling, a lot of bling. >> i mean, weve seen everything over the years. but what i found to be really remarkable is that this is a place where people actually live. and that you really get a sense of it being a home for our first families. some of the pictures i found first for the book were the kennedy family. just really poignant of these young kids, john-john and caroline, re-enacting the nativity for our parents. >> a cute side note....

Called icon -- with silver and gold depictions of saints and the holy family and this is seen as a connecting point between heaven and earth. to our right we have the armenian altar. and to the left, a small altar as well. here, in bethlehem, we get christmas three times. we have christmas on december 25th for the western right and the catholics who celebrate christmas mass there and then bring a doll of jesus and put it in the grotto of the nativity. on january 7th, we have greek orthodox chris...

Rest. but they have a beautiful screen with silver and gold depictions of the holly family and this is -- holy family and this is athenas grasp between heaven and earth and another small alter as well. here in bethlehem we have christmas three times. on september 25th for the western right and the catholics that celebrate mass there and bring a doll of jesus and put it in the grotto of the nativity, on january 7th we have greek orthodox christmas and thenar meany and christmas. so it is a very r...

Octagon built over the venerated cave. its now below the altar in the grotto of the nativity. father murray oconnor took us there. >> now were in the grotto. there are two altars. this is the grotto of the nativity. and if you put your hand through that hole you can touch. and on this side, this is the altar of the manger. >> even in this peaceful place, there are long running disputes. the altar of the manger belongs to the franciscan monks. the altar of the nativity or birth belongs to the gre...

Into the life in god and to the life in christ and to life in the church. >> god sent forth his son born of a woman. what was the reason for that? we could not find salvation on our own. we could not be freed from our sins on our own. so god enters into our world. >> for people who have not visited bethlehem, it may be surprising to learn that jesus was born here in a cave, not in a stable. >> so as we are standing in a natural cave that is made into the soft limestone here, we see first the gro...

But to the wrong king. we often miss that when we just do the christmas carol thing. this is much more about the fact of jesus is going to draw people from east and west and north and south. >> the nativity scene as we envision it today is largely a result of the devotion of st. francis, two had life-size nativity scenes with live animals. there are some elements of the way christmas is celebrated which go beyond what we find in the gospel text. >> so many re-enactments of the nativity show this...

About whether we say merry christmas or happy holidays or whether you set up a nativity. its taking christ out of the christmas and forgetting what the message was. it was for the poor. it was for the outcasts, and until we remember that and start attending to the poor, thats how you put christ back in christmas. do you think jesus cares whether we say merry christmas or happy holidays? i dont think so. i think jesus cares are we feeding the hungry? clothing the naked? this is what his message w...