Saturday, December 23, 12:00 PM EDT
Worcester Christians Sing Carols for Ceasefire, City Hall
Worcester Christians will gather in front of City Hall, Saturday, December 23 (tomorrow) at noon to carol for a ceasefire to the Israel/Hamas war. Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its eleventh week, has killed upwards to 20,000 Gazans, 70% of whom are women and children. In the West Bank, attacks by Jewish settlers and Israeli Defense Forces have killed more than 300 Palestinians during the same time period.
Concerned about the war’s devastation, Christians in cities across the US have been singing ceasefire carols, changing the words to religious and secular tunes to appeal for peace and a Christian response to the violence and suffering. A rewrite of “White Christmas,” for example, begins with “I’m dreaming of a ceasefire/ a peace to last a thousand years,” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” becomes a lament for “O Broken Town of Bethlehem.”
Churches in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, will host no Christmas festivities this year, to show their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank, and Jerusalem who are enduring an unprecedented level of violence and trauma. Many creches are featuring a statue of the Christ Child in a bed of rubble. Inspired by this depiction of the Nativity, organizers of tomorrow’s event say they plan to bring to the sing-along a statue of the Infant Jesus, swaddled in a Palestinian keffiyeh, placed atop a wheelbarrow full of construction debris.
Caroling for a Ceasefire is organized by the Saints Francis and Therese Catholic Worker, a lay community that provides shelter for the city’s homeless and works for peace and justice. Catholic Worker and event organizer Claire Schaeffer-Duffy said, “For more than thirty years, our community has hosted a caroling party on the last Saturday before Christmas, the tradition rooted in the Christian practice of singing the good news of Christ’s birth to the poor, the elderly, and our neighbors. This year, Christ comes in the midst of a terrible war in the Holy Land, one that is killing so many children. We cannot continue Christmas as usual, especially when it is US weapons that are killing entire Palestinian families. So how do you communicate the “good news” of God Incarnate in such times? With songs, with shouts, if necessary, for an end to this war, and all wars.”
Flyer Caroling for Ceasefire Worcester Dec 23.pdf(Review) - Adobe cloud storage