By Rateb Y. Rabie, KCHS, HCEF President and CEO
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we enter the sacred season of Christmas, our hearts are drawn to gratitude. We give thanks for the gift of Christ, for God’s abiding love, and for the people and places through whom salvation history unfolded. Christmas calls us not only to celebrate, but also to remember.
This holy season, I invite my fellow American Christians to remember a people too often absent from our expressions of gratitude: the Palestinian people, who hold a unique and sacred place in the story of Christianity.
Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem — in historic Palestine — among the Semitic Palestinian people who continue to live on that land today. It was there that the Word became flesh. For more than two thousand years, Palestinian Christians, alongside their Muslim countrymen have safeguarded the Christianity land where Jesus was born, taught, healed, and gave His life for the salvation of the world. Through their presence, Christianity has remained alive in the Holy Land since its very beginning.
From the earliest days of the Church, the people of this region were part of the Christian story. Scripture tells us in Acts 2 that Arabians were among those present at Pentecost, witnesses to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This reminds us that Christianity was never foreign to the Middle East — it was born there.
Generation after generation, Palestinian Christians have faithfully preserved the holy sites, traditions, and living communities that connect us directly to Christ’s life on earth. Despite displacement, hardship, and suffering, they continue to worship, serve, and bear witness to the Gospel in the land where it was first proclaimed.
At Christmas, we celebrate Emmanuel — God with us. That truth calls us to stand with all who seek peace, dignity, and justice, and to honor those who have carried the light of Christ through centuries of trial. During this Christmas season, let us lift up the Palestinian people in our prayers and give thanks for their resilience, faithfulness, and devotion.
May we remember that the roots of our faith are deeply planted in their soil, and that through their endurance, the Christian presence in the Holy Land continues to this day.
This Christmas, let us give thanks for the people who have carried the light of Christ in His homeland for generations — and commit ourselves to walking with them in faith, hope, and love.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
