What does it mean to ” watch? ” In Bethlehem, this first week of Advent,faces watch from doorways, at corners, as those under curfew risk thestreets to visit sick relatives or find the half-opened grocery door.Soldiers watch from tanks, at checkpoints for the unwary traveler, or invadehouses in the dark hours before dawn when no one is watching.
It is difficult, in this almost obsessive watching, to practice scripturalawareness, especially in those low moments: ” in the evening, or at midnight,or when the cockcrows, or at dawn, ” when the watch fires are burning pilesof uncollected garbage.
Yet, some are awake to what is real beneath the facts, the human spirit that canthrow off the occupation of mind and body. Children know this instinctivelyas they kick balls in Nativity Square or ride bikes wildly down Manger Road.Adults, frightened by the unpredictable, be it night raid, the tank aroundthe corner, or even the mood of a particular soldier, have inner walls tobreak down.
A Palestinian friend has his own obsession: to smash such walls. He shopsfor a ” Palestinian Thanksgiving ” and invites the neighbors. He walks tomeet with Muslims and Christians for long evening discussions. He drivesfrom the top of Beit Jala, through Bethlehem, to the center of Beit Sahour,stopping to talk to friends or offer strangers rides – always an example ofnonviolent resistance. He judges its growth by counting cars passing andshops opening on streets largely not patrolled where, although risk is areality, the ” curfew of the mind ” is even stronger. His car sputters; hissink fills with dishes; he forgets to buy bread; but he is truly aware, notneeding the cockcrow to call him back to hard reality and the hope hiddenwithin: the groaning of the Spirit birthing new life in those who watch forits coming.