There is something beautiful about reverence. It's what transforms flocks of tourists into worshipers, noise into quiet, and cynicism into reflection.
Normally when you hear about the West Bank you hear about strife, loss, and one group pitted against another. Yet on my first visit to the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian people and the tourists they welcomed from across the globe schooled me in the ways of tolerance, cooperation and faith.
This is not to say that suffering does not persist. Only a short ride away from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem looms the partition wall and a Palestinian refugee camp. In Manger Square a banner of Yasser Arafat hangs adjacent to the city's Christmas tree as a reminder that despite the city's enduring history, its future has yet to be written.
I have been contrasting my experience as a guest of the holy city, in which people of many backgrounds and ethnicity came together to stand in awe of what they say there, with the ongoing turmoil and desperation of a people for whom justice has yet to be resurrected.
What came to mind was a sentiment scrawled in black and white on a portion of the partition wall inside the refugee camp: "Light is the only end to darkness."
For many that light is religion. It is a force that in its pure form helps us to recognize not only the divine in our world, but also the humanity in each other.
Whatever the reasons for Bethlehem's impressive peace, I pray that tomorrow grows ever lighter.
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