SUNDAY: "Two Weddings in Palestine"

The first of today's two weddings, at the Church of the Nativity, was bright with joy, warmth and a community of blessing. As I watched two Greek Orthodox priests alternate with their anointings and prayers, two Franciscan priests wandered over from the Roman Catholic church adjacent to the Orthodox sanctuary. They leaned in with joy, apparently knowing and loving the glad couple and rejoicing with this ecumenical congregation. As the small choir chanted prayers, I noticed that a large delegation of African pilgrims was emerging from the holy cave below...and the mix of African pilgrims in their bright dresses and shirts...and the Palestinians above in their flowery dresses and glorious smiles...invited in me the deepest kind of gratitude for life, for humankind, for what we might be for one another.