Somewhere I read that Christmas celebrations in the Holy Land will be canceled this year, due to Israeli/Palestinian conflicts. With armed incursions into Israel, not to mention bombings and terrorist events, holding mass celebrations at the usual sites of Christian remembrances may indeed be unwise.

Of course, Christians long ago burst the bounds of the Middle East. First throughout the Roman Empire, then spreading to Europe, then to newer nations and continents and to older ones in Asia, Christians have grown in number.

But the growth in numbers happens alongside the different cultures that are influenced by the lessons Jesus taught, then spread by his followers. Though coming slowly at times and threatened by human sins, slaves have been freed, the status of women improved, the poor fed, prisoners visited, and children better protected.

Surely no one can claim that we have arrived at the society Jesus wishes for, but, despite setbacks, the ways championed by Jesus long ago in Galilee, when chosen by his followers, have contributed to miraculous changes.