wfn.org | Bethlehem child leads candle-lighting ceremony

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 23, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-30-71BP{631}

NOTE: Cameel Rishmawi's name is spelled correctly. Photographs are
available. This story may be used as a sidebar to UMNS # 630.

HOUSTON (UMNS) - In the darkness of Sam Houston Park, a small child of
Bethlehem lit a candle - a candle symbolizing the light that came into his
hometown 2,000 years ago.

This time, however, the light was surrounded by 1,800 shepherds - men, women
and children who had come to Houston to celebrate the new millennium and to
commit to sharing Jesus Christ with the world. As the downtown skyscrapers
loomed over them, the crowd gathered in front of the small stage on which
the child from Bethlehem stood with leaders of the World Methodist Council
(WMC).

The boy, 5-year-old Cameel Rishmawi, had traveled from the Holy Land with
his parents, bearing a candle that he had first lit in the Church of the
Nativity. The church, according to tradition, stands at the site of Jesus
Christ's birth.

What began quietly in Bethlehem culminated in a powerful celebration in
Houston on Nov. 19, when Cameel relit his candle in the park. Lighting the
candle was a symbol of spreading the light of the Gospel into the new
millennium, said the Rev. Joe Hale, WMC top staff executive.

The gathering in the park was one of several high points of the WMC's
Millennium Event, Nov. 18-21, with the theme "Jesus: The Hope for the New
Millennium."

The evening began at the convention hotel, several blocks away, with the
performance of a song commissioned for the Millennium Event, "We Are the
Children of Light," by Hal H. Hopson. The song was performed by the
Millennium Children's Choir, consisting of local third- to fifth-graders.

"The miracle of Bethlehem is a simple story about poor people living in an
occupied land, about taxation and travel, about expectation, anxiety, about
getting there and no room at the inn," Hale said. It is "about a stable,
birth and about shepherds in the fields and the song of angels; and good
news of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Savior, Christ the Lord. ...

"The wonder of this night is that Bethlehem comes to us in Houston, in a
child that we now see," Hale said. 

A brief video followed, showing Cameel lighting his candle at the Church of
the Nativity. Afterward, other children took the stage, holding placards
that bore the names of their denominations.

"Now, let us follow the children to see the great thing that has come to
pass in Bethlehem," Hale said.

Led by the children, the people walked out of the hotel, collecting candles
at the exit. They marched through the city streets, singing Christmas
carols. Houston police had blocked off the car traffic, and officers watched
as the Methodists made their way to Sam Houston Park. 

At the park, Cameel, Hale and other WMC leaders took the stage. Cameel,
facing the crowd from the tiny stage, did not seem overawed. He smiled and
maintained a steady gaze.

Hale led the crowd in a litany, in which the people responded, "And a little
child shall lead them." The crowd then sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." 

"The light of the star, which wise ones followed long ago, seekers of Jesus
Christ still follow," said WMC President Francis Alguire, of New Buffalo,
Mich. "We are grateful to God for this eternal light. We pray that this
might be a time the Holy Spirit is stirred up within us that we will go
forth as light bearers, remembering that we are Christmas people,
Christians, showing the way of Jesus Christ to the lost, to the lonely to
those that have not yet heard of Jesus Christ. 

"We pray that what we do and say each day might reflect light and love into
someone's life," she said, "that together the whole world will come to know
Jesus Christ."

Following more singing, the crowd joined Hale in another litany, repeating
the phrase, "Light one candle for the Messiah." Cameel lit candles held by
other children, and they shared the light with the people around them. The
downtown park became a sea of tiny lights amid the darkness. 

In a final prayer, Hale asked for God's blessing on the crowd and
particularly on the children of the world.

"Oh God, we pray that as we go to our homes and to our countries, that we
may take the light that shines so gloriously in this park and that we may
spread it wherever we live so that the world will know in new ways, Christ
the Savior is born. And dear God, tonight we ask your special blessing on
the children, the children that sang for us and all the children of the
world, those whose lives are not so happy, but who love life, and we love
them, and we pray your blessing on them." 
# # #

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United Methodist News Service
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