The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope by Kelley Nikondeha

The First Advent in Palestine: Reversals, Resistance, and the Ongoing Complexity of Hope Reviews

• 
  Nicole Walters

  If you're looking for a cozy Advent devotional, keep looking. If you're looking for a fresh vision of what the incarnation of Jesus Christ means in our lives, this is the book for you. Kelley Nikondeha brings a deeply human, personal, compassionate, and liberating lens to the familiar stories of advent in the scriptures. You will never look at the stories of Jesus' birth the same way again after reading Nikondeha's book, and this is a good thing. You will see them through the eyes of the first Christmas and every day since. You will see every day through an advent view after you look with imagination and stark reality at what the coming of Christ really meant and can still mean to us today.
• 
  Robert D. Cornwall

  The liturgical season of Advent is often forgotten as Christians rush toward Christmas. Yet, Advent is not just the prelude, it's the whole thing. That is, Advent and Christmas and even Epiphany are really one event. There is preparation and fulfillment. When we neglect the preparatory materials, we miss out on the meaning of the incarnation. Fortunately, resources appear regularly that if we pay attention to them can help broaden our experience of God's presence among us.
  
  "The First Advent in Palestine" is the latest book by Kelley Nikondeha, who is a gifted storyteller. I have loved her books
  Adopted: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World and
  Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom. Nikondeha has a unique ability to delve into biblical stories and connect them to real lives in the contemporary world, especially those who live on the margins. This book is no different. I should note that this review is based on my reading of an Advance Reader's copy, which means the page numbers and perhaps quotes might not be completely accurate.
  
  In this book, which might appear at first glance, based on the title, as an Advent devotional, is instead an exploration of the Advent stories in a Palestinian context. Even as she portrayed the women of the Exodus as defiant ones, the central figures in this story are also defiant in their resistance to occupation. Even as the first Advent story was set in the context of the Roman occupation, there is another form of occupation, and that is the one experienced by Palestinians. Since the central geographical point in this story is Bethlehem, we encounter people living today in that city, people who experience the travails of occupation. She introduces us to the people and their lives, as they deal with the daily concerns of life under Israeli control. While this is a story of resistance to occupation, it is also a story of hope, though that hope is not without its complexity.
  
  Since this is a story of people living under occupation, she begins with the story of the Maccabees. Titled "Silence and Suffering," this opening chapter takes us back to a moment in Jewish history when the people resisted an oppressive occupation. In doing this she acknowledges the experience of suffering endured by Jews both in the ancient world and in the modern one. At the same time, she wants us to hear the stories of the Palestinians who have too often been forgotten. This focus will be challenging to many, but it's an important one. Thus, she writes that "a vital part of the first advent is wrestling with those harmed by imperial oppressors---from the Babylonians to the Seleucids to the Romans." (p. 22). Thus, the first chapter introduces us to the "darkness before God's arrival."
  
  After this introductory chapter that takes us to earlier times as described in 1 and 2 Maccabees, she turns to the infancy narratives. The first section of the book focuses on the narrative in Luke. The second part takes up the story as presented in Matthew. Thus, we see both visions of the story.
  
  From there we move to "God's Peace Campaign," a chapter in which we encounter Zechariah, an ordinary priest, who receives word from an angel that he will be the father of a son who will announce the coming peace of God, but then is silenced. We learn here about what it means to be a priest in that time, as Herod sought to control the priesthood. While we encounter Zechariah, we also encounter Palestinians living in the region. We learn about the precarious nature of life under occupation. From Zechariah, who receives a message about a son to be born to he and his wife, we move to Mary, a girl from Galilee, who also hears a message from Gabriel. In Mary, according to Nikondeha, God finds another collaborator in this peace campaign. Again, God reaches out to an ordinary person living on the margins in a marginal region (Galilee) to work with. She tells of her own experiences of Galilee and other similar West Bank towns and people. Then we get to experience in chapter 4 the meeting of the "Mothers of Advent." That is, the encounter of Mary with Elizabeth, a visitation that led to her song (The Magnificat), a song of resistance. These are the Advent stories, which she connects with life in the region, where peace is difficult to achieve.
  
  Now we move from the preparatory stories in Luke to the birth story itself. We return to Bethlehem to experience "A Hospitable Birth in a Hard Economy" (ch. 5). As she tells the story of the census and the travels to Bethlehem, she pushes back against the vision of inhospitality (no room in the inn). She shares how the people of Bethlehem today are gracious and hospitable and welcoming. This attitude she believes would have been true back in the first century as well. But here we get to see the baby Jesus and experience the town of his biblical birth. As we do we get introduced to tea and falafel and pomegranate juice in Manger Square. Of course, in Luke's story of Jesus' birth, there are shepherds and angels. We encounter them in chapter 6 "Visible and Invisible." She shares the realities of the life of shepherds in the ancient world, but also visit a 100-acre farm in the West Bank where olive trees and other trees are taken care of. There is in this modern context a precarious situation, as the Israeli military has plowed under Palestinian farms to make way for Jewish settlements. She writes that "Advent is not immediate. It's a slow peace." (p. 104).
  
  In chapter 7, we begin exploring the story as told by Matthew. Whereas Joseph plays a minor role in Luke, he plays a much larger role in Matthew. We begin with a chapter titled "Generations." In this chapter, Nikondeha introduces us not only to Joseph by the Herod. This sets us the Herodian response to Jesus' birth later in the story. The focus here, besides Herod, is Jesus' family tree. We learn here about the betrothal, Joseph's concerns, and his decision to embrace Mary despite her compromised situation. Nikondeha suggests that "Advent reaches across the generations, always pushing us to embody God's peace in today's troubled times. We recognize the signature of advent not in Herod but in the true king, Jesus" (p. 128). In chapter 8 we again encounter Herod, but also the Magi and the star that leads them to the Bethlehem home of Joseph, Mary, and their child. Titled "Unexpected Hope," we again experience life in modern Bethlehem, including the realities of life under occupation. She tells of the Walled Off Hotel and the Banksy flower piece that mark the separation wall that divides Bethlehem from Jerusalem. While that is the context for hearing the story, we also learn about the Magi who come from Persia in search of the true king, and how they resisted the invitation to collaborate with the despot named Herod. Of course, the story doesn't end with the Magi's return. There is, as described in chapter 9, the flight of the Holy Family and the slaughter of the innocents. Titled "Even After God Arrived," she notes that tense political dynamics and economic hardship continued. There was still reason to lament. Injustice continued. She points out that Matthew likely wrote this after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Though this reality continues, Advents stands as a subversion of imperial power. Nikondeha concludes the book with the story of the return to the homeland, but not the home in Bethlehem, but Nazareth. She writes that the Advent story reminds us that empires keep coming. That might lead to resignation, believing that the only peace available is Caesar's. The situation for many remains grim. Occupation continues. People continue to be refugees. Nikondeha intersperses their story with that of the Holy Family. The hope is to be found in this: "Advent isn't the acceptance of status-quo peace, but an incarnation of God's peace that we live in the world. (p. 189). Such is the invitation given to us.
  
  This is true Kelley Nikondeha. There is a love of the biblical story but also a commitment to justice for others. She has an ability to weave the two stories, ancient and modern, in ways few can, at least that I know of. If you've read her previous books, you will know this to be excellent. If you've not read the earlier books, this is an excellent book to start with, but then go back and read the others! May your Advent be life-transforming as you read this.
  
  
• 
  Sandy Hay

  For many of us, advent is a time of waiting for December 25th when we celebrate Christmas with gifts and food and family gatherings. For others it’s also a time of waiting for Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.
  
  Kelley Nikondeha has studied advent for years and traveled to Palestine, the area in the world where the first Christmas happened. In her book, The First Advent in Palestine, we venture through the eyes of two bible authors, Matthew and Luke and catch a glimpse of life during that turbulent time. Each man leads us from a different perspective, one through the life of Mary and the other through the life of Joseph, Jesus’ earthly parents.
  
  The readers also learn about the politics of the first century, the turmoil of being Palestinian in a land ruled by the Romans. We’ll begin to understand what Mary and Joseph and Jesus experienced in the towns of Bethlehem and Nazareth.
  
  But Nikondeha doesn’t leave us in the early years of the Common Era. We also explore Palestine today. Through her travels and the relationships she’s developed with people who live there now, we see the life of the people of Bethlehem in the 21st century.
  
  Together these two perspectives help us go down a different road than the usual advent one. Our depth and breadth will become broader and give us a better understanding to life in the Middle East in the past and now. Kelley Nikondeha stretches us to think past the familiar to a more expansive world view.
• 
  Devin Hanson

  2.5 stars. I feel really conflicted- on the one hand this book brought refreshing context and interpretation to the advent narrative, but on the other it felt as though it was communicated without a lot of textual/historical support? I found myself reading many paragraphs thinking, “that seems like a leap” due to lack of concrete data as points were being made. I can certainly appreciate possibilities offered, and feel like the author would have been more successful by writing less authoritatively about hypotheticals and rather framing them more consistently as hypotheticals.
  
  I also feel conflicted about the author’s own experiences and relationships in the book. Some of the stories and anecdotes were interesting, but in most chapters I felt like the real examples weren’t necessarily connecting to the main points. That could be nit-picky but given that she talks about her role as a peacemaker and her knowledge of the people/lands, I felt it could have been stronger.
  
  I do think this was a helpful book, particularly in subverting the frilly way we tend to meet the advent season. Probably the strongest point of this whole book was at the end, when she challenged us to eschew the ways of empire and rather join with the meek. That carried the weight of the advent narrative and the rest of the gospels.
  
  I had some good takeaways, but I didn’t particularly enjoy the journey. It felt a bit tedious to work through due to some of my snags mentioned above. But I will still recommend it and be eager to hear how others encounter this book!
• 
  Bethany

  My mom raised us with deep tradition around the Advent season, and while I grew up with many traditional explanations of the story of the Christ child's birth and the characters around the nativity scene, they came from a general perspective of the people with power to shape narratives.
  
  Similarly, I learned stories of humanity from my geographical home base of the Pacific Northwest. Later in life, I left North America and traveled around the globe for a year to see from new points of view and listen with an open heart.
  
  Kelley's book provides this kind of armchair travel to new vantage points, allowing us to see the Advent story in greater context. I will be referring to this book for years to come and engaging in meaningful conversation with others who are open to reevaluating the celebrations and traditions we've been given in the past.
• 
  Siv

  What an important book! If your view of the world has wearied & your hold on hope is slipping, this one’s for you. Advent is so much more than twinkling stars, sheep in fields, & a baby with awed young parents sheltered among animals & receiving gifts from foreign kings. Advent sings of revolution ... peaceful, non-violent change that resounds hope to our hurting world. Nikondeha weaves together the biblical story with traditional & personal stories to illuminate Advent in ways you've never seen before.
• 
  Cara Meredith

  Wow. Kelley Nikondeha, the liberation theologian herself, unpacks Advent like never before. Bravo.
• 
  Lindsay O’Connor

  “…you can’t save what you don’t experience or intimately know. …Before becoming a savior, he [Jesus] would become a survivor, like his own mother.”
  
  “This is the story of advent: we join Jesus as incarnations of God’s peace on this earth for however long it takes. God walks in deep solidarity with humanity, sharing in our sufferings and moments of hope. Amid our hardship, God is with us.”
   
  “The peacemakers formed by advent are those who resist empire, who practice hospitality with neighbors, and who enter into solidarity with God in the work of liberation for everyone.”
  
  This important read is unlike any Advent book I’ve read before. Nikondeha provides political, social, & historical context for the events of the first advent as told in Matthew and Luke. She relates the oppression of Jewish people under the Roman Empire to modern day oppression of Palestinians through the use of real-life stories from her visits to Bethlehem. She focuses on the historical realities of the time including stories of empire, oppression, & resistance.
   
  I especially loved the sections on Mary & Elizabeth as nonviolent resistors, as well as the part about the Magi, who would have seen the birth of a new Jewish king to replace Herod as inspiring hope for their own liberation. Many of us Christians in the U.S. haven’t been well educated about the historical & current context of the place & significance of Jesus’ birth. If we are to follow Jesus, we need a deeper understanding of the world He entered and disrupted. A powerful read!
• 
  Katie Rose

  I love Advent already, a season of hope and waiting—and all the tensions those two words hold. But this book elevated those tensions, and increased my love for the season as well.
  
  First Advent contextualizes the story of a miraculous birth into a landscape of empire, trauma, and pain. I think years of knowing the context of the Bible has made me close over it, easily forgetting that the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day is not that far off from the competing empires of our day.
  
  By weaving in stories of Palestinians she’s met over the years, Kelley brings new meaning to how Jews around this time must’ve felt, even with Jesus’ story beginning to play out. How tragically ironic that those Jewish descendants now perpetrate their own form of Pax Romana with walls and guns and violence against Palestinians.
  
  But Advent is a story that shows peace as a usurping empire, a slow-moving story that is still inviting us to be peacemakers as well. I’m closing this book with a firmer sense of what that might look like today.
  
  I strongly recommend ordering Kelley’s book!
• 
  Holly Dowell

  In this fascinating, earnest book, Nikondeha contextualizes the first Advent within the cultural moment at the time of Jesus’s birth. Written with boldness and integrity, this book gently educates, leaving the reader with a clarified understanding of the radical implications of Christ’s arrival in a time and to a people besieged by oppression and tragedy.
  
  Nikondeha is a bonafide storyteller and peacemaker. She weaves her scholarly research with her own experiences visiting Bethlehem and Jerusalem. She makes plain the astounding truth of Jesus’s intentional alignment with those on the margins and the ways he exposed himself to very real human suffering.
  
  I learned so much from this book, but two particular things stand out. First, Joseph’s faithfulness. We hear often of Mary and the Magnificat (rightly so!) but Nikondeha gave me fresh eyes for the ways that Joseph was facing down cultural and imperial pressures by standing by Mary and repeatedly conceding to angelic instructions. Second, the present-day ways that Palestinians are policed and controlled hearkens back to long before now and grievously impacts the lives of people who simply seek to steward the land and stories they have carried for generations. When we talk about intergenerational trauma, oh boy, is that relevant.
  
  If you are curious about context in relation to the narratives within Christian Bible, I strongly recommend you add this to your list! It’s especially timely as Advent is just around the corner.
• 
  Whitney Dziurawiec

  This was a really insightful, unique Advent read that I really appreciated. I learned more about the context of Israel under Roman occupation and how it affected each of the Christmas characters than I ever had before. I appreciated how the author connected these themes to present-day. Just a reminder that 3 stars is pretty good under my rating system as I rarely give 5 :)
• 
  Fayelle

  Yep, if I could give it more stars, I would. I had a feeling going into it that I'd feel this way.
  
  The unique and complex unveiling of hope in the very place where the first Advent occurred is stunningly easy to read despite being a real lament. This didn't overwhelm but also didn't fail to break my heart (as circumstances surrounding that region do so often). Easily relatable and yet I learned new things and discovered new perspectives about new subjects and old.
  
  I feel enormously privileged to have been able to read this book prior to release, prior to being anywhere close to when we will practice Advent. I have time to make sure Advent reflects true hope and depth and isn't just a holiday to nod to in the final 2 months of the year.
  
  This book is a treasure. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to not only learn more about the history of the land and people in the area (from before Christ to now) but who also want to understand more about the action of hope. Of meekness, stamina, endurance, hospitality, love. All around the very land where Mary discovered life inside her and Christ was burdened with the heaviness of consequences that he didn't deserve. The land that holds olives from a thousand year old olive tree, and treasured keys with no locks to put them in and yet, life keeps going, hope never dies. Just phenomenal.
• 
  Eileen Gaston

  Back and forth between first and 21st century Palestine is an interesting concept. But too many speculations (Mary was possibly raped?) become grounds for historical interpretation. Didn’t work for me.
• 
  Kari

  “In the advent story, as Luke tells it, the economy matters. Attentive readers are led to understand a concrete kind of pressure, which also sets tangible contours for that expectant hope. Against the backdrop of a dangerously exploitive economy, what does deliverance look like? Debt relief? Debt forgiveness? Lighter tax burden? Ample economic resources to avoid foreclosure, to keep family land? Are these a part of God’s salvation?”
  
  I got a pre-release copy of this book. I enjoyed both of the author’s other books, so I was excited about this one. I have never read an Advent book that focused so specifically on how the place and time where the story was happening shaped the lives of people like Zechariah, and Mary, and even Herod. She shows us Palestine, both now and then, and asks important questions about what peace and hope look like in the face of oppression. If you are looking for a new Advent book this year, this one has my highest recommendation. It has 10 chapters, so it is not set up for a daily read, but you could easily work your way through it in a month.
• 
  Laura Oldenburg

  Kelley Nikondeha is precise and stirs my mind to more to the Advent than I have understood. Clearly she doesn’t say this is what we have always done during Advent and leave it only November and December. So far as I read I am intrigued to new ideas
• 
  Josh Olds

  Every year approximately five thousand volumes about Advent are published. I don’t know if that’s true, but it certainly feels like it. Every year, right around Advent, I find my TBR pile filled with review and endorsement requests for Advent devotionals and other Advent or Christmas-themed literature. And most of them…are fine. They’re fine. Perfectly serviceable. But it can be difficult to tell the world’s most famous story in a way that doesn’t seem like a retread of everything you’ve heard before. Unless you flip the script. Unless you upend the narrative. Unless you move into the Ancient Near East to experience Advent as the Holy Family first experienced it—The First Advent in Palestine.
  
  Kelley Nikondeha’s refreshing take on Advent follows a mostly-traditional structure. It is set up as a series of stories, each with their own focus and portion of Scripture to reflect upon. The first indication that this isn’t an Advent like most other Advents comes at the beginning where The First Advent in Palestine doesn’t just focus on hope and longing, but silence and suffering. Nikondeha grounds the story of Advent in the story of the Maccabees—and in the story of current Palestinian suffering. From there, the story branches out to look the false peace of the Pax Romana and how it contrasts to the peace promised by God. Nikondeha tells the story of Zechariah, Mary, Elizabeth, and Joseph. She writes about the economic and political realities of the day, interspersing it with stories about the modern-day reality. It’s a story of hope and struggle, victory and suffering, advance and retreat. It’s not your typical Advent story. It’s so much more than that.
  
  Kelley Nikondeha presents an Advent I can believe in, an Advent that has weight, an Advent that means something in this present world as well as the one to come. In the conclusion of The First Advent in Palestine, she writes that that Advent narratives are “the revelation of God engaging with human trauma of a specific place and specific people. God experienced the excruciating reality of empires and economies from the position of the weak and powerless ones.” This is an Advent of liberation, a message that is truly Good News to all whom that message was delivered—and anathema to the powers like Herod who stood in its way. In that, it becomes a cautionary tale for our own time. Where are we in this story? By intermingling her interactions with the Palestinian people into the story, Nikondeha reveals that Western Christianity just may come to Christ more like Herod than the shepherds.
  
  The First Advent in Palestine underscores the political ramifications of the first Advent and how the rumblings from that continue on into and cry out from the current situation of oppression in Palestine today. Nikondeha sheds light onto an oppressed people, calling for a peace that is not Pax Romana or Pax Americana but from the Prince of Peace who was born of a marginalized people group two thousand years ago. I’d call it a radical reimagining of the Advent story, but in truth it is a radical realignment, one that draws us away from our sanitized versions and into messy reality. This is now my annual Advent read.
  
  
• 
  Brenda Curtice

  I’m a Protestant and am just beginning to learn about Advent - those four weeks leading up to Christmas. Several years ago, with a bit of trepidation, I tiptoed into the subject matter of all things Mary. I discovered that Mary - and many others living in the first century - had endured an enormous paradigm shift. Some claim this is the most monumental historical shift of all time.
  
  I’m now drawn to all sorts of work that focuses on the Advent. So, when I heard about “The First Advent in Palestine,” by Kelley Nikondeha, I pre-purchased my copy.
  
  To be clear, this book is about more than Mary. Nikondeha opens our eyes to the lives of all the beloved characters in the Infant Narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke: Zacharias and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds in the fields, and the Wise Men from afar. She contrasts these with other key players in the narrative who are bent on justifying their dehumanizing behaviors to maintain their prestigious positions within the Roman empire.
  
  But that is not all. She wisely weaves these first century accounts with the stories of real individuals currently living in Palestine. Yes, this is a book about the first advent in the past -- but Nikondeha has skillfully shown that this is even the story of our present – a brilliant move on her part in this important book.
  
  Nikondeha pulls back the curtain that conceals, or should I say, has shielded most of us, from the gruesome details of the first advent—the shame of sexual abuse, the economic insecurity, the thirst for power, the slaughter of innocents, the desperation of refugees longing for home.
  
  In this honest portrayal of the day-to-day life of the faithful Jews, eeking out an existence in a foreign-occupied Palestine during the first century, Nikondeha fleshes out the tension between lived-resistance to the powers that be and that of clinging tenaciously to the hope of a Messiah who will usher in real, lasting, and eternal peace.
  
  If you are content to keep Mary in her place – silent and serenely kneeling before the manger in the crèche on your mantel so that you can celebrate Christmas as you have always celebrated it – well, then I daresay this book isn’t for you.
  
  But if you’re interested in the real story behind this season, I highly recommend The First Advent in Palestine. But be forewarned – Christmas will never be the same.
  
• 
  Jess

  Kelley Nikondeha’s new book on the first advent is, like her previous books _Adopted: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World_ and _Defiant: What the Women of the Exodus Teach Us About Freedom_, a fantastic weaving of storytelling and academia in readable form. She takes a dive into first-century Palestine, surrounding the biblical text with historical data. Many of the topics she covers are hinted at in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke as if to remind the reader of the circumstances, but those clues fall short 2000 years later to help cue us to the situation. Nikondeha helps us fill in the gaps.
  
  Rounding out this historical context then opens up the lives of those surrounding Jesus’ birth. Holding both creativity and research, Nikondeha speculates deeply on Zechariah, Mary, Elizabeth, and Joseph. She also includes political and religious leaders – the Maccabees, Caesar, Herod, the Magi – so that the reader has a more accurate understanding of the tumultuous setting in which Christ was born.
  
  Spoiler alert – if you thought Advent was all about warm fuzzies, Nikondeha reflects on the realities that are not often included as part of the December sermon series and rarely come into the shiny sparkle of Christmas Eve. Instead, what is offered is a fierce hope in the midst of injustice and brutality. As Nikondeha reflects, “[Advent is] about practicing hope in hard landscapes" (186).
  
  One of my favorite aspects of this book is Kelley's unfailing ability to send you down rabbit holes – from pondering that ever-present question of the Virgin Mary to googling Banksy art to flipping back and forth to read all the foot notes. She also ushers you into the stories of both 1st-century Palestine in familiar cities of Bethlehem and Nazareth as well as 21st-century with current people seeking to be peace-makers and light-bearers the region.
  
  This is just the kind of light that is needed these days in advent – a bright glow in a not-so-shiny time, especially for those who live in the challenge of poverty, war, injustice, racism, and oppression. Perhaps the light of Christ burns that much brighter when the truth of the surrounding circumstances is more fully examined, reminding us to continue to our plea, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
  
• 
  Joy

  "An Advent faith is one that is buoyed by a generational hope, a long view of history combined with an equally long view of the future. It recalls that God spoke a word, and by divine fiat, there was light. But when God was clothed in human skin, navigating our terrestrial landscape, transformation took longer to enact. It is not impossible, as Gabriel said, just slower. So we join God with generational patience, knowing that making peace takes hard work and much time. But the advent narratives set our trajectory toward God’s peace manifest on earth, both now and not yet."
  
  I was excited to read this one as a follow up to just how much I appreciated Kelley's previous release, Defiant. It did not disappoint. Kelley has an ability to write in a very accessible and compelling narrative style as she exegetes parts of the biblical story. You feel like you are "right there" with the participants in the drama of God's unfolding plan. In her writings on the Advent, you are ushered right into the collision of past, present, and future as the journey to, in, and from Bethlehem unfolds. Her inclusion of stories from modern day Palestine challenge the reader to continue to consider the ongoing implications for those of us followers of Jesus who live in the "now, but not yet" of the Incarnation continue to pursue peace while we hold on with hope. I appreciated the way Nikondeha filled in the characters and aspects of the story that are traditionally better explored, as well as those that are not so well covered in typical Advent contemplations.
  
  This book is a definite recommend for those who are interested in reading an exploration of the Advent story through the lens of social justice. This book reminds and convicts that the Incarnation is a call to perseverance, wonder, and audacious hope.
• 
  Shelby Mathis

  I can admit I was cautious to read because so much western Christian narrative ignores or further enforces the erasure of Palestinians. I was SO pleased and proud Kelley doesn't hold back on telling the truth through the lens of justice, redemption, and honest-to-God hope for the land and her people. She is a trustworthy guide on the journey through the Holy Land and Advent.
  
  I'm someone with a complicated relationship to church and usually Advent books, and a deep love and connection to Palestine. I can't recommend this enough to Christians, peacemakers, and all who look toward Advent with the ongoing complexity of hope.
  
  Kelley takes us on an important pilgrimage to Palestine by introducing us to artists and creators. This juxtaposition to the usual Advent suspects of Mary, Joseph, Zecchariah, Elizabeth, and rulers of their time was particularly poignant. Together these are the ones telling the stories in ways we can hear them and see from a new perspective: a tattoo artist, a painter, a peacemaker, a farmer, a street graffiti artist, a tea maker. Kelley weaves these connections expertly in "The First Advent in Palestine".
  
  Kelley doesn't shy away from speaking the truth about the context, the challenges, and the crushing empire Palestinians face today and in the time of the first Advent. I've visited Palestine and seen firsthand places and faces in her book: I've had tea with Sami and stood beneath the Flower Thrower in Beit Sahour and harvested wheat at Tent of Nations. This book was a neat journey back and into not just the land, but of God's love that reaches all of this place and these people. I'll never read an Advent account or devotional the same. This sweeping narrative of people and place and redemption includes the land, the people, and the stories it should.
  
  Thanks for the incredible masterpiece, Kelley.
• 
  Diane

  I met Kelley at a gathering of women in 2016 in British Columbia who had come together to explore, inspire and generate aspirations of reconciliation. It was a significant invitation for me to enter into hard conversations and spaces. This book is a reminder of that time.
  
  As a part of my personal journey of reconciliation as a white North American, Kelley's book helps me enter the Advent narrative with a contextual understanding of the first Advent - ancient and ongoing oppression. Kelley opens up this perspective by placing us squarely in the present Palestinian experience of oppression as well as giving us new perspectives on the experiences of the biblical characters of the First Advent.
  
  Of course there must be speculation and conjecture around some events (Sexual trauma for Mary, the murder of Zacharias), but nothing she posits is unlikely.
  
  What I am taking away is summarized in the last bit of the book: "Advent was never just about seeing the star over Bethlehem, but about practicing hope in hard landscapes, where hope isn't what we see-it's what we do.... Among the tools we are given by the first advent in Palestine are hospitality, solidarity, and nonviolence...
  
  I am left examining where do I respond with violence? Perhaps not with real bombs or bullets, but certainly with attitudes of oppression, hateful thoughts, and language that is meant to demean. Embodying shalom is a lifetime of work.
• 
  Nicole

  I found this to be a truly profound book. Not only did it ignite within me much needed embers of hope, but it inspired me to reflect and consider how I can embody hope in my community in days to come. The author transported me into ancient and contemporary Palestine through her descriptions and imagination, in ways similar to her previous two books. I smiled often, and also felt deeply sad, with her heartfelt recollection of experiences and memories of her visits to Palestine. The author beautifully and powerfully draws parallels between the biblical text and contemporary times in a way that kept me glued to her words. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles to see the relevance of the biblical text for our world today and to those who struggle to hold onto and embody hope in the continued onslaught of trauma and oppression. Through the weaving together of rigorous scholarship and story telling, the author succeeds in showing how the biblical text continues to invite us to participate in the word in transformative ways.
• 
  Sherry

  In many of our traditions we seem to “pretty” up the advent story. Yes, there’s so much hope that comes with the birth of Christ, but often we skim over the landscape Mary & Elizabeth and Zachariah & Joseph existed in. The author, in her own beautiful way, paints this story more completely for me in this book.
  
  Jesus came as hope, then, in a dark landscape, and he’s still my hope now in a similar landscape. Although not the same, it’s still one fraught with war, politics, in-fighting, struggle, disease, poverty and injustice. But as Mary carried Hope in her womb, I’m reminded by the author, that we are continually called to be the embodiment of hope and peace in our world today.
  
  If you want a more full picture of the landscape of the first advent, and want to be challenged in your thinking in a few areas, weather you land in agreement or disagreement (but still walk away more enriched), then you will truly enjoy this book.
• 
  Malinda Fugate

  Thought-provoking, creative, and informational. However, one should read with the filter of knowledge of scripture. Nikondeha is a talented storyteller, but doesn't always clarify what is supported by text (biblical or sources) and what is imaginative narrative that possibly *could* have happened. There is value in imagining details and bringing the story to life, relating to ancient people as they feel more realistic. However, it helps to know what layers of story come from which source.
  While I learned a lot about historical context and modern-day Palestine, there were a few points I couldn't stand behind (for example, questioning Mary's virginity). Again, this is a good read for a mature believer who has the tools to approach each idea, consider it, and apply discernment. Overall, I appreciate the perspective this adds to the Advent story.
• 
  Libby

  In a unique advent book, Nikondeha sets the historical, political, and cultural stage for the first coming of Jesus while relating that to the realities of life in modern Palestine. She digs beneath the myths and legends that have grown up around Christmas showing, for example, that Middle Eastern hospitality means that there was no hard-hearted innkeeper turning away Mary and Joseph, that likely they were in the home of relatives with a guest room overcrowded with others there for the census. While I don't agree with all of her extrapolations, she captures well the realities of life in Palestine both in the first century and today. She rightly points out that Jesus' Kingdom didn't instantly change the facts on the ground in the first century but that in the end, "empires don't stand a chance against this God." It's in this, Nikondeha would say, we find hope.