In a joint Christmas message issued on December 18, the Christian patriarchs of Jerusalem say that the birth of Christ should constantly remind us that God is with us and always will be.” In troubling times, they say, the faithful should remember that Jesus too “was born in a time of anguish, violence, exclusion, and poverty.” Mentioning the recent arson attack on a church in Jerusalem, the Church leaders promise that hostility “will not discourage us from continuing our peaceful mission and Christian witness.”