The Bethlehem Star
The Bethlehem Star is a 50-page e-magazine of historical fiction for the month of Jesus’ birth, a one-time-only publication of Scripture on Stage of Livonia, Michigan, with fictional 1st century Jewish reporters covering all the various Nativity stories from the Infancy Narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, with a bunch of extra stories, sports, weather, letters to our readers, etc. to enhance the experience of immersion in the events and people of this time. It is written by John Dzwonkowski, M.A. Theology, former 9-year (college & grad school) seminarian with The Maryknoll Fathers of New York, retired Director of Religious Education for his own St. Priscilla Catholic Parish, and current Master Catechist with the Archdiocese of Detroit. John is also a Catholic playwright, having written, produced, and directed 25+ plays, primarily exploring the great variety of emotions, challenges, struggles, conflicts, and joys surrounding the ministry of Jesus, but especially the events of his birth, and then of his passion, death, and resurrection. John is also the co-founder of St. Priscilla's Movie & Drama Ministry; as well as his own theatrical venture of 30 years so far, Scripture on Stage; through which he performs live 60 and 90-minute theatrical productions of An Evening with Simon Peter, An Evening with St. Joseph, and Peter & Magdalen ...on Jesus, all for solely a Free Will Offering to various parishes throughout the Detroit Archdiocese, complete with myriad emotion-charged music, stage lighting, multiple props, and even a 14' tall Roman crucifix that is used by Peter to demonstrate how this was done by the Romans. John has also published through his Scripture on Stage a comparable fictional e-mag of 58 pages, The Jerusalem Star, supposedly published in Jerusalem of the 1st century on the Sunday evening of Jesus' resurrection. Here we again have a variety of fictional 1st century Jewish reporters covering the various events of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection, but from their close-up point of view.
The Bethlehem Star is a 50-page e-magazine of historical fiction for the month of Jesus’ birth, a one-time-only publication of Scripture on Stage of Livonia, Michigan, with fictional 1st century Jewish reporters covering all the various Nativity stories from the Infancy Narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, with a bunch of extra stories, sports, weather, letters to our readers, etc. to enhance the experience of immersion in the events and people of this time.
It is written by John Dzwonkowski, M.A. Theology, former 9-year (college & grad school) seminarian with The Maryknoll Fathers of New York, retired Director of Religious Education for his own St. Priscilla Catholic Parish, and current Master Catechist with the Archdiocese of Detroit. John is also a Catholic playwright, having written, produced, and directed 25+ plays, primarily exploring the great variety of emotions, challenges, struggles, conflicts, and joys surrounding the ministry of Jesus, but especially the events of his birth, and then of his passion, death, and resurrection.
John is also the co-founder of St. Priscilla's Movie & Drama Ministry; as well as his own theatrical venture of 30 years so far, Scripture on Stage; through which he performs live 60 and 90-minute theatrical productions of An Evening with Simon Peter, An Evening with St. Joseph, and Peter & Magdalen ...on Jesus, all for solely a Free Will Offering to various parishes throughout the Detroit Archdiocese, complete with myriad emotion-charged music, stage lighting, multiple props, and even a 14' tall Roman crucifix that is used by Peter to demonstrate how this was done by the Romans.
John has also published through his Scripture on Stage a comparable fictional e-mag of 58 pages, The Jerusalem Star, supposedly published in Jerusalem of the 1st century on the Sunday evening of Jesus' resurrection. Here we again have a variety of fictional 1st century Jewish reporters covering the various events of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection, but from their close-up point of view.
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The Bethlehem Star
Pg. XXVIII
~ Point / Counterpoint ~
The New Star—Omen of Peace …or War?
Unfortunately, Only War!
Rabbi Asher Rinkel, Pharisee
My heart is warmed by this star that has appeared above our land; but my
heart is also very heavy. I can feel, as I gaze upon it each night, the sense of calm
and peace that seems to usher from the skies in the warm glow of its wintry light.
And yet, I find myself looking around us, and trying to understand the
message that our God would have us receive.
I believe this is a sign for us that war among our kind is all but inevitable.
We have been ruled by so many outsiders for generations now—the Assyrians, the
Seleucids, the Greeks, and now the heathens of Rome. I’m afraid that our patience
as the chosen people is rapidly growing thin. And how aggravated we have all
become under the despicable rule of our Herod—only an Idumaean Jew, of
course, but a crueler man would be difficult to find even among the heathens.
The real meaning of the star, I believe, is to be understood by what one
sees and feels on gazing at it each night. To be sure, it does seem to afford a warmth of spirit unlike any other sign that
we have witnessed. Since times are so terribly unstable and turbulent of late, therefore, I suggest to you, people of the
Lord, that this star tells us we must search for His peace from within ourselves only. It is only in my personal viewing
and reflection on this star that I have felt the peace that it can bring. Even the debates that we’ve all heard, even right
here in our beloved Bethlehem Star, are little more than a prelude to conflict. Soon our discontent is going to erupt
beyond the boundaries of what our minds and hearts can contain, and surely the end result will be war—us against
them, the Chosen against the intruders.
Let us look to the star, then, even during the coming heat of battle, to remind ourselves that there is so much
more to our lives and our world than conquest of others. Let us look to peace—the same peace that seems to be brought
by this star—and not to war, to find the real purpose of our time here on this land. To me, life has no other purpose so
noble or everlasting. My hope is that this star is NOT a signal to us of the coming of a Messiah. At my age, I now
believe that war, despite its apparent inevitability, is simply not the answer to the struggles of our lives. To me, it is
peace; and when we can look for a Messiah who will usher in an era of peace, then that man will truly be a Messiah to
the entire world.
Point/Counterpoint is the ongoing attempt by this news team to present to you the distinctions in
thought among our well-respected leaders, examining differing points of view, garnering opinions
and positions from each of our many factions, including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Priestly class,
and even occasionally opinions from the Essene communities.
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of “The Bethlehem Star.” It is
strongly suggested that these opinions be confined to discussion only among our own kind, as open
discussion of such matters in the presence of heathens, Greeks, Romans, and the like may well
result in imprisonment and, as in one recent case, the torture and death of one of our editorial
contributors.
The Editors
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