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. XXXI
We knew he wasn’t beaten even
then! As the one hippo, now distracted,
continued to feast on Magnus’s leg, our hero
quickly snapped off the broken, sharp-tipped
bone of his first leg, cleverly rolled beneath
his fat-filled opponent, and stabbed him
twice in the underbelly with his own leg
bone, slaying that loathsome beast in a
matter of seconds.
Unfortunately, as you remember, he
got himself covered with hippo blood, so, in
no time, the other hippo was upon him—
unable to see, but well able to smell—and began
licking him all over, tantalized as he must have been
by the taste of fresh hippo blood. And you’ll recall,
sports fans, how it was that very movement of the
hippo’s tongue which finally freed the sword, causing
it to fall out right next to the waiting hands of our
mighty Brutus, who lost no time in using it to pierce
the heart of his final foe, even as he himself lie on the
ground beneath his jaws, without legs, now only a
mere half of his former length.
Of course, it took a team of IV of our stable’s
finest plowhorses to pull that hulking carcass off of
our hero and, to our terrible disappointment, we
learned that Brutus had lost
both his arms in the crushing.
But did even a tragedy
such as this end his
gladiatorial career? Of course
not!
And today, on his XXIst
birthday, in fact, he’ll proudly
wield that sword for us in his
teeth in a fight to the death
against the fierce Gallia, the
Dwarf King of the north country.
When asked for his take on the coming
match, Brutus Magnus roared out his anger,
declaring that, by the end of the day, everyone
will see how “Gallia est divisa in partes tres!”
What more do we need, fans, to come out
once more in support of this warrior of the
common man?
Point spread, however, will go to Gallia
by VII.
Gallia, the Dwarf King
Our Gladiator’s Creed
Don’t break anybody’s heart—
they have only one.
Break their bones—
they have CCVI.
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