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
Travel Worries Eased by the
“Pax Romana!”
by Euripides Trawzers, VIIIth Son of
the Tailor Mottl
You can despise them Romans all you
want for their arrogance. I know, just because
they’ve got the biggest army in town, they
think they can throw their weight around and
we’re all supposed to bow down to their
hundred or so gods—who are always
squabbling among themselves anyway! What a crock that is!
But, hey, you can’t fault them for their roads. Romans
know how to build good roads. And, I’ll tell you, this is going to be
very good for us into the future as we get our towns and markets
linked up with the rest of the players in the world of commerce.
And not only can they build them; they can protect them
too, and protect anybody who uses them. Now that’s a package
worth looking into. They’re calling it their Pax Romana. That’s
supposed to be Latin for The Roman Peace.
Who knows; they might just have something here.
If there’s one good thing about this census that Caesar
ordered on all of us, it’s that it does demonstrate how much better
travel is going to be now that the roads are protected.
Don’t get me wrong; I know how difficult travel is right
now, what with all the snow everywhere. I mean, what’s the deal?
But, we’re coming into the winter rain and mud season anyway, so
maybe we oughta be thankful at least for the frozen ground.
I just came up from Jericho yesterday, in fact, and it was
pretty slippy-slidy for a mile or two on the incline, but the
ground’s still pretty dry in the Jordan Valley, and it’s frozen up
here in the highlands, so, all in all, there’s not a whole lot of sense
in complaining. And, what’s more, not I, nor a single traveler that I
encountered, had been attacked on that road; and you all know,
readers, how big a change that is for us. There’s the boon to
commerce right there!
To encourage commerce even more, in fact, some
communities are encouraging local business owners to “adopt a
mile.” That’s right. They and their employees agree to take
responsibility for keeping their particular mile free of litter,
Pg. XXXVII
carrion, camel dung, what have you. We all know what a
pain it can be to keep ushering an entire caravan around a
large carcass in the road. And camel dung—forget it!
Especially in the upcoming muddy season. Why, you
can’t even tell what you’ve been stepping in until you
finally get home, slip those sandals off, and try to get your
feet clean!
If you get a free minute, by the way, you ought to
head out some afternoon and watch these guys lay one of
their roads. It’s fascinating stuff. Them bricks are mighty
small, ...but the roads are mighty long. That means a
whole lot of labor. And the laying isn’t even the hard part.
You ought to see what they have to do to level the path
first. I’ll tell you what; let’s be glad they only conquered
us, ‘cause, if they’d gone a little further and made us their
slaves as well, it would be you and me laying those
thousands of bricks from here to the horizon every day.
No, thanks.
By the way, if you fancy yourself a savvy
investor, I’ve got one word for you—BRICK! ‘Nuff said.
Must be the brick. He
ain’t used to the brick!
A Brief Word of Wisdom
Next time a stranger talks
to you when you’re alone,
just look at him shocked
and say, “You can see me?”
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