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. V
be a nasty hairball in the belly?
But then again, wouldn’t it be a
wonderful turn of events if our future king
did come from our home town here? No
longer would we be just that poor shepherd
town in the far away shadows of mighty
Jerusalem, would we? That would really be
something. Our children would likely be
showered with the best that life has to
offer! They’d likely build a brand new
temple here on whatever site was his
birthplace, and, man, would property
values soar on that piece of land and its neighbors.
I’ll bet we’d even get an aqueduct from our
cisterns on the backside of the hills, and that
would allow many of us to bathe with impunity.
Hard to imagine.
No longer would we be that little nothing town
that people pass by on their way to the festivals in
Jerusalem. In fact, it’s likely we’d be considered
for a coliseum, or a hippodrome, and just think of
all the jobs that would bring to town!
And travel! Whoa! How many times have
you been stepped over while waiting in line for a
room or a meal, ...or just to see some attraction? I
took my family to
Egypt just last
summer, of course,
to allow them to
see those fabulous
pyramids. I know
you’ve done the
same; my kids
weren’t the only
ones in rabbinical
school to have seen
them!
But there we were, patiently waiting our turn,
when some hoity-toity schlep from Athens shows
up with his whole entourage of uncles, aunts,
grandkids, the whole shebang; and who gets
bounced to the back of the line? It was
embarrassing, I tell you. We might as well have
been making bricks over there again!
Spotlight on US! Ya gotta love it!
And why? Because nobody ever heard of
Bethlehem, that’s why! But everybody wants to
hear about what life is like in Athens, don’t they?
Lot of big shots came from Athens, don’t you
know! Or even Jerusalem! Just try getting in line
behind a Jerusalemite! “Ooohh, tell me all about
that g-r-e-a-t Temple of yours.” It’s disgusting, I
tell you; it’s just disgusting.
It’s really too bad, too. Our Bethlehem is really
a beautiful little town. The only thing we lack— to
my mind, anyway— is a big name. Well, looks
like, if this star is right, that’s going to change real
soon around here.
No, never heard of your
…Bath-la-him. But come see our
amazing pyramids, no?
“Make way for
a king!” I say.
Or maybe he’ll
be a wealthy
merchant who will
sponsor the building of a
glorious hippodrome. Now
wouldn’t that be something?
And, who knows, could be
some powerful warrior, some
mighty rebel leader, like our
Judas Maccabeus, or a Samson
maybe, who is destined to free us from foreign
domination forever! I, for one, can’t wait.
People of Bethlehem, look up at that new
star with pride! Whether we realize it or not, it is
lighting the way for a whole new future for all of
us!
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