Our church is named after the town where Christ was born, and our works are made for Christmas. Christmas is not a decoration for us. It is the centre of the year and the reason we create.

The Night in Bethlehem

Saint Luke tells that Joseph went up from Nazareth “into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem,” with Mary his espoused wife, who was with child. “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:4–7). That night an angel said to the shepherds: “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: for, this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David” (Luke 2:10–11). And a multitude of the heavenly army praised God, saying: “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will” (Luke 2:14).

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.

Luke 2:14 (Douay-Rheims)

The first song of Christmas is a song of peace. That is why our works speak against war and for peace: we are only repeating what the angels sang over Bethlehem.

Advent and KURU (来): The Kingdom That Is Coming

Before Christmas the Church keeps Advent, from the Latin adventus, “coming.” For four weeks the Church waits and prays: Veni — “Come.” In the last days before Christmas it sings the O Antiphons; on December 21 it calls Christ O Oriens, “O Dayspring, splendour of eternal light and sun of justice, come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

The true title of our work is a single character: 来 (KURU), “to come.” The O is an honorific: written with 御, it becomes 御来 (OKURU), the same title spoken with reverence. What is coming? The Kingdom of God. Every day the Church prays, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10), and our work exists to make that coming known. We love the character 来 because within its shape one can see 米 and 十 — and in 十, the Cross. Read more: KURU (来)

Christmas Is a Gift

Christmas is the season of gifts because God first gave: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). The wise men answered with gold, frankincense and myrrh. We answer with what we can make — stories, music and pictures — and we give them freely. Nothing we make is sold. No money arises from our work, and we accept no compensation of any kind. A gift that is paid for is no longer a gift.

The Christmas Season

For the Church, Christmas is not one day but a season. It begins with the Vigil and the Mass at Midnight on the night of December 24–25, continues through the Octave of Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God on January 1, shines out at the Epiphany, and ends with the Baptism of the Lord. We keep our works in the same rhythm: the light that comes at Christmas is the light that goes out to all nations at Epiphany.

Christmas in the East

Christmas has been painted and sung in the West for many centuries. Our work tries something that is not easy: to let Christmas appear within an East Asian way of seeing the world — not by copying Western pictures, but by finding how the light of Bethlehem shines in our own language, seasons and forms. The wise men came “from the East.” We believe the East still has its own gifts to bring to the manger.

Our Christmas Works

• KIBOJO — 希望王女 (Princess of Hope): our principal work, a church work of hope and peace.
• Xmas Fantasy and OKURU — Star of Mary — ChristmasFantasy: the world in which Princess Santaria’s story is told.
• Music and works published free on this site.

Read next: The Star of Bethlehem · IHS Bethlehem Church