Behind one door: a brief video of a class of highly engaged fifth graders and their no-nonsense math teacher at Christ School in Nazareth.

Each day through Christmas Eve our online Advent calendar offers a glimpse into the lives of Holy Land Christians.

Because there’s no better place to watch and wait for the birth of Jesus than the Holy Land, American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem (AFEDJ) invites you to visit its online Advent calendar at www.afedj.org/advent.

The calendar offers a fresh opportunity to learn more about the Christian witness of the current-day followers of Jesus in the place where he was born, lived, and ministered. As each new door is revealed for viewing, it will remain open through Epiphany on January 6. Visit each day or catch up all at once.

Often called the “Living Stones’ of the faith, the Christians in the Holy Land have maintained a witness to Christ’s love since Pentecost. Though the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem numbers about 6,000 members across 27 parishes in five countries, its two dozen humanitarian institutions – schools, hospitals, and centers for children with disabilities – share the love of God to all their neighbors in remarkable and life-changing ways without regard to religion, ethnicity, or ability to pay.

Each day the calendar reveals a snapshot of one of these institutions through a photo or brief video that will inform and inspire.

AFEDJ is a nonpolitical, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to transforming lives of the vulnerable and displaced in the Middle East through support of the schools, hospitals, and centers for children with disabilities that are owned and operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem in Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. Learn more at www.afedj.org.