I spent Christmas Eve in Bethlehem last year.

You can't just pop in on the spur of the moment and hang out at the manger. Worship is by invitation only and, as we discovered, it takes an experienced negotiator to sweet-talk the guards at the military checkpoints, even if you've got advanced approval and the British ambassador, flags a-flying, is leading your entourage.

Our group was shepherded by Nancy Dinsmore, a Californian who has worked for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem for five years.

If you decide to go next year, don't expect any help from Nancy. She's just been told that the Israelis will not be renewing her visa. She's coming home. She's not alone.

Earlier this month, 50 American Christian church leaders wrote to President Bush asking him to intervene on their behalf with the Israeli government, admitting that relations "may be the worst we've ever seen."

Two of the problems they cited — visas and taxes — appear to be directed specifically against Christians.

The visa problem surfaced about three years ago, when the ultra-orthodox Shas Party headed the Interior Ministry. The situation was expected to improve when a secular minister was appointed, but it inexplicably worsened.

A civil service strike last fall caused even more turmoil.

The Baltimore Sun wrote last month of two Rosary Sisters, garbed in the blue habits of their order, who went to a Jerusalem shopping mall to buy sheets for the orphanage where they serve.

A security guard refused to let the sisters in because their residency papers were still pending renewal. He called in a border police officer, armed with an M-16, who lined the elderly nuns up against a wall and searched them. They were released two hours later.

Church leaders speculate that delays are political. In addition to caring for the Christian holy places, the churches serve the 50,000 or so indigenous Arab Christians who remain in Israel and the occupied territories.

Many church leaders have been outspoken about the suffering they have witnessed, most recently the hardships the security wall has imposed on Palestinians of all faiths.

The Israelis claim that the delays are bureaucratic and that they are working on the problem. If it were just a matter of occasional delays, I might buy that answer.

I get occasional e-mails from my own denomination, the Lutherans. It takes a lot to get a Lutheran riled. Let's face it: We're the people who invented Minnesota.

Yet Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, wrote from Jerusalem last week:

"I have long requested 12 A-3 visas for Lutheran expatriates working in the ELCJ and in the various Lutheran mission centers in Jerusalem. (An A-3 visa is for long-term church workers, including laity and clergy.) Recently I was informed by the Israeli Ministry for Religious Affairs that I would receive one A-3 visa and 11 B-4 visas. (B-4 visas are limited and further extension is not possible.) ... The Catholic churches have been completely denied 131 visas. Any person from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq will not be granted a visa under any circumstances.

"We as local church leaders in Jerusalem insist that the visas should be given to the churches without question and without any intervention. The expatriate church workers are essential to our witness and mission."

For a Lutheran, that's pretty hot. It's not just bureaucratic delays. It's total denial.

The other issue is taxes.

Many Christian institutions — hospitals, orphanages and schools, for example — have been tax-exempt from the days of the Ottoman Empire. The Israelis want to change that.

They have dunned one hospital, the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, for $4 million in back taxes. The Lutheran World Federation, which runs the hospital, is telling the courts they can't afford it and their hospital on the Mount of Olives, which provides health services to more than 10,000 Palestinians a year, might close.

Catholic Relief Services and the Mennonite Central Committee are facing similar tax battles.

Israel and the West Bank is the cradle of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is critical for the peace of the world that all three religions have the freedom to practice their faiths in the land of their birth.

Christianity in the Holy Land must be a living faith, not a lifeless string of holy museums. Will someone please let the Wise Men get through the checkpoint?

Susan Ives can be reached at suives@texas.net.