Away to the Manger and back to the Tomb

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

Our day began by loading up and crossing through the security wall into the West bank city of Bethlehem. Since 1967 the city has been under Israeli control. The security wall, built several years ago, prevents the influx of terrorists from the Territories (West Bank) into Israel proper. It is an unsightly blight on the landscape, but it has worked in both preventing terrorism and creating hostilities in those whose villages are cut in half, further isolated from work and schools, or denied some access to services. It is a solution to one problem and the well-spring of others. that said, we were able to cross over with minimal delay this year and pick up our Arab Christian guide.

Cave, Shepherds' Field, Bethlehem

Melvin enters the Humble Door, Bethlehem

We visited the Shepherds' Field, site of the remains of a Byzantine-era Church that commemorated the characters of Luke's Gospel story of Jesus' birth. We crossed through town to the center of the new city surround the Church of the Nativity. The current sanctuary is the oldest standing church in the Holy Land. The original Constatine-era (4th cent) church remains only in lovely mosaic floors now located beneath the floors of the Justinian church of the 5th century. When Persian Moslems invaded the land, upon seeing the wall mosaics of the biblical Magi dressed as Persians, they did not destroy the building. As the Armenian congregation was saying  mass in the Grotto of the Nativity, we had to wait an hour as long lines of tourists grew behind us. We finally entered to see the traditional place of Christ's birth, the spot where Roman  Catholics contend the manger stood, and the Greek Orthodox icons on the walls and lamps hanging from the ceiling of the small cave cum holy spot.

We spent a little time indulging the pilgrim shopping instincts, enjoyed a nice lunch, and then crossed the border back into Israel proper. Our bus dropped us in the Old City and we climbed to the Lion's Gate, entered the  walls, and visited the site of the ancient Pools of Bethesda and Saint Anne's Church. Here Jesus is said to have healed a lame man at the pool. St Anne's is a lovelly Crusader period church with acoustics so wonderful that most of the group sat and sang several hymns to hear themselves sound outlandishly fantastic.

Grotto of the Nativity

A visit to the Garden Tomb, a Protestant location that commemorates Jesus burial and resurrection included a Lord's Supper celebration. While not the actual spot of Jesus' burial, its garden setting gives one a feel for the setting of the biblical story.

Abu Eric with Bedouin Girls Shay and Sam

Afterwards, all travelers met up at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the long-held traditional site of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of the Christian Messiah. Here we visited the Golgatha hill with its Greek orthodox site of the crucifixion. Walking down we encountered the Stone of Unction where His corpse was wrapped in its shround. The towering wooden shrine of the Edicula covers the remains of the original simple stone tomb where the body of Jesus is held to have been buried. This traditions dates back to the 4th century as a church and was the belief of the Jerusalem believers from the beginning. At the foot of this church are the remains of a quarry area where the "True Cross" was said to have been found when construction began on the Church. The Chapel of St Helena stands in this spot to commemorate the event.

Cieling of Holy Sepulcher Church over Edicula Tomb Shrine

After a little free time to shop in the Old City bazaar, we loaded the bus to return to our hotel. Tomorrow we begin a blessed 1.5 hours later as our destination doesn't open until 10am! More then.......