Grace Unknown

June 15, 2023

I hope that you a have been inspired as you have journeyed with me in Israel so far.

On DAY 4 –FRIDAY 2 JUNE 2023, we went to Bethlehem in the West Bank to visit some important sites. Our first stop was the Church of Shepherds’ Field. The trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was a short one, about 30 minutes. We entered Bethlehem with ease, accompanied by our new tour guide, Mohammed.

The Church of Shepherds’ Field is a magnificent church, shaped like a tent with beautiful architecture and a skylight dome over the church. The murals on the walls inside the church depict the shepherds and the angels who came to announce the birth of Jesus Christ to them. The story is recorded in Luke 2:8-14 ‘Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” We had solemn moments of praise, exhortation and prayers. We went on to visit the caves underneath the church and found the Nativity scene vividly displayed in one of them.

After a brief stop at one of the numerous souvenir shops, we proceeded to the Church of the Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The first thing of note is the height of the doorway to the church which was so low that we had to bow to enter the church, in reverence of the event that happened there. The church is beautiful, well decorated with numerous chandeliers of all shapes and sizes, murals and paintings. The atmosphere in the church is serene and calm. We joined a long queue to go down some steps into the place where Jesus was born. Inside we saw an altar, and beneath the altar there was an area with drapes which partly concealed a Silver Star with many points and having a small hole in the middle of it. This Star marks the spot where Jesus Christ was born. We spent a moment of brief reflection there. Nearby, there was Jesus’ manger.

There is a silence code for the church and as such we were not able to express ourselves in songs, but we could pray. We left the church and walked to the bus station where we took the bus back to Jerusalem. Bethlehem is definitely a tourist city. There are many souvenir shops and many touts ready to take the teeming number of tourists that come to see the birth place of Jesus Christ on a tour. Our guide told us that the Church of the Nativity was spared when the Turks invaded Palestine and destroyed all the other churches because of paintings on the walls depicting men in Persians attire.

Back in Jerusalem the Jewish Shabbat was just beginning and the streets were all but deserted, reminiscent of the lockdown days of the COVID-19 pandemic.