December Daily {:20:} O Little Town of Bethlehem...

(Now updated with details and photos...)

We started off the day by going to a Bible study that was in English and Arabic.  I got to sing Go Tell it on the Mountain in Arabic!  That was fun!  We made small nativity sets out of shoeboxes and magazines.  I enjoyed getting to do a bit of my normal life in France somewhere else...it made it feel like taking a vacation isn't making a full stop to life, but just relocating for a few days...

We went to Bethlehem!  In order to get there, you have to for through a check point from Dixie into the West Bank. The two areas really look different. In fact, while we driving on the way, I pointed out how one side of the road looked more like what I remember of North Africa, and Bound's Dad commented that it was the Arab area, and the other side of the highway was the Dixie neighborhood.  Wow.  

Bethlehem is in the West Bank, which is in Palestinian territory, which is why we had to go through the check point.  After we crossed through, we saw this sign several times:

I have opinions about the whole Dixie/Palestine thing, which I'll keep to myself.  I also know that it's so complicated, with strong emotions on both sides, has no easy answer, and well, oh my.  Jesus come quickly.

While in Bethlehem, a grocery store was blaring Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you."  Worlds colliding in my head...

We first went to the Church of the Nativity, which is the traditional spot where people claim that Jesus was born.  (I found myself fighting off cynicism about things like that and just trying to enjoy that I was celebrating the fact, not the place.)  

The church is right across the street from a giant (and loud) mosque, and as you can see...there was a huge (beautiful) Christmas tree in the square between the two.

One of the pictures I regret not taking: to get into the church, you have to go through a really little door that is so small, you have to duck down to go through it, even though you can see that there was once a large, normal door that has since been bricked in.  The reason?  Travelers use to come in the church with their animals: donkeys, camels, horses, etc.  They remade the door so that animals couldn't fit through!  Wikipedia calls it the Door of Humility, and has a photo, that you can see HERE.

Inside, the church is under renovations, so I didn't take many photos.  This wood scaffolding, however, made it look more like a manger in a cave to me.  Hehe.

There were some awesome 4th century mosaics!

Another holy spot for people to touch something.  I honestly don't know what the spot is.  I'll make something up.  It's where the Angel appeared to Joseph to tell him to flee to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill baby Jesus.  I know that we all practice our faith in different ways, and so I wanted to be respectful to the Eastern European believers who were all around me doing things different, including touching what to them is a holy spot.  So, I'm not mocking, I'm just saying that I don't know what is special about that particular spot on the column.

I was told that normally the line to the Grotto is super duper long, and can even be all the way through the church and outside.  I imagine if we came on Christmas Eve, it would have been.  But luck was on our side, and the "line" was only the crowd on the stairs down into the Grotto.  

I only had to wait about five minutes before I entered the Grotto, the cave area underneath the church were tradition says that Jesus was born.

You think that smile is big?  Wait until you see the photo from when I was inside the garden tomb, when my smile was so big and my excitement so high, I had "crazy eyes."  haha. 

Down in the Grotto, there were beautiful lamps hanging everywhere. It was pretty crowded down there.  

There was an altar, and underneath it were more lamps and then a star marking "the spot."  (Working really hard to suppress my cynicism...)  People would kneel under the table, kiss the star, and come with their iconography items while they said their prayer.  Me...I sat off to the side and thought for a quick moment about the miracle that the Word became flesh and was pleased to dwell as man among men... The fact itself again so much more amazing than the place.  Whether it was here or 200 yards away, it still happened.  And that is awesome.

There is another church joined to the Church of the Nativity, so we walked through there.  It had beautifully done 3D Stations of the Cross.

Here was a gorgeous mosaic of the Nativity that was on a wall.

Bright and beautiful, a stained glass window of the nativity that looked like a sun.  Appropriate, don't you think?  The birth of the Son that was the Light of the World.  It should be bright!

And who doesn't love a good representation of Saint George slaying the dragon while we're at it?  (He was Palestinian, so I suppose it makes sense, being in the Church of the Nativity.)

Next, it was time to buy some souvenirs at Manger Square from a couple who are actually named Mary and Joseph!  They allowed me to watch their wood-worker carving the nativity sets out of olive wood, and that was cool.

He was actually making a cross that has the nativity carved into it, and I ended up buying one.  Advent and Lent, Christmas and Easter, Jesus's birth and death and resurrection all go together...He was born to die that we might live.  It all has to go together, and so the idea of putting the nativity into the cross is so brilliant.  I put the one I bought up against a notebook so that you can see the scenes in it.  Isn't it beautiful?

Speaking of beautiful and amazing...check out this HUGE nativity!  It's all olive wood!  I didn't buy anything that big, to be sure.  In fact, I only bought a very small olive wood nativity because I want my main one to be my French santons.  But, I did spend a pretty penny at Mary and Joseph's buying gifts for others.

Next, we went to the shepherd's fields, where the angels would have appeared to the shepherds. Can't you just picture a heavenly host coming down on that field there and singing Glory to God in the highest?!  Oh man!

Bound's Dad had seen some shepherds with their sheep there earlier in the day, so we were gazing off across the valley to see if we could spot them.  I have a pretty awesome zoom on my camera, and I thought I spied something, so I took this photo:

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure those are tires, not black sheep.  Oops.  We kept looking, and saw some people.  Whether they were shepherds, I don't know...

At the shepherd's fields, there is a cave there that looks like the type of place Jesus would have been born in.  Here I am standing on top of the roof of the cave.  If you know about my fear of heights, than you can see in the way that I am standing that I was ready to go down into the cave, instead of being on top of it!

This is my "I'm so excited and having so much fun!" exclamation:

Mangers for animals back in Jesus' day weren't necessarily a barn like what we imagine today, but a cave alongside (or near) the house.  So, this, to me, looks so much like the kind of place where Jesus could have been born.  No crowds, no fancy lamps, no altar and no star on the ground marking the spot...but a hole in the ceiling where the Star could shine down to mark the spot.  Quiet.  Peaceful.  Perfect.

We wandered through some of the tunnels, and had only the light from my iPhone to guide the way.  That was FUN!

Much like yesterday, I enjoyed the second place more than the first.  And...the cave was just fun to wander in!  As much as I love tradition and history, I don't need either one to mark a spot for me by building a church there in order for me to worship.  Being near and imagining and meditating on verses of Truth was much more meaningful for me.  

We headed back towards J-town...

Once back at home, Bound made challa, the traditional Jewish Sabbath bread.  Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday, and here in J-town, they start 40 minutes before sundown to make sure they are keeping the Sabbath completely.  Sundown today was at 4:39!  We just figured out that I was here for the longest Sabbath day of the year!  :) 

Friends came over for dinner and then we all just sat around and talked after dinner.

It was a gorgeous, fun, special day.  Just as awesome as yesterday, but in a totally different way.  Tomorrow is Shabbat (Sabbath), so we'll just be chilling, taking it easy all day.  Perfect, since I am on vacation, you know...