Nativity Thoughts

Yesterday Mandy and I went to the Church of the Nativity for the first time. It really is amazing. You walk up this huge hill from where our school is located in Beit Jala. Along the way you cross an intersection which is more or less the line between Beit Jala and Bethlehem. You continue walking up the hill through a crowded market which ought to be blocked off to street traffic but it's not. So almost the entire hill is crowded with cars. But then the buildings get real close and the street becomes too narrow for cars. The shops are practically arms width apart on either side of the street. Now you are in the Old City of Bethlehem. It's not like the Old City in Jerusalem. It's not walled. If you don't know what to look for you can pass right through without ever knowing you were there. The construction methods haven't changed much here over the last 2000 years so our school is made out of the same stone that the walls of Jerusalem and pretty much every other building in this land are made of. So you have to look real close to catch the Old City of Bethlehem.

On the far side of the Old City you come to an opening and you walk out into Manger Sqare. There's some kids playing soccer on the flat stone pavement which has been smoothed by the feet of millions of pilgrims who have come here over the years. On the far side of Manger Square is block building that but for it's huge size you might not guess is the church of the Nativity. Somewhere, perhaps right under your feet in Manger Square once stood a small inn. And underneath that church with it's labrynth of chapels, annexes, and sanctuaries is a cave. It's more like a small room now. It has icons on the wall which are who-knows-how old and the smell of incense hangs heavy in the air. This is where Jesus was born.

You stand there looking at the star in the floor and the paintings on the wall and it's surreal. Bethlehem is a page in a book to most of us but here it is a place in stone. "A place in Stone." I like that. When you read the pages they paint pictures in your mind. Here the pictures are played out in the faces and on the landscape all around you. We went to church this morning and I couldn't help but let my wander back to the Nativity scene...the first one I mean, the original. We've all seen little Jewish boys but sitting in church the thought occurred to me most of the Jewish people we see in the U.S. or even in Israel trace much of their heritage through Europe. To see the face of the Child, Jesus, I looked around me at the faces on these Arab children. Their skin is darker, their hair is more corse. There is His face. And the teenage girl over there, that is the face of Mary. She lives in uncertain times, her life is precarious, her people are second class citizens to the rest of the world. That is the face of Mary.

Last night we stayed up talking about the Incarnation. We talked about what it's going to be like to be here at Christmas. In a way it already feels like Christmas here. When I was a kid I heard that at the North Pole it's Christmas all the time. I can't comment on that but it sure feels like Christmas in Bethlehem.

P.S. I thought I added a picture to this post but it doesn't seem to have worked. Sorry. You'll have to check Snapfish for the pics then.