O Little Town of Bethlehem...

Mandy and I have been talking a lot lately about how unable our minds are to comprehend what it’s been like to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. Christmas in Bethlehem was filled with wonder. One can’t help but walk through the streets of the old city of Bethlehem and not think, ‘Did they pass here?’ ‘Were these stones here?’ Abraham Joshua Heschel says at the beginning of his book, Israel, that if only these stones could talk, oh the story they would tell us. Sometimes I catch myself staring at old walls or houses and wishing they could speak. Around every corner or hilltop in Bethlehem my mind wanders to what it would have looked like on that night so long ago.

How still we see the lie…

Christmas Eve began for us by watching the annual parade through the old city. Bethlehem’s churches all have scout troops that play drums and horns and bagpipes. They all get gussied up (as my Nana Phyllis would say) and march through the streets in preparation for the coming of the Patriarch from Jerusalem who gives the Midnight Mass in the Church of the Nativity. Manger square is anything but still. It’s jammed with people from all over the world. We stood in line to get into the Church of the Nativity next to a group from Poland. They were actually singing in the Mass that night. I’m still not sure if they all made it through the barricade or not. It was a zoo. I’m pretty sure a merry band of drunken monkeys could organize security better but that’s another story.

Above thy dark and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by…

Our friends, Josh and Lauren came down to spend the night with us. We got the most, I think, out of our visit to the Shepherds’ field. This spot was not high on our list but it will definitely be from now on. We have been here 4 months and we haven’t even gone yet. In a sense because this is one of those, what I call, “Yeah Right” spots. As in Yeah Right you’re going to tell me you know exactly where the shepherds were sitting when the Angels appeared to them. C’mon. But once we got there we realized that this spot, however outlandish their claim may be, was really beautiful. A small chapel surrounded by a grove of trees in valley that is still inhabited by shepherd families today, how much more do you want? As with a lot of spots I found myself saying, ok you know what, we can’t say for SURE that THIS is the exact spot but in all honesty we can’t be that far away so this is as good a spot as any to remember the event. The important thing is the exact spot in which it happened but THAT it happened in an exact spot. Sometimes being here helps one remember that. These aren’t stories about hobbits in Middle Earth or Lions in Narnia. This is a story about shepherds from a place known as Beit Sahour. It’s an actual town. There are actual shepherds still living there. When that sinks in you begin to experience a little of the wonder of being here.

Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light…

In the Shepherds’ Field you’ll find some caves. Those caves served as dwellings and storage places for the Byzantine monks who first recognized this spot as holy back in the 4th and 5th centuries. One of my fondest Christmas memories will forever be walking into one of the caves that had obviously been used to house animals. At the back of the cave was a feeding trough. I looked at it and I said out loud to Josh, Lauren and Mandy, “Hey check it out, this is a manger, this is what it would have looked like.” Then we all looked around the cave and realized this is what it would have looked. It was just a chalky, limestone cave with a stone manger at the back. So we sat down, took a couple pictures, and we just soaked it in.

The hopes and fears of all the years…

We left the Shepherds’ field and decided it would be appropriate to dine like shepherds after such an adventure. So we to Josh & Lauren to a restaurant called simply “The Tent”. Here you dine on couches beneath a giant canvass tent. Guys smoke the houka and drink the terrible coffee that tastes like mud. We had chicken, beef, and lamb, and an array of Middle Eastern salads. After dinner I brought our turkey over to the baker on the other side of Manger Square because really it wouldn’t be a holiday around here if I didn’t get to run across manger square with a hot turkey. Some traditions are worth keeping. We ended the night back at our apartment just hanging out with Josh and Lauren. Their presence here has been such a blessing. Definitely, without a doubt, THE hardest thing about Christmas this year was being away from our family. The wonder and the amazement of this place simply cannot take the place of our families. I think Josh and Lauren would say the same. But at least if you have to be lonely it’s nice to have people to be lonely with. They really have become like our family here and it was nice to have them around.

Are met in thee tonight.

Christmas day was crazy. We had met some people from Bermuda couple weeks ago when we joined Josh & Lauren on field trip that their class was taking. Joanne & Quincy are both studying here and they have a little baby boy named Yeshia who is just adorable. He has cheeks that we’re pretty sure he’s using to store nut in for the winter. But anyways we got the impression that they had nowhere to go for Christmas. My mom has taught me a lot of things but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that meals are like the Gospel: Best when SHARED. Especially around the Holidays it’s important to find people who have nowhere to go and invite them to the table. So we did and Quincy, Joanne and Yeshia spent Christmas day in Bethlehem with us. They even invited another friend too, so by the time was all said and done we had 7 people around our humble little table. Not bad.
After dinner when everyone had gone their separate ways Mandy & I sat down opened our gifts. Our families have spent the last month or more packing up boxes with Christmas presents and shipping them over to us. So as Christmas came to a close and we were really missing our families, one by one we got to open up little reminders of how much they love us. One by one we marveled at the way our family models the love of Christ to us.
So there we were, sitting beneath our Charlie Brown Christmas tree with our presents. We had to laugh because in some way you think that spending Christmas in Bethlehem will make you more Holy. But in the end you realize that while it may make the wonder more vivid, and it may make the story come alive in a better way for you, it doesn’t make you any more Holy. That’s the job of the little Baby in the back of the cave. He makes us Holy. Whether you’re in Bethlehem, Grand Rapids, or Natick the decision you make about that child is the most important thing you can take away from Christmas.