Driving into Bethlehem one sees a great big wall that divides Palestinian Bethlehem from Israeli Jerusalem. These two sacred Christian cities are divided by a wall that represents fear and violence, dividing families and people of faith. “A right peace is what we need,” said Bedar, our guide, as we headed from Shepherd’s Field, where it is believed the angel appeared to the Bedouin shepherds.
A right peace is one that would include the recognition of Arab Israelis' right to have land and sovereignty…most Arab Israelis are Muslim, but not all. The Christian community of Israeli Arabs knows profound discrimination in their daily lives. Often families are divided by that wall; and some have died trying to get to the hospital, unable to make it through the five checkpoints out of Bethlehem to Jerusalem. There is economic hardship that is mildly softened by the influx of Christians from around the world heading to the holy sites, tourist attractions, and sacred pilgrimage locations.
As we ducked our heads to enter through the Door of Humility into the ancient sanctuary of the Church of the Nativity we could see many thousands of pilgrims waiting in what would be a two-hour line to descend to the Grotto of the Nativity. The two-hour wait involved watching folks from all over the world take pictures, talk amongst themselves, and get yelled at by extremely grumpy orthodox priests who collected money from pilgrims wishing to light candles. Part of the two-hour wait involved tour guides bribing police and priests for their groups to jump the line and get private time in the Grotto of the Nativity, which is a rectangular cavern below the church and the believed location of Jesus' birth.
I am not sure this is what God had in mind when sending Jesus to take on human form, to know our hopes and heartaches while teaching us, leading us, dying for us, and ultimately being raised up to show the way of love. All facets of humanity were coalescing and co-existing in that little and most ancient church located in Bethlehem.
When I finally made it down the steps to the Grotto I had folks yelling at my group to move on, and one chap gave me a good push out of the way.
Etched in my heart is the memory of touching the star on the floor, which marks the believed location of Christ’s birth. Is it the actual location? Doubtful. Was I shoved? Yes. Did I laugh? Absolutely!
For many that day in that sacred place showed forth the very reasons Christ came humbly as a baby to show us the way. It is so easy to fixate upon our missing the mark, but I left with heart full of sadness and hope intertwined.
One of the many spirit-filled moments of this pilgrimage was seeing sunlight penetrate the dark, ancient recesses of the church to illuminate one of the many ornate crosses adorning the altar. A man dropped to his knees and lowered his head to the ground to pray to his God.
As the focal point of this image, the cross is vibrant from sunshine streaming into the sanctuary while the man is slightly blurred while bowing to pray, with his one hand touching the reflection of light spilling along the floor. The total blur on the right side of the image is a priest quickly stepping to reprimand a man who accidentally was showing the bottom of his shoe.
I look into this image I happened to snap and see the reason for Bethlehem all over again. There is much broken in our world; and much of that brokenness originates with the weaknesses of humanity. However, God gives us light; and if we but seek to humble ourselves to the True Light, we shall know peace on earth.
