Wednesday - Shepherd's Field and Bethlehem

This morning was another busy day as we went to the south of Jerusalem to visit one of the Shepherd's Field sites in Beit Sahour, several miles outside of Bethlehem. There are actually three separate fields -- one Roman Catholic, under the supervision of the Franciscans (the one Debbie and I visited two years ago), one Orthodox and one under the supervision of the YMCA in Beit Sahour. As we descend down a tree-lined path, we come to a grotto, now supported by cement columns, much like those still used by shepherds today to shelter their sheep from the sun or inclement weather. As you look across the valley, you see the city of Bethlehem off in the distance. It is easy to conceive the scene described in the second chapter of Luke when the angel appears to the shepherd's announcing Jesus' birth.

From the field we took the bus up to the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square. Although there was already a crowd there, Fr. Kamal schmoozed his way through it to gain us easy access to the interior. The first thing one notices when approaching the Church is the small door -- which was made smaller during the Ottoman period to prevent merchants and local citizens from riding their horses or carts through the large entrance. Once inside, there are beautiful mosaic floors dating from the sixth century which feature circles and squares -- circles representing the eternal nature of God, the squares representing the finite nature of God in Jesus Christ. There are actually two main churches in one here: A very ornate Armenian one with hundreds of lamps, lanterens, chandeliers and ornaments hanging from the ceilings, and the much simpler Franciscan Church of St. Catherine attached to the left. In the crypt below are several tombs, including the tomb that formerly held the remains of St. Jerome, who first translated the entire Bible into the Latin version known as the Vulgate.

One accesses the grotto where Jesus is said to have been born by descending a steep flight of steps from the Armenian section of the church. A large star marks the place where Jesus is thought to have been born, and across the aisle is the area where the rest of the manger is thought to have been located. In the small chapel just above the grotto, Deacon Pat proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Birth from Luke 2 and we ended our time there with a prayer. It was a very moving experience for all of us.

After our visit to the church we went back to Beit Sahour where we enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant named Ruth's (she obviously delegates well as all of those working there that I saw were men). We had an amazing array of middle eastern vegetable dishes, wonderful fresh flat bread that was about the size of a small pizza, hummus, olives and the like. Then it was back to the Bethlehem shopping district for a time of "temptation." It is perhaps a sign of the desperation of the economy in the Palestinian territory that there seemed even more of an urgency in making sales than when I was here two years ago. It almost bordered on assault, offering strings of beads and embroidered tote bags at 5 for $10. In a certain indication that the apocalypse is drawing near, Bud Hoffman and Al Shuckra each bought a Khafiyeh (think scarf over the head with hoops holding it onto the head, like Laurence of Arabia).

On our way back to Jerusalem we traveled through a Palestinian refugee area outside of Bethlehem and then went on to the site of Solomon's pools, four massive stone reservoir areas that until several years ago were filled with potable spring water, used by local farmers for irrigation as well as for daily living purposes. Unfortunately for the local population, within the past few years the Israeli government has appropriated that water supply and redirected it for use in Jerusalem, leaving the locals with enough water to survive but not enough for agricultural purposes. Across from the first of Solomon's pools is a beautiful, half-completed structure which was sponsored by a number of nations to serve as a convention center in the West Bank. For a variety of reasons (fraud, corruption, incompetence among others) the project has now been stopped and remains unusable for anything.

Today is the day the Israeli's celebrate what they consider to be the reunification of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War in 1967. The celebration took place on the East Jerusalem side of what was formerly known as the Green Line pre-1967. Thousands of Israeli's lined the eastern side of the street joined by bands, vendors and speakers. Unfortunately it was a nightmare for anyone traveling in or around East Jerusalem between 4 and 8 p.m. -- we had to park our bus across the Green Line and walk the two blocks to the Guesthouse.

Our evening concluded with a wonderful speaker who is a friend of Yehezkel Landau from Hartford Seminary. Dr. Ophir is originally from Boston and, having lived in Middletown for a number of years while at Wesleyan University, moved to Israel. He provided a contemporary Israeli perspective on issues relating to peace and relationships with the Palestinians. He reviewed for us the extreme positions and then painstakingly explored the nuances and difficult issues that always seem to stand in the way of peace.

Certainly one of the reflections on the day would be the irony that even as our group of pilgrims were reflecting on ways toward peace, our speaker himself was delayed in arriving by a demonstration where thousands of people celebrated as fact a "unification of Jerusalem" that is neither acceptable to the Palestinians nor recognized by the international community. Let us continue to pray for peace in Jerusalem and throughout this region. Faithfully, Don