Day 5 : Friday 6th September

This is the day I finally found out how to link my photos to my blog and so also the day I'm happy enough to invite others to read it. I've got into the swing of things now so I am now keen to record my thoughts and experiences with whoever may be interested. So I could call this day 1..... but I won't.... It's day 5.

Today we travelled to Bethlehem and I've been blown away. Instead of just seeing more churches and chapels about babies being born and more shots of sandstone buildings, I've had a number of myths and stories told about the birth of Jesus corrected and I've learnt a lot about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.

Birth of Jesus - Myth 1 : Jesus wasn't born in a nice neat timber stable with straw and an open entrance to the street. He was born in a cave , way down the back where the animals are kept safe from wild animals. The stable we are used to seeing was just an image encouraged by St Francis to make it more assessable to children and westerners.

Myth 2 or at least the way I've always pictured the shepherds in the fields. They were probably sitting at the front of a cave also with their flock inside and the fields were desert countryside. They would have been eating hardy plants that were few and far between .

We visited today the Nativity church and cave. The oldest church in the region ( around 400 CE I think) and saw the cave that  - it is claimed - is the birth place of Jesus. The actual spot was being used for a Russian Orthodox mas at the time and we were only able to see it through the tiniest of peepholes.  Know that sounds weird .. And that's because it was. Here are some pictures.

Check out the light coming down from the window above the altar. We are visiting so many churches and everyone is clicking away with their camera - the challenge for me is to take the most meaningful one . this is my church snap for the day.

This is a cave at Sheperd's Field - a cave similar to the one shepherd's would her been in to " guard their flocks by night". One of our priest pilgrims - a cool American known as Fr Edward - said mass for us in there before lunch.

They forgot we needed a packed lunch today on our trip so we had to eat out at a restaurant where the beautiful food just kept on coming. 

We went shopping in a souvenir shop today - friends of our guide ... no doubt he'll be getting a commission ... 30 percent off everything for us today... This photo was taken a few days ago but seemed fitting here.

The last part of our trip was a visit to the Bethlehem University where are eyes were opened by a guide and some students to a place where Christians and Muslims study side by side in an effort to achieve a better life for themselves and a better world for the Palestinians. Bethlehem is in the area known as the West Bank. We needed to get through an Israeli checkpoint where potentially we could have had our passport checked and our luggage searched. Israelis are not permitted in and Palestinians find it hard to get permission to leave. It is another side to the friction or conflict between the people here that was a real eye opener and made me think a little about the way we treat our own asylum seekers back home. 

Enough for today. Tea beckons. Voting tomorrow in Australia. And my beloved Blueboys are playing in the first week of the finals. May their journey through September last as long as my pilgrimage here in the Holy Land.

 

 Have I shown you the view. This was taken just this moment 7 pm Friday night from the balcony at Ecce Homo Convent where we are staying.