Christmas Eve in the Holy Land

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Saturday was the day we left our tour group.  Stephen and Jennifer picked us up at our hotel early Saturday morning after we had a chance to say goodbye to our tour guide, Tamir, and the rest of our tour group.  The people in our group were wonderful and it was sad to say goodbye.  We had lots of amazing adventures together. 

Saturday is the Sabbath in Israel.  So after Stephen and Jennifer picked us up, we drove to the Jerusalem center and went to church.  They had a wonderful Christmas sacrament meeting in the Jerusalem Center.  The chapel there sits on Mount Scopus, overlooking the Old City and the Mount of Olives.  The view over Old Jerusalem while we sang Christmas hymns was beyond amazing!  As I sit and write about it months later, I am still awed about the wonderful meeting singing hymns of the birth of our Savior overlooking a city where He lived and died.  The sun glinted off the Dome of the Rock and I wondered at the amazing history of the city I was in.  The talks were simple and inspiring and the music from an amazing organ played by a former music professor at BYU was concert worthy.  I could have sat in there all day listening to the organ play beautiful Christmas songs.  It truly felt like Christmas.  It was also amazing to be back in the company of Latter-day Saints and to be able to worship together.  The Spirit was very strong in that wonderful place!



View of the Old City from the BYU Jerusalem Center



BYU Jerusalem Center

After church we took some vans from the Jerusalem Center to Bethlehem.  We went with other families of faculty from the Jerusalem Center.  Even though we had gone the day before, it was fun to go back with Steven and Jennifer's family.  Manger Square was even more crowded than the day before.  But there we were--Manger Square in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.  Does it get any better?

Manger Square in Bethlehem in Christmas Eve 2011

This is a picture of me in front of the church of the Nativity.  It is taken from the same place as the previous picture, just looking the other direction.

Hannah, Rachel, Sarah, Abigail and Kate in Manger Square

Besides the Church of the Nativity, Manger Square also has St. Catherine's church, which is the Roman Catholic church at the site.  This is where the big mass is held every Christmas Eve.  We hadn't been able to go inside the previous day since they were holding mass when we were there, so we were glad we had a chance to go in on this day.  It was beautiful. 

St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Manger Square

I loved these beautiful arches.  It was a great place to get a picture of our family group together on this very special Christmas Eve.

Kate in Manger Square

 We watched as the priests filed out of the church.

 They had a nice life-size nativity.

We left manger square and walked a little around Bethlehem.  Christmas Eve is a big party with parades and marching bands.  It reminded me of the 4th of July in Washington DC.  This was a cute cub scout group marching down the street,

 and some bagpipers.  Notice the "Stars and Bucks cafe" in the background?

They had lots of shops with wood carvings.  I thought it was interesting that we saw this statue in one of the shops. 

 We did some shopping and stopped at a mall for some hot chocolate.

Then we ventured out of the city to meet up with our group.  Bethlehem is a Palestinian-controlled city and is part of the West Bank.  Getting into Bethlehem wasn't too difficult--the driver just drove in and dropped us off.  However, they told us that due to the crowds on Christmas Eve, it would be easier to cross the border by foot and have the vans pick us up on the other side of the city.  We took a cab to the border and then got in the long lines to cross.  It took us more than an hour and it was hard to keep our group together since there were so many people trying to cut in line.  It was crazy!  We had to show our passports and go through security.  We finally made it out and back to the vans.  At this point it was late afternoon.

Bethlehem

Our next stop was Shepherd's Fields.  Although we don't know for sure, this may be near where shepherds watching their flocks listened as angels came and told them the amazing news of the birth of the Jesus. 

"Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto is is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

It was cold.  A storm was coming in and there was a cold wind.  It was easy to imagine what shepherds might have experienced out there on those rocky hillsides. 

We listened to a beautiful version of O Holy Night sung by a girl of another family who was with us.  Then we sang Christmas carols as the sun set behind the storm clouds.   We watched as a single star appeared, shining over Bethlehem.  It was our Christmas Eve gift--a star--in remembrance of that sacred night long ago. 



A single star over Bethlehem

 We loaded back up in the shuttles and drove back to the Jerusalem center.  We played games and visited.

Then we acted out our traditional Nativity play.  Kate was a sweet Mary, and David was Joseph.  Jennifer had bought real frankincense and myrrh for us to use.  It was one of our best Christmas Eve renditions.

Sarah was a very regal King Herod.

William had fun playing with his boy cousins.  He jumped off the chair onto a big pile of pillows with Seth and Thomas hiding underneath.  We all stayed up late playing and visiting until we finally coaxed the kids to bed.  Christmas morning was only a few hours away.