Today was a rest day after our time away in Galilee. I decided to use it to go back to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem with two others from the course. We headed off straight after breakfast, and caught a local bus to Bethlehem. The bus actually stops at Bait Jalla, a town right next to Bethlehem, and we were told by staff at the College to take a taxi to the Church from the bus stop. It was hard to persuade the taxi driver that we only wanted to go to the church! The dollar signs appeared in his eyes and he urged us to go to Herodion and the Shepherds’ field and so on. I explained that we had already been there. We agreed on a slightly inflated price to go to the church but then on the way he said that he would wait for us and take us to the police checkpoint, where we were going next – for a much more inflated price. I said no, we would pay him just for the one ride, but he wouldn’t take the money! What to do? I didn’t want to be having to look for him or to be accused of not paying him, so when we got out in Manger Square and I saw a policeman close by, I went up and asked for his help so that I could pay the taxi fare. I don’t think I was the taxi driver’s favourite person, but he took the money and drove away.
So there we were, back in Manger Square. We entered the church by the low door, and checked out whether we could go into the grotto – but an Armenian service had just started and was going to take about an hour. The others suggested looking at something else and coming back, but I just wanted to see the grotto, so I said that I would wait there.
When I got to the steps down to the grotto, I was the first one there, as all the tour groups had gone away because of the service in the grotto. So I sat and waited, and read the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel in my Bible as the Armenian service took place down in the grotto.
Gradually people gathered to wait, until there was a crowd around the door and a long line back down into the body of the church. A few people sat a little lower down the steps than I had, but I was okay with that because I didn’t have to be first, as long as I got in fairly quickly. As we gathered there waiting, there was a strong sense of expectation. It was quite a worshipful atmosphere with Christians from many countries waiting to enter the grotto, which the tradition remembers as the birthplace of Jesus.
Eventually the service ended. I was told that I needed to come up to the top of the steps as someone was going to sweep them and the grotto before we could go in. So I stood up there and once the sweeping was over went down a few steps again with others there. To my surprise, when the grotto was opened to the public again, people stood back to let me go in first, as I had been the first there. I actually found it quite moving, because it was such a gracious atmosphere compared with the pushing and shoving of Holy Week and Easter in Jerusalem. I went into the grotto first and had a moment alone there. I touched the spot traditionally remembered as the place of Jesus’ birth. (Again, the issue was not so much where exactly was the site historically? The issue was more that I was able to worship in this very sacred place as had so many others down through the centuries.) It was a special moment, and one that I am sure I will always remember.
After we had seen through the grotto, my friends and I went to visit another church associated with Jesus’ infancy – the Milk Grotto (officially known as Magharet Sitti Mariam "Grotto of the Lady Mary"). This is a beautiful. calm site only 3 minutes walk from the Church of the Nativity.
This grotto, with a Franciscan chapel built above it, is considered sacred because tradition has it that the Holy Family took refuge here during the Slaughter of the Innocents, before their flight into Egypt. Tradition has it that while Mary was nursing Jesus here, a drop of milk fell to the ground, turning it white.
On the way back down the street to Manger Square, I did another little bit of shopping (and got charged to much again – sigh!) Then we got a taxi to the checkpoint. On our way through the checkpoint, we were delayed for quite a while. Amazingly, there was only one booth open for checking the papers of people both who were going in and who were going out. I was inclined to think that that was a way of dissuading Palestinian people from making the effort to get through the checkpoint at all.
In the afternoon I visited St James Armenian Cathedral again for their Vespers service. Then I went on to the Garden Tomb, a suggested site for the crucifixion that does not have the historical or traditional validation of the Church of the Resurrection. I went mainly out of curiosity as others had visited this site and it was close to the College. It was less crowded by decoration and so more appealing in a way to those who like things plain and simple. But it did not seem to me to have the sense of authenticity and holiness that the Church of the Resurrection and the grotto in the Church of the Nativity have.
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