Gifts of love keep giving

It was an extra early start this morning. The bus was extremely quiet, as we all just leisurely listened to our guide prepare us to enter Bethlehem. A place of dusty roads, peasant women with water baskets on their heads and shepherds tending to their flock, truly reminiscent of biblical times....Not!

Bethlehem today is Palestinian. Our guide highlights for us that this site symbolizes the stalemate in Israeli-Palestine conflict. It is not a place of peace as we might rather want to believe. We of course are safe, just being made aware that the divisiveness is real. Our first stop is in the heart of modern Bethlem’s densely packed town center, the Church of the Nativity. The whole church is erected around the place where Jesus was born. At its entrance is this small door requiring all you enter to bend low in humility like our Saviour did for us. The center piece of the church is the grotto because it is believed to be the ancient site of the manager. Although not many people were not yet there, a mass was going on so we could only peek our heads into to see this precious birth place.

In another cave beneath the church we learned about S Hieronymus, an important yet obscure name. We read the bible today because of this man’s selfless life dedication to transcribing the 1st translation of the old and new testament into Latin. I believe it took him 36 years to complete.

As we exit the church and peer over what was once the Sheoherds fields, it was hard to imagine, as it is now covered with city landscape. Except there was one shepherd boy who would let you take a picture of him holding a lamb for $1.00. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain outside and so we were a bit rushed and cold to be fully absorbed in the moment.

To warm up, we stopped at Beit Sahour Souvenir Shop. The owner Joseph is an Arab Christian believer, who provided us warm tea and a shop full of the most beautifully carved olive wood nativity scenes and jewellery showcasing Eilat, the stone of Israel. Many gifts and trip keepsakes were bought by all.

Given the persistent rain, it was good we were heading inside to the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Muesum. Our hearts were heavy, as we prepared to experience a dark page of human history. Great thought went into the museums design, with guests descending downward and then sharply entering 8 breaking line ( places where the Jews believed things could not get any worse) themed galleries. It is a raw experience, cement walls with black and white photos and recovered artifacts telling the stories of real people, the experience is felt to the core of your being. In the world of the Nazi camp, the concept of humanity lost all its familiar meanings, immediately inmates were subjected to a process calculated to erase their identity and dehumanize them. Instead of a name they received a number. At the end of the Museum’s historical narrative is the Hall of Names — a repository for the Pages of Testimony of millions of Holocaust victims, a memorial to those who perished. A sepeate children’s memorial is a tribute to the approximately 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust. Memorial candles, a customary Jewish tradition to remember the dead, are reflected infinitely in a dark and somber space, creating the impression of millions of stars shining in the night sky . The names of murdered children, their ages and countries of origin can be heard in the background.

Next we visited the Israel Muesum Model of Jerusalem to understand the layout of ancient Jerusalem, where we go tomorrow. Our day ended with the opportunity to wander the busy streets of the old city markets for a few hours. Fresh produce, vibrant colours, unfamiliar sounds and smells made this a fun taste testing adventure, for the brave among us. Yes, there are lots of good stories about the group getting lost as we individually had to navigate our way back to the hotel.

As I meditated on and discussed the day with others, it became clearer to me that theme of the day was that gifts of love keep giving forever. Beginning with the greatest gift ever given, Jesus our saviour is born. A sacrificial life leads to the gift of the word; the multiple bible translations we now enjoy. The power of a truly thoughtful gift to help our friends and family feel treasured today and tomorrow. The gift of a permanently remembered name for those who were dehumanized and murdered in the Holocaust. The fresh pomegranates in the market remind us of the gift of fruitfulness, they symbolize we are to be living for the benefit and blessing of others. It takes the heart touched by God to continue to grow and overflow with love for all people.

[And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people 1 Th 3: 12-13]Læs mere