By Patty Keane and Dan Riordan

Today we had a chance to catch up on our sleep as we didn’t have to leave the hotel until 10am — such a treat!

At 10:30 we attended the Christmas Lutheran Church service in Bethlehem. The minister, Rev. Mitri Raheb, was very welcoming and acknowledged our presence during the service which was conducted in Arabic accompanied by English translations whenever possible. At coffee following the service, among others we met with some folks from the World Council of Churches working for 3 months in Palestine to be witnesses to the Israeli Occupation and to support the Palestinians who are living under this Occupation. They were an inspiration!

Lunch at the Mariachi Restaurant at the Grand Hotel followed. Though it was a beautiful restaurant, the service was slow and put a dent into our afternoon activities. But we made the best of it and in the end were able to see all the sights scheduled.

Following lunch we visited Herod’s Castle, also known as the Herodium. It sits on a truncated cone-shaped hill visible throughout Bethlehem and is the highest peak in the Judaea desert. We later realized we can even see it from our hotel room’s balcony!

From the Herodium, our small bus took us to Shepherds’ Field where, the gospels tell us, the Angel of the Lord appeared before the shepherds, announcing the birth of Jesus.  Several different groups were singing carols in the beautiful Shepherds’ Field Chapel which offers excellent acoustics. We joined in and enthusiastically sang “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

In one of the caves at the Shepherds’ Field, Beit Sahour

The final place we visited today before returning to our hotel was the Church of the Nativity. Here we saw part of the original mosaic floor, put in place in 326AD! We also witnessed the spot where Jesus is reported to have been born. The whole church is under considerable re-construction — which luckily will be completed before Christmas this year. We were lucky enough to see a baptism in progress in the Greek Orthodox part of the church and then the final moments of a wedding in the Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine. Both reminded us that this is the oldest continuously worshiping Christian Church in the world, and not a museum.

Marianne Saadeh, Usama Nicola, and Yigal Elhanan

After returning to our hotel, we heard guest speakers Yigal Elhanan and Marianne Saadeh from the “Bereaved Families Group.” Yoga, an Israeli Jew, and Marianne, a Palestinian, had both lost sisters as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The “Bereaved Family Group” is remarkable in that it is made up of both Palestinians and Israelis working together for justice for both groups.

This week so far has introduced us to so many courageous men and women who are working hard to bring peace and justice to all living in this region.