John's Update Part 1

Jesus and Family


Today was all about the family. Beginning at the beginning we woke up early and went to the church set above the site of the birth of Christ. As with many sites in the area, there are multiple "protectors" of the area. For this site there is the Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Christians. The Roman Catholics have their own church attached to the original Crusader church which is where they hold the big Christmas service that is televised all over the world. I thought it would be bigger! We were unable to go below and see the manger and the spot where Jesus was supposed to have been born because there were processions beginning shortly but the altars and fanfare above were quite spectacular. Also connected with this place is the cavelike room where St Jerome translated the bible from Greek to Latin, which is the version that was spread throughout the world for 1000 years. St Jerome's tomb is in a connecting cave where we had a moment of "meditation" in the midst of a very busy pilgrimage area. Can you guess the word I'm going to use to describe the place? Nice try, I was going to say powerful. Next time you'll get it!

Then we prepared to travel up through Israel to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. In preparation we stopped at the Bethlehem Christian Coop where they have every possible souvenir you could need and complimentary coffee! I got some great postcards and a Bethlehem t-shirt to support this challenged group. The unemployment rate in Bethlehem is said to be around 40% and climbing and most young people leave their home town in there 20's for better opportunities so to try and support this group of Christians felt good, though I know that $19 is not going to change lives, it can't hurt. Then we were off to Nazareth.

On the way into Nazareth we stopped at a place that neither my father nor our intellectual leader Fr Andrew had been before, Sepphoris (pronounced like Severus for you Harry Potter fans!), a place near Nazareth that was home to affluent Romans. In Sepphoris, or Zippori in Hebrew, there were ancient ruins that are still amazingly intact and very well restored. The mosaics on the floors of these palatial estates were unbelievable! There was one floor that contained 1.5 million tiles and has a picture of a woman who is referred to as "The Mona Lisa of the Middle East."