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| Church of the Nativity |
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| Watch your head as you enter |
When we arrived at the Church of the Nativity our stand-in
tour guide remarked that the church was practically empty. We had dropped off Amnon outside of
Bethlehem’s walls since as a Jew it was not completely safe for him there. We were told that as it was Palestinian
territory there was always a risk that he could be taken hostage and that would
void any type of insurance coverage he had.
He seemed a little put out by the injustice that he could not work in
Bethlehem, but that Palestinians were free to work outside their
territory. However, as long as
everything remained peaceful he could accept it.
As for the tourist traffic, or lack thereof, when ships dock
in the Red Sea, the Christian tourists want to visit two sites most: the Church
of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Not surprising since they represent the
places of Jesus’ birth and death. Note
that I said “represent”. As I’ve learned
on this trip, the church and historians in general have not paid exact
attention to the precise location of the events described in the bible. They have intentionally moved the places that
represent events from known locations out of convenience or esthetics which in
turn throws all geographical accuracy into disrepute. But just so this doesn’t come off as a slight
against Christianity, go ahead and ask your mother about the precise spot where
you were born. Not the address… the
exact spot. If you were born in a place
that your parents didn’t own or rent, like a manger because there was no room
for them at the inn, the task becomes almost impossible.
Shockingly, the Church of the Nativity claims to house just
such a spot, the exact birthplace of Jesus.
It’s about the circumference of a soup can and you have to get on your
knees in order to touch it using a body motion that is similar to one you’d use
to put a log in a deep fireplace. But
you first have to get to the spot.
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| The "spot" |
As our tour guide explained, lines to get into the grotto
were oftentimes 2-3 hours long. We
arrived just in time to get sandwiched between a group of Orthodox Russians and
a group of Indians with enough video equipment to shoot a full-length Bollywood
movie.
We kept our distance from the Russians for the roughly 30
minute long line and gave them respectful berth; but there was no stopping the
Indians from their aggressive attack from the rear. None it it made sense since it was a single
file line to the 7-pointed star on the floor.
You couldn’t get there any faster unless you had 4-D Man ability and could move
through solid objects.
Sr. Jocelyn wanted the group to be able to say a Hail Mary
in peace without being trampled so she asked dad and I to block the Indian
worshippers from pushing us. All I know
is that I likely feature prominently in the Bollywood production. My role will be listed in the credits as:
Aggressive non-religious protector of peoples’ right to personal space. Dad’s role will be described similarly…just
strip out the “non” and stick with “religious”.
While inside the grotto, I mainly concentrated on taking
photos of dad, this was meant to be his adventure after all, but I did take a
moment to reach down and touch the spot beneath the floor. As they say: when in Rome.
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| Dad at the location of Jesus' manger |
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