O Little Town of Bethlehem

Today was the day for nativity. We went to The House of the Outrageous Caiaphas first, though. The archaeologists are certain that the villa uncovered was his house, found the room he was beaten in while the trial was going on, and found the pit 3 stories down that he was lowered into for the night a pit dug out of the stone that was probably 6 foot across. From there the next morning he was taken to Pilot.

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in |Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David....While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2: 4-7

From there we went to the Church of the Nativity, yes to the very cave where Mary birthed Jesus. Yes the star is the birthing place. Three churches, the Armenian, the Greek Orthodox, and the Catholic church all take turns 'owning' the birthplace by procession into the cave and literally homesteading for a day. Incredible. So all three have churches on site and little doors leading to the birthplace that they do their procession from. The church of the Nativity is in Bethlehem - across the Wall into the Palestinian occupied territory. That is a discussion we must have sometime.

And low and behold the coffee shop across the street!!!

A prayer: Lord help our hearts to see with eyes only you truly have. Amen