Lent 1 with Embrace the Middle East

I brought with me the "Embrace the Middle East" Lent Study Guide. Study 1 uses the story of the angels coming to the Shepherds. As I am about 3 miles away from the place where this happened, I decided to do Study 1 at Shepherds' Fields, in Beit Sahour. 

This turned out to be slightly more difficult than I expected as there are three locations claimed for the location of the visitations of the angels to the Shepherds. Two of these have archeological evidence, so I decided to visit these two. I had a very pleasant walk through the old city of Beit Sahour, and then encountered the scene on the right, which made me hopeful.

Despite the imposing large metal gates which were closed, a press of the bell gave me entry to this beautiful Greek Orthodox Church. It was in a lovely setting and inside was spectacular, but I respected the notice to request that no photos should be taken.

Alongside the Church was a path leading to this archeological site and an underground Church in a cave. All was nicely arranged and presented. 

Nevertheless, I set off to find site number 2. This was about ½ mile away. The Franciscan Church is in extension grounds and obviously attracts the larger number of visitors as it had many open air chapels set out among the archeological remains of early Churches on this spot. 

It had started to rain, and so I was pleased that I had some shelter as I sat here and read the story and looked out over the land where it all happened. I had some lunch - just some bread, cheese, fruit and water, and thought of the shepherds hearing the news and setting off the way I had come - I had passed the Church of the Nativity on my way there - just think, I had walked in their steps.

I read about the Development of the Upper Egypt Trust which is supported by Embrace the Middle East. The study asked us to think how we could help the marginalised.  And as I sat there I looked out over the Illegal Jewish Settlement getting ever nearer to this beautiful place and I realised again that the Palestinians are marginalised, powerless to stop their land being taken from them.

Before I left this lovely place, I explored the extensive network of caves. As these hills are all solid limestone, they have been used for millennia as caves. There are cisterns carved from the rock to collect water. It seems evident that all these caves were used by shepherds of the time of the birth of Jesus - just difficult to say which was the precise location. 

As if to emphasise the point, as I left, there was another shepherd and some more sheep, although I think this one was more there for the tourists than the grass! Still, I was grateful that he made my image  complete. 


The walk back up to the Church of the Nativity was steep and demanding, but it must have been very exciting in that night. I got home exhausted but happy to feel close to this story.