Day 4 in the afternoon in Bethlehem

This afternoon we began continued our journey at a church built to remember the shepherd's hearing the announcement from the Angels about the birth of Jesus. The church at Shepherd's field is built over a series of underground grotto's built by monks to pray and reflect on this moment in the life of the shepherd's. Below you see the exterior of the church, the shepherd fountain in the courtyard, the altar with shepherds depicted holding it up and a mural of the event in one of alcoves.

Below is one of the grottos beneath the church where we gathered to sing Christmas carols and remember the Christmas story. The man below speaking to us is Mike, our guide.

On the road through Bethlehem to our next stop we learned that Starbuck's tried to open a chain  of stores in the Holy Land but coffee in general is so good here they didn't last. Below you see a photo of a coffee shop that took a nice shot at the chain in selecting their name!

Upon leaving shepherd's field we went to the Church of the Nativity, the place tradition tells us was the cave where Jesus was born. You may know that stables in the first century were not above ground shelters as we typically see them but instead were caves with mangers being feeding troughs made out of stone. As you walk into the church you find a beautiful sanctuary shared by Armenian, Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians. You see the exterior and inside of the church below, along with an orthodox icon as you descend the stairs at the front left of the sanctuary and prepare to enter the grotto.

After you descend the grotto you will find the star of Bethlehem under an alter to your right where you  can kneel and kiss or touch the place where we remember Jesus was born. You your left you will see thestone manger where you remember Jesus was laid to sleep. You  see both of those below.

The alter below is found in the Roman Catholic part of the church build ABOVE the cave. The picture above depicts the martyr Catherine from the first century. Below you see the Roman Catholic chapel in which mass was being celebrated while we were there. This church is connected to the Church of the Nativity.

Our last evening in Bethlehem was spent dancing as we experienced several Palestinian youth leading us in folk dancing!