Visiting Bethlehem
The first time I visited Bethlehem more than 25 years ago, I
expected to feel a sense of the beauty and simplicity of the much-loved
Christmas story: a crude stable, the holy family, shepherds, wise men,
and the Son of God in the manger. I was sadly disappointed. The
traditional site of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is inside the Church of
the Nativity—a truly ancient church built in 565 AD. It has survived
enemy invasions, the Crusaders, restorations, renovations, a fire and an
earthquake, but it looks like . . . well, a church. A beautifully
decorated and ornamented church, with all the sacred clutter that has
accumulated over the centuries, but it bore no resemblance to my image
of what Jesus’ birthplace was like.
But wait—the real site was down a set of stairs and inside a
natural cave that has been venerated as the place of His birth since
160 AD. But even this simple cave was so gilded and bedecked with
artwork and tapestries and lamps and incense burners that I still
couldn’t get a sense of what it might have looked like on that first
holy night. In the center of the floor was a silver-encrusted star with a
hole in the middle. By putting my hand inside, I could touch the place
where Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago. I tried it, but I left
Bethlehem feeling empty, unable to make the sacred connection I had so
longed for.
And isn’t that how so many of our Christmases end up feeling? In
spite of all the tinsel and glitter and sparkle, all the money we spend
and the stress we endure as we try to create the perfect Hallmark
Christmas, we’re often left with the same let-down feeling I had inside
that church in Bethlehem. We’ve lost the simple beauty of the story,
that precious connection with Jesus that is the true miracle of
Bethlehem.
The year after I visited Bethlehem, I began looking for ways to
recapture the simplicity of Christ’s incarnation. Santa Claus has never
been invited to our family’s Christmases, and we’ve always celebrated it
as Jesus’ birthday, exchanging presents because God gave us the gift of
His Son. But year after year, the clutter and glitz had draped
themselves over our celebrations, just like the religious trappings that
have collected inside the Church of the Nativity over the centuries.
That year, I purchased a nice but inexpensive manger set. I wanted
something that wasn’t a toy, but that my children could handle and
touch. We placed it at their level and at the center of our holiday, and
began the simple tradition of gathering together as a family to fill
the empty stable while my husband read the story from the Bible. Our
children divided all the people and sheep and camels among themselves
and when we got to their part in the Bible story, they added their
figures to the stable.
This simple tradition has become so beloved by all of us that we
still do it the same way every year, even though our children are now
adults. One year, our daughter was living overseas and couldn’t make it
home for the holiday but we still held our family tradition while she
participated via Skype. And it’s always in those moments, with a simple
stable and inexpensive plaster figures, and my precious loved ones
gathered around me that I feel the holy wonder of Christmas once
again—Emmanuel, God with us! May you find Him this Christmas season,
too.
What Christmas traditions are special for you and your family?
