After a lovely breakfast at our hotel we boarded our bus at 8am to begin the day by traveling to Bethlehem. We had to take our passports since we would be going through checkpoints going and coming back. Bethlehem is Palestinian territory. It was an easy checkpoint and they never actually checked our passports but just got on the bus for a walk through.
We stopped at the Shepherd’s Field which is a location of a church and garden area where you can go in a cave like the shepherds would have stayed in and remember the time when the angels came to the shepherds with the good news of Jesus. We had a time scripture reading, singing and sharing and enjoying quiet time in the lovely area.
We then went to the Church of the Nativity that was built over the place where Jesus was born. Inside the church you go down into a cave and there is an area that is designated with a star to mark the place. Is this actually the place? We do not know but this place has been commemorated since at the the 4th century so it very well could be the exact place. We each took time to touch the stone and pray a short prayer as people were lined up in a very long line to come in. We had waited for quite a while for the Catholic church service to end so that this area would be open. This building is owned by three different churches who worship there at different times.
After a lovely lunch again of swarma or falafel sandwiches we traveled back to Jerusalem passing again through checkpoints.
The bus took us to the top of the Mount of Olives, one of our favorite places. It has a beautiful overlook of the city of Jerusalem. It was a beautiful, sunny day but quite windy and cold up on the Mt. We had a group picture made there. You could also have a camel ride for a few dollars.
We walked down the Mount where Jesus would have walked on Palm Sunday. At the bottom of the mountain is the Garden of Gethsemane where we spent some time looking at the very old olive trees and the garden there, mostly thinking of Jesus being there. The Church of All Nations is there and was built over the huge rock where it is believed that Jesus prayed “Not my will but thine”. We spent some time praying there and having our quiet time with the LORD. You cannot really gather and worship as a group in there because you are required to be quiet as many others are in there also. There is a place across from the garden, which is actually a garden as well and was part of the Garden of Gethsemane at that time. For a little extra donation you can take your group in there or some quiet time. This is the area where Peter, James and John would have been asleep when Jesus came back to ask them if they could not stay awake and pray. We sang several songs here and Scotty shared a message. We all took turns praying a short prayer aloud to show Jesus how much we all loved Him and were so thankful for what He did for us in that Garden. The battle was won there when he agreed to take our sins upon Himself and die in our place. We had a wonderful worship time together in this lovely place.
Back to the bus for the end of another day of walking in the steps of Jesus. I pray you all have a wonderful time of worship today as well.
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