O little town of Bethlehem

School starts early in Bethlehem. These boys were milling in their playground by 7 a.m. It was early start for many of us, too, with church bells and the call to prayer punctuating the night.

Our day formally started with a short act of prayer in the Franciscan church next to Casa Nova (where we are staying) and adjacent to the Church of the Nativity.

Bishop John tells us that the phrase "no room in the inn" may in fact mean "no spare room in the family home". Perhaps Mary and Joseph made do with the lower floor of the house, where the animals were kept.


"But the important thing is that here or hereabouts, the word became flesh and life moved on its hinges," he says. "This is a place of absolute significance in the history of the world and in our lives."

The Church of the Nativity - filled with scaffolding today as the 18th century wooden roof is replaced - dates back to 540 AD, and replaces an earlier shrine built over the Grotto and destroyed by the Samaritans in the first century. This makes it the oldest church in the world.

Listen to an extract from our worship

Deep in the foundations, we find the Chapel of St Joseph, and the Grotto where the hermit St Jerome spent 40 years translating the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate) from a collection of Rabbinical texts.

Shepherds' Fields

"And there were shepherds, biding in the fields, feeding their flocks by night..."

We visit the Shepherds' fields and try to imagine what it would have been like when Jesus was born. Looking out, we can see scrubby pasture, an inhospitable terrain. Shepherds, our guide tells us, were from the underside of society. Of those to hear of the birth of Jesus, their social status could not have been further from that of the Magi, who were learned men. But Jesus comes for everyone.


What happened to those shepherds afterwards, asks Bishop John? Did it change their lives - or was it just a good story to tell the grandchildren? Did they follow the events of the rest of his life? "What matters is what we do with the experiences we are given of God, of his love," he says.


Today the fields are scarred with the illegal Jewish settlements: Har Homa stands new and shiny in the middle of Palestinian territory. (You can spot the difference between Israeli and Arab houses because the Palestinian ones all have water tanks on the roof. This is because the water supply to Palestine is erratic; Palestinians are lucky to get water three days a week. Oddly, it seems to flow freely in the taps of the Jewish settlements metres away.)


The Israeli argument that this is not the West Bank, but part of Jerusalem doesn't hold water: Jerusalem is eight miles away. Settlers are given substantial financial incentives to live in these new complexes, so the temptation must be strong, but it's still hard to imagine the mindset behind choosing to live in one of these complexes.


Holy Family Hospital

Our next stop is the Holy Family Hospital, run by the Sovereign Order of Malta.A hospital has stood on this spot since 1882, though the current one was commissioned in 1990. There are 63 beds and 18 ICU beds. It is also a training hospital, with reciprocal links to institutions in Paris, Dublin and London.

Facilities are state-of-the-art, and its record is enviable: since 1990 nearly 50,000 babies have been born here, and mortality is less than 2%. In comparison, in Gaza, the rate is somewhere between 35 and 40%.

The hospital is dedicated to providing quality care for women and infants, without regard to religion or national origins. In an area of 70% unemployment and no social security and no medical insurance, the Holy Family's slogan is "the poor deserve the best".

There is no direct government funding: the equipment has been provided by charities such as USAID and the Belgian government, and the annual running costs (only $3million dollars) are split between patient payments (45%) and donations (55%).

There are some uncomfortable questions about the care of multiple births resulting from IVF treatment, and birth control, but the work of the hospital is clearly impressive, and a moving act of Christian witness just 800m from the place where one first century mother gave birth to the Son of God. The morning ends with a Eucharist celebrated in the hospital chapel. You can read Archdeacon Karen's sermon here or play an extract from our service.