MERRY CHRISTMAS

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary his betrothed, who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.  And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

"And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around the, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among men

with whom he is pleased!"

(The Christmas story from the Bible, Luke 2:4-14.)

Photo: The manger scene in the photo above was a wedding gift to Suzanne and Alan Wilson in 1967. (See December 1, 2010 Blog Post,  Happy 43rd Wedding Anniversary Alan and Suzanne.) It has been part of the Wilson family's Christmas display ever since: when they lived in Hollywood, when they lived in Burquitlam, when they lived on Long Beach B.C., when they lived in Duncan, and the 38 years they have lived on Shavington St. in North Vancouver.

Sunday Church Feature

Church of the Beatitutes, Israel

"The Church of the Beatitudes is a Roman Catholic church located on the Sea of Galilee near Tabgha and Capernaum in Israel.

"Located on a small hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and built on the traditional site of Jesus' delivery of the Sermon on the Mount,[1] pilgrims are known to have commemorated this site since at least the 4th century. In her itinerary of the Holy Land, after describing the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, the pilgrim Egeria (c.381) writes, "Near there on a mountain is the cave to which the Savior climbed and spoke the Beatitudes." The current church sits near the ruins of a small Byzantine era church dating to the late 4th century[2], which contains a rock-cut cistern beneath it and the remains of a small monastery to its southeast. Part of the original mosaic floor has also been recovered and is now on display in Capernaum. Both Popes Paul VI and John Paul II celebrated Mass at the church during their pastoral visits to the Holy Land.[2]

"The modern church was built between 1936 and 1938 near the site of the fourth century Byzantine ruins. The floor plan is octagonal, the eight sides representing the eight Beatitudes.[2] The church is Byzantine in style with a marble veneer casing the lower walls and gold mosaic in the dome. In front of the church are mosaic symbols on the pavement representing Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, Charity, Faith, and Temperance.

"Jerome Murphy-O'Connor describes the selection of the site thus; "It was perhaps inevitable that this well-watered area with its shade trees on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Byzantine pilgrims ate their picnics, should have been identified as the location of two episodes involving the consumption of food, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the conferral on Peter of the responsibility of leadership after a fish breakfast. Then it became convenient to localize the Sermon of the Mount on the small hill nearby." (The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700, p.277) Regardless of whether this is the very spot, the Church of the Beatitudes stands in the general area and in a very similar setting to where Jesus would have stood as he delivered his famous sermon. As Murphy-O'Connor puts it, "from here one can see virtually all the places in which Jesus lived and worked" (p.280).

"The church was commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and designed by the architect Antonio Barluzzi.



"The church is maintained and overseen by the Franciscan Order." (See Link.)

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Beatitudes

Photo 1: Exterior of church-post card purchased in Israel in 1992 by SW.

Photo 2: Interior of church--post card purchased in Israel in 1992 by SW

Photo 3: Mosaic in interior of church taken in 1992 by SW.

Note: See Blog Post July 24 for more about Suzanne Wilson's 1992 trip to Israel

Saturday Travel Feature
Bet She'an, Israel

"The City of Bet She'an stratregically situated at the crossroads of major highways that stretched between the Mediterranean, Damascus and the north, and between Jeruselem and the Galilee, played an important role in the early history of the country.

"Archiologists have uncovered about twenty layers of civilization at the Bet She'an mound.  The city was founded in the fifth millenium B.C.E., on the banks of a small river, Nahal Herod, between the fifteenth and twelfth centuries B.C.E.  It served the Egyptians as an important stronghold.  During the 11th century it was held by the Phillistins who, after defeating the Israelites in battle, displayed the bodies of Saul and his sons on the city walls.
King David conquered Bet She'an from the Phillistines and King Solomn made it one of his administrative centers.

"In the Hellenistic Period it was given the names Sythopolis, City of the Sythians, and Nysa for Dionysos nurse. (Dionysos was the chief god of the city, and according to tradition his nurse was buried here.)  The inhabitants also preserved the ancient name Ben She'an.  The population of the Roman city was mixed, and included Pagans as well as Jews and Samaritans.  When Christianity took hold in the fourth century C.E., most of the inhabitants converted to Christianity, although sizable minorities of Jews and Samaritans remained.  In the early fifth century C.E. Bet She'an became the capitol of the province called Palaestina Secunda, with an estimated population of 40,000.  In the seventh century the city passed into the hands of the Muslems, and in the mid eighth it was destroyed by an earthquake.  Bet She'an never quite recovered its former splendor and importance.  The Crusaders fortified this important crossroads by building a Citidel here.  From then through to the end of the British mandate, Bet She'an had a small but unbroken chain of settlement. With the establishment of the State of Israel the city began to flourish once again.

"Through the ages Bet She'an expanded over a large area and the ancient mound became its acropolis.  At  the height of the city's importance, during the Byzantine Period, it was surrounded by a wall four kilometers long.  The archeologican remains, the majority of which are from the Roman and Byzantine Periods, reveal the magnificance of this ancient metropolis."(See Reference.)

Photo: Taken of Bet She'an, Israel in 1992 by SW.  Suzanne and her high school friend Diane joined a tour of Baptist ministers from Mississippi and Georgia for ten days in Israel.
Reference:  This quote is from the sign posted at the site of the Bet She'an ruins seen in the photo.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beit_She'an