"O Little Town of Bethlehem"

Remember those storybook Bibles that we had as kids? You know, the ones with the cute little pictures that illustrated the stories inside? Well, Somehow that is the mental image that I had as we drove into Bethlehem today. Just as you may expect, however, Bethlehem is not still this "little town." There is a huge church, the Church of the Nativity, that is there now, and hundreds of people come to visit. We were among those visitors yesterday. We had the opportunity to see exactly where Jesus was born (now with altars and paintings to honor Him) down in this grotto sort of place. 

Another big piece of what we did today was learning about the politics in this area of the world. We traveled to the Ramallah YMCA to see the the building that is under construction there, we visited the East Jerusalem YMCA, and we enjoyed a performance by a youth choir made up of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian teens. Everywhere we went we had the chance to hear the stories and experiences of all the people we met. I thought that I had a basic understanding of the political tensions felt in this area, but, much like the city of Jerusalem itself, this issue has many many layers. Every Y director, employee, and youth choir member had their own point of view to share with us. To say that the political situation is multifaceted would be a massive understatement. Just like the church in Bethlehem, and how it was much more modern and complicated than I thought it would be, there is much more to the politics in this area than any outsider could understand. Every individual has their own set of beliefs, experiences, and opinions surrounding the tensions of this area, and the best response that I can come up with is just to listen and absorb all that they have to share. So far I have learned so much from the people that I have met here, and I am very excited for how much I will continue to learn during my time here. 

Written by: Katey Calhoun