Come to Israel- Day 2 continues

Leaving Masada, we drove to the Shepherds’ Field, which is now a walled field with a church, of course, that is less than 2 miles from Bethlehem.

We could see the town from the entrance to The Shepherds’ Church, and just after we passed under the gloria arch that leads to the church, I turned and snapped this picture, showing how close Bethlehem appeared to the Shepherds’ Field.

The church itself was built over the actual   cave and the field where  the shepherds saw the angels.  It’s designed to represent a tent.

           Though we couldn’t wait to get inside the church, it was a little unnerving to walk under “The Angel of God” -- a truly fierce-looking angel guarding the door of the church. 

Inside, the church was lovely. There were three frescoes at the front of the church and all, like the church, designed by Antonio Barluzzi.  He was quite famous and we would hear that name dozens of times during our trip, since he designed nearly all of the churches we visited.

On the left of the church front, the first fresco is titled the “Glorious Announcement”

      In the middle, over the altar, is a fresco of the manger scene,     titled “The Visitation”

And on the right is a fresco of the shepherds, after seeing the Christ child, titled “The Joy of the Shepherds”

Next, we stepped down into the actual cave where the shepherds kept their sheep.  The cave is extremely well-preserved and is used as a chapel now, where mass is often held.

Here is what it looked like when it was filled with all of us, walking around and thinking of what it must have been like with sheep inside.  Father Turner led us in prayer and we all sang “Angels We Have Heard on High”, making a wonderful memory.

Our next stop was a shopping excursion at a Christian store in Bethlehem.  Then lunch, and the on to the Church of the Nativity…