It was January of 1996, as Garth and I were touring Israel with a group of Nazarenes, that we found ourselves approaching the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, this memorialized site of Jesus birth. As we drew closer, we could see a very small door. A strange door for such a large stone building. It had been much larger at one time, that was, before the Turks had surged through the city, then riding their horses through the door of the church, in contempt of the Holy Place. The honored place of Jesus the Messiah’s birth. The grand entrance, now reduced in size with great stones so that there would be no such intrusion again.
To enter the church, we had to bend over with our heads lowered. I found that quite humbling, as it should be, to enter such a place of reverence. Once inside the smell of incense enveloped us as the chanting of the Monks, echoed through the halls. It was a place of holiness, remembrance, and worship. It was then, as I began assimilating all that was surrounding us, in that great hall that the words of Micah swept through my mind, “But you, Bethlehem (meaning House of Bread) Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (v. 2; NKJV).
“So much was yet to be revealed. Governments would be overturned to make it necessary for Mary while still pregnant to make the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem…in the goings forth: The birth of this Savior King would be unlike the birth of any other, because He was preexistent. He is from everlasting” (Nelson’s Commentary).
A spiraling staircase of stone led us to a lower level of the church, where a very frail nun sat with an attendant beside the birthplace of Christ. A place hewn from a rock wall. From a distance, in this cavern-like area, we could hear voices of other pilgrims singing songs of praise to our blessed Redeemer while they celebrated His birth here in this humble place, the place of the sheep. These singers, so like the early believers, whose burdens were heavy, were finding solace in the face of life’s issues, while honoring Him, the Messiah. May you search for and find His peace as you worship Him during this most Holy season of the year.
Norma Lee Hyde
Norma Lee Hyde has been a member of the Trinity Church of the Nazarene for 11 years. She has three living children: Bud, ReeAnn, and Mary, and one daughter in heaven, Becky. Four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Some of the highlights of her life have been to be a council member for the Los Angeles District’s missionary outreach, to have served as an assistant to the executive secretary of the Los Angeles District Church of the Nazarene, as well as secretary with the Loyola Village Elementary School in Westchester, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. She and her husband have been in ministry for over fifty years with The Church of the Nazarene. She enjoys writing, the art form of watercolor. Jesus Christ is the foundation of her very being. That of her being in Him and what she has become in and through Him. Her lifetime loves are her husband Garth and her four children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and love of God’s family.
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