We left our hotel in Bethlehem to travel back to Jerusalem again in order to attend the 09:30 Eucharist at the Palestinian Anglican Cathedral of St George. This is the service for local Palestinian Christians and is said in a mixture of Arabic and English with some key parts (such as the creed and the Lord’s Prayer) said simultaneously in both languages. After this we had a chance to talk to the Archbishop about the work of the Diocese of Jerusalem.

After lunch, we entered the old city by St Stephen’s Gate (also known as the Lion’s Gate), to St Anne’s Church (the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, which has the best acoustics of any church in Jerusalem).

From there we followed the Stations of the Cross, culminating at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is a massive Basilica built over the traditional sites of Golgotha and the tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea. As with many of the churches on the holy sites, this had been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the years, so the current building dates from an agreement as late as 1959 about the repair and renovation of the 12th century Crusader building following a fire in 1808 and an earthquake in 1927. The restoration is still continuing today. Claims for possession still come from six different Christian denominations.  I quote from A Pilgrim’s Guide to The Holy Land by Raymond Goodburn: “To the contemporary pilgrim it is a place which can inspire and infuriate, delight and disappoint in equal measure. We look for harmony, tolerance and sanctity and yet too often find discord, division and frailty. A church which points to glory all too often exposes human weakness. And yet, in spite of all the contradictions, it draws people in droves. Though seen by many as the personification of the divisions within Christianity, yet nonetheless it remains the holiest of holy sites and central to the beliefs of every Christian.” Events inside during our visit lived up to this description!

Our final visit was to the Western (or Wailing) Wall, to experience one of the other iconic religious sites of this multi-faith, cosmopolitan city.

A meal in a Bethlehem Bedouin restaurant completed our pilgrimage. Tomorrow we set off from the hotel to Tel Aviv, from where we fly to Luton, however we have a little spare time in the morning to spend our remaining shekels in Bethlehem.