Be Still

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“Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”1

Recently, I attended a funeral where only two songs were sung, one of which, Be Still, My Soul1, is an old hymn that I hadn’t heard in many years. It is a beautiful song with a haunting melody that has stayed with me over the past few weeks. I find myself continually being brought back to this hymn and its reminder to quiet oneself and seek God in stillness and solitude.

The hymn reminded me of Elijah and his encounter with Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab of Israel. Neither Ahab nor his wife were on good standing with the Lord…both had spurned God and brought the worship of false gods into Israel. In fact, Jezebel had gone so far as to begin systematically killing God’s priests in her efforts to bring in the worship of Baal.

Statute of Elijah on Mount Carmel

First Kings, Chapter 18, tells us of Elijah’s encounter with the pagan priests on Mount Carmel which resulted in the death of 300 of Jezebel’s priests. God had triumphed on Mount Carmel and Elijah had killed the false prophets. As you can imagine, Jezebel was angry. Well, she was way beyond just being angry. These were her priests, the priests she had brought into Israel to instill reverence for the gods she worshipped… to corrupt the people of Israel…God’s chosen people. At Mount Carmel, she’d pretty much had been made to look foolish, her pagan gods had been shown to be powerless by Elijah and Israel’s God. She was enraged….so, she put out word that Elijah was pretty much a dead man walking.

Jezebel said, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those you killed!” (1 Kings 19:2)

When Elijah heard this, he ran. He was afraid.

After all that had transpired on Mount Carmel;

— after God had shown all of Israel that He was the true God

— after Jezebel’s priests had been proven to worship false gods;

— after all that God had done through him,

Elijah got scared….so scared he ran for his life.

Elijah took himself out into the wilderness about a day’s journey from Beersheba in Judah.

There, he sat under a broom tree and prayed for death.

“I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)

Elijah – the prophet – who had done so much in God’s name – now lost trust that God would protect and save him. He lost focus and became afraid. Elijah doubted.

But God did not lose faith in Elijah. He sent an angel who brought food to Elijah…not once but twice. Strengthened by the food, Elijah left that place and walked 40 days & nights until he reached the Mount of Horeb. There he found a cave where he could stay the night.

Caves near the Dead Sea

While he was in the cave, God spoke to him asking, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Elijah spoke to God of his fears that he was “the only one left” and of the enemies that were threatening to kill him. God told him to go out and stand on the mountain for the Lord was about to pass by.

11 …..“And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a still, small voice. 

13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”” (1 Kings 19:11-13)

At Elijah’s lowest point, God came to him – not in the mighty wind that shatters rocks, not in an earthquake, not in a tumultuous fire. God came as a still, small voice. 

When Elijah heard God speaking to him in this still small voice, he covered his face and went out of the cave. I’ve often thought about Elijah wrapping his face in his cloak. I think maybe he was a bit contrite that he’d lost focus and gotten so wrapped up in everything going on around him that he forgot to listen – he forgot to quiet his own inner fears and self-talk enough to hear that still small voice speaking to him.

Twice God asked Elijah what he was doing there hiding out in a cave in the middle of nowhere. God spoke to him in a still small voice…. a gentle reminder that there was more to do. God also reminded Elijah that there was a remnant …. 7000 left in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. There is always a remnant. Elijah was not alone; he had never been alone.

A still small voice. God spoke not in the mighty wind or the earthquake or the fire.

When we quiet ourselves, when we focus on God, we can hear His voice…that still small voice that tells us that we are never alone.

God is always there.

“Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.1

If you’d like to hear Be Still, My Soul. (I highly recommend it – this is a beautiful hymn.)

Read more about Elijah and the contest on Mount Carmel in my blog here and in scripture I Kings 18.

For more about Elijah’s fears and flight,1 Kings 19.

And, if you want to know what happened to Jezebel, 1 Kings 21 and 2 Kings 9. (It was not a very good ending for Jezebel.)

  1. Be Still, My Soul, Katherine A. von Schlegel, 1752; translation by Jane L. Borthwick, 1855; Public Domain.

O Little Town – We Were There (Part 2)

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Series: Israel 2022

O Little Town of Bethlehem6

Yesterday I gave you a little bit of Bethlehem’s history; today, I give you a little bit about our visit there last February.

Outside the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square, our Palestinian Christian guide gives us an overview of the church. While in Bethlehem, our Israeli guides were replaced with a Palestinian guide. The Church of the Nativity was the home church for our guide – his family had attended for many generations. But he said that he and his immediate family now attend a church closer to their home for regular services.

Our first glimpse of the Church of the Nativity was from Manger Square which is the site visited on Christmas Eve by thousands of Christians who come to celebrate the Lord’s birth. You enter the actual church through a very low door known as the “Door of Humility” which forces you to bend down to enter – being made to be humble as it were.

Entering the Church via the “Door of Humility”

But the story behind the door is much more interesting but not very spiritual at all. Sometime after the Ottoman conquest in 1516, the church had fallen into decay and was being ill-used by the locals. The large main doors were walled up to prevent people from riding their horses right into the sanctuary. The small, low door kept the horses and other animals out of the church.2 While the original intent of the small door may not have been about humility, it does feel a bit like you’re going into a very sacred place when you bow down to enter that door which opens up inside to a large open sanctuary.

Looking back at the “Door of Humility” from inside the church. The stone archway gives you an idea of that the original entrance might have been. Looking at the changes in the stonework helps to imagine the location of the large wooden doors of the original church.

I have only been into one Orthodox church in my lifetime and never into one so old. This church is the oldest Christian church in Israel and, in terms of active continuous worship, possibly the oldest in the world.2 Being someone who grew up in a little country church in the US with very little embellishment besides possibly a large wooden cross over the altar behind the pulpit, this church seemed a bit overwhelming to me. The floors were marble flagstones with marble columns lining the aisles up to the altar which was all gold and silver and lit strategically to enhance the glow and sheen in the flickering candlelight.  

Inside the Church of the Nativity (Eastern Orthodox). The marble flagstone floor is not the original; there is supposed to be a trapdoor that lifts to show the original mosaics of the Justinian-built church, but it was not open for us the day we visited.

We were advised by our Palestinian Christian guide that the gold screens behind the altar had tarnished to a dull grey over the years but were being restored to their original gold & silver especially in the past couple years while there were few, if any, tourists during the Covid pandemic… that we were lucky to see everything “gold” again.

A closer view of the gold & silver panels at the altar. On the left side of the photo, you can see three people (one standing just left of center and two others sitting on the floor) working to restore the patina on the panels. At the far left on the bottom, you can see the tarnished panel not yet restored.

There were sanctuary lamps of gold and silver hanging everywhere…. hundreds of them. I was quite fascinated by all these lamps…. they appeared to be lit with candles or, maybe oil. I have read that the lamps signify the eternal flames and everlasting light that is Jesus.2 Who lights these lamps every morning…or whenever they go out? Does some priest come in with a very tall ladder every morning to ensure the lights never go out? If the lights do go out, does some poor caretaker get fired? There were just so many of them and I saw no hint that anyone was actively monitoring them while we were there. (This is the way my mind works.) And, yes, there were electric lights too.

Sanctuary Lamps in the Church of the Nativity

The walls near the ceiling were covered with mosaics depicting saints or scenes of the life of Christ and there were many old paintings and other gilded icons everywhere. The marble columns also included life-size portraits of saints although many were covered with graffiti from crusaders, Ottomans, pilgrims, etc.2 We humans seem to have a need to leave our mark everywhere we go – you know adding our own “Kilroy was here” – even in places where we know we shouldn’t.

Columns inside the Church were painted with portraits of saints (official), and some include graffiti (not so official) including the artwork on the right which might have been added at the time of the Crusades.

The Grotto of the Nativity is behind and underneath the altar. To descend to the cave, we were directed into a line to the right of the altar, past the charity box, and back to a narrow stone stairway down to the lower level and into the cave.

Probably the most ornate “Poor Box”
that I have ever seen.

The actual place of the birth is curtained off in a little marble lined alcove with ornately embroidered curtains. The “nativity” marked by a 14-pointed silver star. The star was placed there by the Catholics in 1717 and is inscribed in Latin – “Hic De Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est – 1717” which means “Here Jesus Christ was born to the virgin Mary – 1717”.2 The 14 points symbolize 3 sets of 14 generations in Christ’s genealogy (see Matthew 1 for more on the lineage of Christ).  The 1st set of 14 generations are from Abraham to David, the 2nd set is from David to the Babylonian captivity/diaspora, and the 3rd set from Babylon captivity to Jesus’ birth.2 Fifteen (15) silver sanctuary lamps hang around the star – 6 representing the Greek Orthodox Church, 4 for the Roman Catholic church, and 5 for the Armenian Apostolic.2 In the middle of the star is a circular opening so that pilgrims and worshippers can reach down inside the star to touch the actual stone floor of the cave where it is said that Mary actually laid down to give birth.

The Nativity where (per tradition) Mary laid on the cave floor and delivered the baby Jesus. Although visitors are no longer permitted to do so, the hole in the star would allow visitors in the past to reach through and touch the floor of the cave.

But not today – no touching anything or reaching into the opening is allowed. As I bent down to see into the nativity alcove and get a photo, I was advised to bow down before the nativity.  I certainly didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but bowing was out of the question (I would have had some trouble getting back up at my age) so I squatted down as low as I could and got as much of a look as I could before I was hurried along so the next person could do the same.

Directly across from the nativity is another spot that is called the Grotto of the Manger where it is said that the manger stood where Jesus was laid after he was born.2 Across from that is the Altar of the Magi where the wise men were to have stood to see the newborn king.2 I will admit that I am not really sure where the Altar of the Magi was (is) or even if I noticed it. Per my recollection of scripture, the wise men visited Jesus and the family sometime after the birth in a different location altogether (Matthew 2:11).  Perhaps, the altar there is just symbolic of the visit. So, I have little recollection of that third altar being pointed out in the short time we were in the grotto which is very small and crowded and the line of people waiting is long and the actual time for each person to view the nativity is very short. (Bow down, look, get up and move on.) After only a few minutes, we departed the grotto via the stone stair directly opposite and identical to the one we used to come in.

The Grotto of the Manger. Per tradition, the is the spot where the manger stood and where Mary placed the baby Jesus. If you look to either side of the altar, you get a glimpse of the original cave walls.

We spent some additional time in the church taking photos (yes, everyone needed a selfie in front of the altar) and admiring the mosaics, paintings, and carvings.

Madonna and Child. Note that the hands and halos in the painting have been covered with actual silver.

We exited the church to the left of the altar and entered the small courtyard garden just outside the Catholic church, St. Catherine’s. It is a newer church dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria in 1347.12 It was closed to the public on the day that we visited although I believe that parishioners could enter for services.  I would certainly have liked to see inside the church. St. Catherine’s building is directly connected to the Church of the Nativity and built over the series of caves that include the Nativity of the Grotto.2

Roman Catholic Church, St. Catherine’s that is connected to the Church of the Nativity. It is also built over the system of caves where it is thought that Mary & Joseph took shelter and Jesus was born. Services also continue to be held in this church although it is not as old as the Church of the Nativity.

The caves underneath the two churches are connected via a tunnel that is kept locked.2 St. Catherine’s is noteworthy in that St. Jerome is said to have lived there during the years when he was compiling the Latin Vulgate translation of the Christian Bible. His “office” is said to have been in one of the caves under the church.1

I’d like to say that I had some deep abiding spiritual experience when we visited the site of the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, but I didn’t really that I recall. I found the Church & Grotto of the Nativity extremely ancient and interesting from a historical sense and a religious sense. All the lamps with candles and the bright shining silver & gold of the altar screens gave the place an ancient and eternal feel and made it easy to believe that this was, indeed, a sacred place where the birth of Jesus had occurred; but it was all a bit foreign to me with my simple country church background. And there just wasn’t really any time to stop and meditate on the significance of the place, which might have made it more enlightening and spiritual for me.

Crucifix over the altar in the Church of the Nativity

Then again, maybe my emotional response is just evolving slowly over time. I marvel that I was there – in Bethlehem – where Jesus was born – not at that specific place maybe but we know he was born somewhere in the city. And I actually walked through the Church of the Nativity, entered the cave, and saw the spot – quite possibly the actual spot – where he was born and laid down to sleep in a manger while a star shone brightly overhead and angels sang to shepherds out tending their flocks in nearby fields.  

I am left with a thought that brings me back to David and God’s promise to him. David – a shepherd boy born in Bethlehem who was raised up by God to become King of all Israel….and just as promised, some thousand years later, a King – the King – Jesus – gave up his throne above to become a lowly shepherd to his followers… the birthplace of a shepherd who became a king and a king who became a shepherd.

The Good Shepherd – Jesus – who was raised up in death to forgive us all and give us eternal life…born in Bethlehem, the City of David.

“Rejoice in the Lord Always.

I will say it again.

Rejoice,9

Mosaic of an angel near the ceiling in the Church of the Nativity

Sources for Information:

  1. The Holy Land for Christian Travelers, John A. Beck, 2017, Baker Books, Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, MI, www.bakerbooks.com , USA, Dan, pages 89-91
  2. Church of the Nativity – Wikipedia
  3. Mosque of Omar (Bethlehem) – Wikipedia 
  4. O Little Town of Bethlehem – Wikipedia
  5. Bethlehem – Wikipedia
  6. O Little Town of Bethlehem > Lyrics | Phillips Brooks (timelesstruths.org)
  7. Rachel’s Tomb – Wikipedia
  8. Micah 5 (biblehub.com)
  9. Philippians 4:4
  10. Biblical Israel: Bethlehem – CBN Israel
  11. Currier and Ives – Wikipedia
  12. Church of Saint Catherine, Bethlehem – Wikipedia