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Journey to Bethlehem in Advent: A Pilgrim's Tales from Bethlehem

Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us"....Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2.15-19) The stories of Jesus' birth are pilgrimage stories-Mary and Joseph walking the rocky hills and winding roads on their way to Bethlehem, the shepherds' trek to the stable and the Holy Family's flight along the coast to Egypt. As I read the weekly Sunday texts for Advent this year, I remember the land I walked on my pilgrimage and the amazing people I met. They asked me to tell their stories, so these are some of the stories I heard on my two trips to Israel and Palestine this year--stories of desperation and stories of hope from the Christians, Jews and Muslims living today on the holy land of Jesus' birth.

Journey to Bethlehem in Advent has meditations for each of the four weeks of Advent, one for each of the Sunday lessons.

About the author: Jan Miller is a member of St. Paul Lutheran, Denver. She visited with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups in June and helped lead a group from the Rocky Mountain Synod to the Holy Land in September. Both times, the people she met asked her to share their stories about their lives and their work to bring peace to this conflicted region.