Site Map

Walk Through Bethlehem

How it all began | What to expect | Reflections on the walk

What to expect if you come to Walk Through Bethlehem

On any other day of the year, it's a huge, gothic, towering downtown building that houses one of east Tennessee's largest United Methodist congregations. But for one day each December Church Street United Methodist Church becomes the tiny, poor, Judean village of Bethlehem as it might have been 2000 years ago when Jesus was born. And for the last four years, on that one Sunday afternoon, two to three thousand visitors have entered the city to experience Christmas as it truly might have been.

What does it take to make such a transformation? Truckloads of sawdust, bags of mulch, thousands of tiny white lights, and the commitment of hundreds of volunteers. It takes our Bethlehem "road crew" four full days to convert our Parish Hall and surrounding areas into the Bethlehem marketplace, synagogue, inn, stable, and shepherd's fields. Over the past several years, members of our congregation have come to look upon Walk Through Bethlehem as our gift to the community, and regardless of the cost it takes to produce year after year, the admission and the invitation to discover the Christ Child remains free.

When you come to Walk Through Bethlehem, you will discover a multitude of sensory experiences awaiting you from the minute you approach the building and see the Roman soldier patrolling the crowds on horseback till the time you pass by the stable and see the angel keeping watch over the baby that has just been born.

The census taker will register you for the census as you enter the gate. You will be greeted by a first century Bethlehemite who will invite you to either the synagogue or the marketplace. In the synagogue the rabbi leads a short but authentic service complete with blowing of the shofar and Hebrew prayers. As you enter the marketplace you will be caught up in the hustle and bustle of this busy city, full of travelers in town for the census.

Vendors from the shops will call you in to show you their wares. Stop by the basket shop and watch the basket weaver making baskets from reeds and grasses. In the nearby metal shop the metal workers hammer soft copper and bronze into dishes and vessels for wealthier homes. In the jewelry shop you may make a bracelet to take home as a souvenir of your visit. Or, as you watch the potter work at the wheel in the potter's shop, you may stamp out a clay ornament to take with you as you leave the city. The textile weavers will show you how they work their loom and how they use local plants for dying their fabrics. The tanner in the leather shop will measure you for sandals, and the carpenter will show you how he crafts items from olive and acadia wood. Nearby in the spice shop the vendors will let you smell or even grind cumin, cinnamon and mustard and will show you the vineyard where grapes are stomped into wine.

As you leave the city, you will want to stop by the storyteller's tent and hear the stories of God's people and visit the food shop to taste some of Bethlehem's finest fruits and breads. As you pass the inn, the innkeeper and his wife will tell you there is no room in their inn for the evening but will direct you on the road out of town that leads by their stable and through the shepherd's field. There you will experience the excitement of angels singing and talk of a visit of three strangers from the East. As you leave Bethlehem and visit with the shepherds and their animals, you too will know why they hurried to Bethlehem "to see this thing which has happened, that the Lord has made known to us." (Luke 2:15).

How it all began | What to expect | Reflections on the walk

Home | Information | Church Life & Ministries | Outreach | Our People | Events | Announcements