Walk Through Bethleham

Church Street United Methodist Church in downtown Knoxville offers a "Walk Through Bethleham" every year for free. We love those free events so we headed down there Sunday afternoon for a tour. I prepped the kids that it was like stepping back in time 2000 years ago to see the city of Bethleham as Mary and David did upon entering it for the census. The church members all dress up in character and have different roles. They transform their entire downstairs hall to feel like the city. The floor is covered in wood chips. The walls have been covered with hard materials painted like stone buildings. There is a marketplace filled with tents set up for each vendor selling their items. They even turned off the overhead florescent lights and only lightly lit the area.

Upon entering the city, we were greeted by a census tractor asking how many people were in our family. The kids were surprised to see the tall Roman soldiers. One soldier even followed Ethan around for a few minutes pretending to be is shadow. I love the fact that the church always gets the biggest and tallest men or teenage boys to play this part. It really makes it seem real.

The vendors we visited were the basket makers, the medicine men, the jewelry makers, the bread bakers, the wine makers, the herb sellers, and more. The children also got to listen to a storyteller telling the story of the Tower of Babel. We met the Wise Men carrying their gold, frankincense, and myrhh to the baby Jesus. We were told their was no room in the inn and got to see Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus (a real baby). After leaving the city, we saw an angel sitting below a star above the manger. Then Caleb's FAVORITE part was seeing the live animals and feeding them. That's where Jason stayed the entire time, outside in the cold feeding the camels with Caleb. Hannah's favorite part was making a jewel necklace in the marketplace. My favorite part was having the kids experience it all and especially seeing the big boys help Hannah to make her necklace.