One of the joys of my life as a minister is being able to visit people in their homes and it is truly wonderful the way people make one so welcome.
Naturally, some visits stand out, which was the case a few years ago in December.
A visit to a couple who originated from the Holy Land; one of them was from Bethlehem itself.
With Christmas approaching talk of the town of Jesus’ birth was inevitable.
Some years ago, I had a month staying on the edge of Bethlehem. I recall the Bethlehem I saw in the heat of summer.
A town which was a prison to those who lived there. A town over which Israeli settlements loomed despite being in contravention of United Nations Resolutions.
A place where there was real poverty and deprivation. A place which knew the reality of military occupation.
Since then, those settlements have increased in number and size and a high wall now surrounds the town separating farmers from their fields.
I, and you, may catch the local bus from Jerusalem to the edge of Bethlehem. There we will be confronted by the massive concrete Wall; with our British passports we will be able to pass quickly through the checkpoint and into the town.
Then maybe walk alongside the Wall photographing the amazing graffiti that through skill and irony protests about the occupation and oppression suffered by the people of Bethlehem.
For us a foreign town but for the residents simply their home town, with at its centre Manger Square.
As we anticipate enjoying our Christmas with family and friends, we should not forget all those for whom Christmas is not so filled with good things but we can still rejoice because God himself has entered our troubled world.
The Revd Robert Barthram is minister of the Reading Group of the United Reformed Church, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Reading
