Church Of The Nativity Maryland

The Church Of The Nativity Cedarcroft

In 1910, under the clergy leadership of the nearby Church of the Redeemer, a number of Cedarcroft residents began gathering in nearby homes to pray and to study the Bible together. Soon the mission had a namethe Chapel of the Nativityand some land, but they still had no building. Fortunately, a summer colony in western Maryland was disbanding, and they offered their chapel to the Episcopal bishop. The building was dismantled, shipped 240 miles by flatcar, and re-erected on Nativitys present site. The first service was held in the restored building on Christmas Day, 1913.

In 1923 the parish house was built. It included four bowling alleys whose income helped the missions bottom line. In 1929, a lawn fête was held as a fundraiser, now known as the June Fair. Meanwhile, membership was growing by leaps and boundsall through the Depression and the Second World War, and especially during the postwar baby boom.

Grotto Of The Nativity

The Grotto of the Nativity, the place where Jesus is said to have been born, is an underground space which forms the crypt of the Church of the Nativity. It is situated underneath its main altar, and it is normally accessed by two staircases on either side of the chancel. The grotto is part of a network of caves, which are accessed from the adjacent Church St Catherine’s. The tunnel-like corridor connecting the Grotto to the other caves is normally locked.

Roman Catholics are in charge of a section of the grotto known as the “Grotto of the Manger”, marking the traditional site where Mary laid the newborn baby in the manger. The Altar of the Magi is located directly opposite from the manger site.

Seriously God Companion Kit

Parish-Wide Campaign

Do you want to re-engage your parish? Do you want to rally your parish to come together not for the purposes of raising money but for the purpose of growing together?

If you answered yes to either question, then the Seriously, God? Companion Kit is for you. The past few years have been incredibly difficult. Parish staffs are depleted, parishioners have fallen away, and so much has changed. We’ve designed the Seriously, God? Companion Kit to help your parish journey as a community to realize measurable growth in your relationship with God, with others, and in your own spiritual health and maturity. Want to hear the best part? We’ve made this as simple as possible for you.

The Seriously, God? Companion Kit contains easy and doable step-by-step instructions to bring a spiritual campaign based on Seriously, God? to your parish or group.

This companion kit provides out-of-the-box steps to prepare, plan, and implement the campaign along with companion videos for your parish or groups, a leader’s guide, a small-group discussion guide, and marketing and promotional materials. This kit will support and lead your efforts to unify and grow your parish community.

Also Check: When Was The King James Bible Written

About Church Of The Nativity

• Welcome to a Spirit-filled ethnically and theologically diverse community. Together we seek to worship God, serve others, ask difficult questions and have fun at the same time. We pray that you will join us for our lively worship at 8:00 and 10:30am. Children are welcome at our services. We even have a special area in the back of the church with pillows and a rocking chair where they can walk around, read books or play with puzzles. We are located on York Road two blocks north of Northern Parkway.Parking on weekends and weekday evenings is available in the lot of the office building south of the church on York Road.

Church Of The Nativity

The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity, is a basilica located in Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestine. The grotto it contains holds a prominent religious significance to Christians of various denominations as the birthplace of Jesus. The grotto is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity, and the basilica is the oldest major church in the Holy Land.

The church was originally commissioned by Constantine the Great a short time after his mother Helena‘s visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem in 325326, on the site that was traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Jesus. That original basilica was likely built between 330 and 333, being already mentioned in 333, and was dedicated on 31 May 339. It was probably destroyed by fire during the Samaritan revolts of the sixth century, possibly in 529, and a new basilica was built a number of years later by Justinian , who added a porch or narthex, and replaced the octagonal sanctuary with a cruciformtransept complete with three apses, but largely preserved the original character of the building, with an atrium and a basilica consisting of a nave with four side aisles.

Since 1852 the rights of the three religious communities are ruled by Status Quo.

Also Check: How To Get Started Reading The Bible

Perhaps You Are Exhausted

Perhaps the political divisiveness, the burden of racial inequities, and trying to manage every little thing during the pandemic has been just plain overwhelming. Perhaps you are more aware now than ever of the fragility of life, and grateful for every glimpse of beauty you see in your day. Perhaps the last few years have led you to want to deepen your relationship with family, friends, and faith.

Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome in our hearts and our community. We are growing and learning together, and we are recognizing our dependence on one another and God during these challenging times. As a faith community, we are wrestling with our past while seeking to love one another on the journey, clinging to the hope for a better future as we follow Jesus together.

Come and worship with us on Sunday mornings online or in person. Experience the joy and support we find in this beautiful place. if you need spiritual support or have questions about life or your vocation or relationships.

Bring your gifts for serving others, that we might bring the love of God and the healing power of the Holy Spirit, one day at a time.

Worship Is At The Heart Of All We Do At Nativity Join With Us As We Seek To Proclaim Gods Goodness To Us And Offer Praise And Thanksgiving In All Of Our Actions

We celebrate two services of Holy Eucharist each Sunday, warmly welcoming visitors of all ages and backgrounds, sharing Gods peace with genuine concern and affection for one another, and responding to the liturgy with energy and thoughtful consideration.

At the 8:00 AM service on Sundays, we generally worship using the more traditional language of the Rite I Liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer in a spoken service singing a hymn at the end of the service. At our Sunday 10:30 AM choral services, we generally use Rite II Liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer with organ. The choir sings from September through May.

You May Like: What The Bible Says About Family Problems

Church Of St Catherine

The adjoining Church of St. Catherine is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, built in a more modern Gothic Revival style. It has been further modernized according to the liturgical trends which followed Vatican II.

This is the church where the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem celebrates Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Certain customs in this Midnight Mass predate Vatican II, but must be maintained because the Status Quo was legally fixed by a firman in 1852 under the Ottoman Empire, which is still in force today.

The bas-relief of the Tree of Jesse is a 3.75 by 4 metres sculpture by Czesaw Dwigaj which was recently incorporated into the Church of St. Catherine as a gift of Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to the Holy Land in 2009. It represents an olive tree as the Tree of Jesse, displaying the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham through Joseph, as well as symbolism from the Old Testament. The upper portion is dominated by a crowned figure of Christ the King in an open-armed pose blessing the Earth. It is situated along the passage used by pilgrims making their way to the Grotto of the Nativity.

Additional Info About Our Church

We aim to be a church that people who don’t like church, like! Our strategy is to creatively reach out to disconnected Catholics in our North Baltimore community with a fresh and relevant presentation of the life-changing message of the Gospel to help them take their next steps on the path of discipleship to make them fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Read Also: First Baptist Church Orange Park

Basilica Of The Nativity

The main Basilica of the Nativity is maintained by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It is designed like a typical Roman basilica, with five aisles formed by Corinthian columns, and an apse in the eastern end containing the sanctuary.

The basilica is entered through a very low door called the “Door of Humility.”

The church’s interior walls feature medieval golden mosaics once covering the side walls, which are now in large parts lost.

The original Roman-style floor of the basilica has been covered over with flagstones, but there is a trap door in the floor which opens up to reveal a portion of the original mosaic pavement from the Constantinian basilica.

There are 44 columns separating the aisles from each other and from the nave, some of which are painted with images of saints, such as the Irish monk Catald , the patron of the Sicilian Normans, Canute IV , king of Denmark, and Olaf II , king of Norway.

The east end of the church consists of a raised chancel, closed by an apse containing the main altar and separated from the chancel by a large gilded iconostasis.

A complex array of sanctuary lamps is placed throughout the entire building.

The open ceiling exposes the wooden rafters, recently restored. The previous 15th-century restoration used beams donated by King Edward IV of England, who also donated lead to cover the roof however, this lead was taken by the Ottoman Turks, who melted it down for ammunition to use in war against Venice.

Site Architecture And Layout

Encyclopædia Britannica

The centrepiece of the Nativity complex is the Grotto of the Nativity, a cave which enshrines the site where Jesus is said to have been born.

The core of the complex connected to the Grotto consists of the Church of the Nativity itself, and the adjoining Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine north of it.

Don’t Miss: What The Bible Says About Suffering

Twentieth Century To The Present

In 1918 British governor, Colonel Ronald Storrs, demolished the wall erected in 1842 by the Greek Orthodox between nave and choir.

The passageway which connects St. Jerome’s Cave and the Cave of the Nativity was expanded in February 1964, allowing easier access for visitors. American businessman Stanley Slotkin was visiting at the time and purchased a quantity of the limestone rubble, more than a million irregular fragments about 5 mm across. He sold them to the public encased in plastic crosses, and they were advertised in infomercials in 1995.

During the Second Intifada in April 2002, the church was the site of a month-long siege in which approximately 50 armed Palestinians wanted by the Israel Defense Forces took refuge inside the church. Christians in the church gave refuge to the fighters, giving them food, water, and protection from Israeli military forces stationed outside. Israeli media claimed that the Christians inside were being held hostage, however, parishioners inside the church say they and the church were treated with respect.

Curtains caught fire in the grotto beneath the church on 27 May 2014, which resulted in some slight damage.

The church’s joint owners undertook a major renovation starting in September 2013, probably to be completed in 2021 ” rel=”nofollow”> Restoration ).

World Heritage Site

Restoration

Endangered status

Logistics and organisation

Restoration process

Discoveries

Ayyubid And Mamluk Periods

The Ayyubid conquest of Jerusalem and its area in 1187 was without consequences for the Nativity church. The Greek-Melkite clergy was granted the right to serve in the church, and similar concessions were given almost immediately also to other Christian denominations.

In the year 1227 the church was embellished with an elegantly carved wooden door, the remnants of which can still be seen in the narthex. As detailed in its double, Armenian and Arabic inscription, it was made by two Armenian monks, Father Abraham and Father Arakel, in the times of King Hethum I of Cilicia and the Emir of Damascus, and Saladin’s nephew, al-Mu’azzam Isa.In 1229 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II signed an agreement with Sultan al-Kamil which led to the restitution of the Holy Places to the Crusaders. The property of the Nativity Church came back into the possession of the Latin clergy on the condition that Muslim pilgrims may be allowed to visit the holy cave.Latin hegemony probably lasted until the incursion of Khwarezmian Turks in April 1244. On that occasion, the church treasures, now preserved in the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem, were concealed underground and rediscovered only in 1863. The church was devastated, but not destroyed, the major damage being the dilapidation of its roof.

Recommended Reading: Best Bible Study For Married Couples

Caves Accessed From St Catherine’s

Several chapels are found in the caves accessed from St. Catherine’s, including the Chapel of Saint Joseph commemorating the angel’s appearance to Joseph, commanding him to flee to Egypt the Chapel of the Innocents, commemorating the children killed by Herod and the Chapel of Saint Jerome, in the underground cell where tradition holds he lived while translating the Bible into Latin .

Holy Site Before Constantine

The holy site known as the Nativity Grotto is thought to be the cave in which Jesus was born. In 135, Emperor Hadrian had the site above the grotto converted into a worship place for Adonis, the mortal lover of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and desire.Jerome claimed in 420 that the grotto had been consecrated to the worship of Adonis, and that a sacred grove was planted there in order to completely wipe out the memory of Jesus from the world.

Around AD 248, Greek philosopher Origen of Alexandria wrote the following about the grotto:

In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the rumor is in those places, and among foreigners of the Faith, that indeed Jesus was born in this cave who is worshiped and reverenced by the Christians.

You May Like: What Does The Bible Say About Fellowship