Malcolm Muggeridge, while filming a TV series for the BBC on the life of Christ, was struck by the reactions of all sorts of people to the sacred sites and shrines in the Holy Land. He wrote: ‘Beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a silver star marks the alleged precise spot where Christ was born. A stone slab nearby is supposed to mark the exact site of the manger wherein he lay. The Holy Land is littered with such shrines. Most of them are doubtless fraudulent, some in dubious taste, and none to my liking. Yet one may note, as the visitors come and go, ranging from the devout to the inanely curious, that almost every face somehow lights up a little.’
Sceptic though he was at the time, he realised they represent a reality our hearts long for – that God shaped hole within that nothing else can fill.