Well, I don't know if this "short" cut is going to get you there, but I wanted you to see a map of the Holy Land, to see where Mary and Joseph started their advent journey. Nazareth is pretty far north, up in "Galilee" and is home to the largest Christian church in the Holy Land (according to our friend John Setterlund, who lives near Bethlehem).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Nazareth,+Israel&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.944835,79.101563&ie=UTF8&ll=32.697864,35.312161&spn=5.176525,9.887695&z=6&om=0
Nazareth is a big city now. If you "Google Earth" it, you see a big gray and brown town, with lots of snaky roads and factories and big buildings. Although during Mary and Joseph's time, the town was somewhat smaller, I like to think of them walking out of a city and into the countryside as they set off for Bethlehem. As they left the last houses behind, did they breathe a little easier, knowing that the disapproving neighbors and gossiping relatives and former friends would not be looking sideways at them for a while? Perhaps they looked forward to the time they had on the road to get to know one another better and talk together about the future they were facing.
I hope that we'll take advantage of our time "on the road" to do some of that, too: That we'll get to know each other a little better and look forward together to the future God has for us.
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