me, a shepherd?

Yesterday I got up at 4 am and drove to Newark to pick up Bob and Mary Liz at the Newark Airport. By 10:30 am I was on a bus to Nazareth for the 51st annual Peace Pilgrimage. I've seen these walkers other years, and thought I should do that some time. But never did.

Now that I've been walking so much, 10-miles doesn't seem far anymore. Besides, when else could you "safely" walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem?

We met near the YMCA in Bethlehem and boarded school buses to Nazareth Moravian church. It's right on the square and the town creche is beautiful. I took pictures. You can see them in my webshots album.

We waited there for at least another hour. I didn't realize they staggered the bsses, so I didn't need to get there so early. While waiting I was asked if I wanted to be a shepherd. Sure. What is a shepherd? The answer: You keep the "flock" safe and together. Make sure nobody gets left behind. For my "job" I was issued an orange safety vest.

I believe one of the older women was named Fern. My guess was she was one of the organizers. She mentioned while we were waiting that most of the Moravian churches in the area had Putzes. But theirs was covered up so we couldn't see it. I was a tad disappointed because I had never seen theirs, but oh well. Then a hand went up. "What's a Putz? I know what it is in Yiddish but I'm guessing it's not the same." Made me smile.

Looking around the room in the church basement there were some really old people. They were going to walk. At least one in their 90s. A half-dozen or so in their 80s, a good dozen in their 70s and a large group in their 60s. Some had done it for nearly all previous walks. It was inspirational.

The very old people walked better than some of the young ones! The youngest walkers were in strollers.

Then we headed down to Rt. 191. Where the Nazareth police let us j-walk. That was fun. I don't like that intersection in a car.  Close to Hecktown we saw another photographer. I thought he might be from the Express, but I didn't see anything in today's paper. Never saw anyone from the Call.

After what I thought was a long stop at a church in Hecktown, we proceeded down 191. Our next stop was a very long break at the Bethlehem Baptist church. My guess is 45 minutes. I was there a half hour and for that section I assigned the rear with two ladies having some serious trouble walking. Finally before McDonald's they got on the sweep van. But the rest of the group was a good three blocks ahead. Uphill,

Finally we got going again, and everyone seemed to be moving quicker. Maybe it was sidewalks. Maybe it was the long break, but they were moving. I was in the front for that section and got snapped by the Bethlehem Press photographer. (We'll see Wednesday if it's in.)

At the First Church of the Nazarene we picked up candles and lanterns. It was about 4:45 pm and and getting dark. By the time the procession reached Central Moravian it was dark. I peeled off and went back to the car. The group would sing carols in from of Central and then hike up to Christ Church for soup (bring your own bowl) and a lecture by Nancy Tate of Lepoco.

It was a good day. A great walk for a great cause. But I have to tell you those mammoth breaks were hard. 15 minutes is long enough for a break.

If you want to read about the walk,  a "journalist" or was she a blogger, was there from patch.com. She posted a story today. With a bunch of pictures. I'm not in any.