This Christmas, for the first time, I will be able to picture the bible scenes with perhaps the greatest and last measure of realism since Jesus's birth - thanks to an eye-opening visit to Bethlehem.

On 19 November I flew to Tel Aviv for a week's visit of the Holy Land. Two nights were spent on the Galilee at Tiberias followed by five nights in Jerusalem. It was on one of these afternoons that I went to the town of Jesus's birth.

Bethlehem was in complete disarray. Far from being the centre of peace and spirituality that most pilgrims seek, it looked like little more than a builders' yard.

In preparation for the year 2000 the authorities are ripping up the entire main street to widen the road, put up smart new tourist emporia and create an underground car park.

Pilgrims flock to see the place of Jesus's birth inside the Church of the Nativity

The result for many pilgrims in 1998, has no doubt been closer to hell than heaven as JCBs, diggers, mechanical cranes and workmen in hard hats have made movement virtually impossible.

But as we threaded our way precariously among the heavy plant I spotted a beautiful young Palestinian woman who was very obviously "great with child".

It was at this point that it occurred to me that rather than be upset by the inconvenience I should realise that this was truly a more authentic way to approach the Church of the Nativity than in the airconditioned comfort of a coach.

Exactly 1,998 years ago Mary, also heavily pregnant, would have had to struggle along a crowded street full of people jostling and pushing.

Everyone of the House of David had to wend their way to Bethlehem in order to register for the census. We know the town was full to bursting as there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn.

She too would have had to thread her way gingerly among the pot holes no doubt frightened that her donkey might take fright with all the shouting and shoving. She may even have been scared in case all the commotion would bring on a premature birth.

Jesus came not as the expected earthly King adorned in fine raiment sitting on a throne but as an innocent baby in a stable amid the dust and grime of first century Palestine.

That is what the Incarnation is all about. That is also why thoughts of an uprooted road in 20th century Bethlehem are worth holding on to as the pomp and ceremony of millenium celebrations - the anniversary of Jesus's birth - threaten to make us forget.