In Praise of Geegaws

In Praise of Geegaws

From No Other Foundation by Fr. Lawrence R. Farley, and Ancient Faith Ministries

April 22, 2026

About this episode

Fr. Lawrence R. Farley discusses Leslie Farmer's experiences as a chaplain during WWII and his insights on holy places in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

In a wonderful old book by Leslie Farmer published in 1944 entitled We Saw the Holy City (mentioned briefly in last week’s blog), Farmer tells a story about how he led a group of soldiers on leave during the Second World War to the church in Bethlehem at Christmas time. The Reverend Farmer was assigned to Jerusalem as the Methodist Army Chaplain for two years during that war and through exploration and scholarly research he got to know many of the places of pilgrimage in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land very well. Besides his pastoral duties to the sick, he also spent much time talking to soldiers on leave passing through the city and would lead them to the holy places and explain their significance.

People in this episode

Host: Fr. Lawrence R. Farley

Topics covered

  • pilgrimage
  • Christianity
  • war stories
  • spirituality
  • historical accounts

Keywords

  • Leslie Farmer
  • Bethlehem
  • Jerusalem
  • Second World War
  • Methodist Army Chaplain
  • pilgrimage
  • Christianity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Methodist Army

Places: Bethlehem, Jerusalem

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