Shabbat Shalom! Tomorrow we have a full day of field study in Jerusalem, so this week Sabbath is on Saturday for me. We began Shabbat after sunset yesterday, with dinner and our Vespers service, with singing and a brief devotion from Dr. Wright. Matilda, a grad student here, recited the first Psalm in Hebrew!
This morning I went to Jerusalem Assembly with five other students this morning. It is a Messianic church, but there were certainly more than just Jews attending! The sermon was in Hebrew, with an elder translating it into English. The seven African men behind us had an old woman translating it into french, and one of the baptisms was for a man from Germany, who hardly understood English or Hebrew. There were several other translators at work, some people we heard were speaking Finnish. This was partly because 15% of the church's attendance are visitors, like myself, who come and go from all over the world. It was really neat to see so many different ethnicities and tongues listening to the same sermon and confessing the same truths.
The sermon was from Jeremiah, and a good portion was reviewing history for context. It was exactly the period we had just gone over this past week in my History of the second temple period and Archaeology classes. I enjoyed hearing the same period talked about in three different contexts, once by an observant Jew, once by a secular Jew, and once by a Messianic Jew.
The point of the sermon was to obey God, and to do what he says, even if it seems illogical. Just as the Judeans wanted to run to Egypt for help, against God's command, so we often look towards other sources of help, thinking "if I just had that or were there, this would all be ok." But in reality, only obeying God can really save us.
I also was impressed by the emphasis on unity as a congregation, and as family in Christ. Several times, especially during the baptisms, the pastor spoke about how we are responsible for each other. He also made an announcement at the beginning of service, asking the congregation to pray for the young children, because they were being unusually misbehaved and disrespectful during Bible class on Tuesdays. I thought that was really cool, that all the adults would collectively pay attention to problems the children's groups were having. I think it is very different in the states, there is much more of a mindset that each should look out for his own behavior, or the behavior of his own children.
I am trying to understand better the social dynamic here, both within and without the church, but I think it would take longer than I have to understand well. There is certainly lots to listen to and observe and ponder, as far as the ways people interact and live out their faith here.
Now a storm has rolled in, and I'm settling down to some reading :) Here are a couple pictures from campus just before it stared raining.
This morning I went to Jerusalem Assembly with five other students this morning. It is a Messianic church, but there were certainly more than just Jews attending! The sermon was in Hebrew, with an elder translating it into English. The seven African men behind us had an old woman translating it into french, and one of the baptisms was for a man from Germany, who hardly understood English or Hebrew. There were several other translators at work, some people we heard were speaking Finnish. This was partly because 15% of the church's attendance are visitors, like myself, who come and go from all over the world. It was really neat to see so many different ethnicities and tongues listening to the same sermon and confessing the same truths.
The sermon was from Jeremiah, and a good portion was reviewing history for context. It was exactly the period we had just gone over this past week in my History of the second temple period and Archaeology classes. I enjoyed hearing the same period talked about in three different contexts, once by an observant Jew, once by a secular Jew, and once by a Messianic Jew.
The point of the sermon was to obey God, and to do what he says, even if it seems illogical. Just as the Judeans wanted to run to Egypt for help, against God's command, so we often look towards other sources of help, thinking "if I just had that or were there, this would all be ok." But in reality, only obeying God can really save us.
I also was impressed by the emphasis on unity as a congregation, and as family in Christ. Several times, especially during the baptisms, the pastor spoke about how we are responsible for each other. He also made an announcement at the beginning of service, asking the congregation to pray for the young children, because they were being unusually misbehaved and disrespectful during Bible class on Tuesdays. I thought that was really cool, that all the adults would collectively pay attention to problems the children's groups were having. I think it is very different in the states, there is much more of a mindset that each should look out for his own behavior, or the behavior of his own children.
I am trying to understand better the social dynamic here, both within and without the church, but I think it would take longer than I have to understand well. There is certainly lots to listen to and observe and ponder, as far as the ways people interact and live out their faith here.
Now a storm has rolled in, and I'm settling down to some reading :) Here are a couple pictures from campus just before it stared raining.
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| Cemetery behind the school |
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| This is the view from the library! What better place to study! |
Thanks for sharing, love! I absolutely love reading about your experiences, honest thoughts, connections you're making, the historic details of these places, your assignments, and your grateful, worshipful attitude through it all. You're so loved and prayed for. How good God is!
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