Saturday (Shabbat) May 4, 2008

Today is Shabbat, Day of Rest, actually Saturday, but it really felt like a Sunday. We got up and had some breakfast at the hostel, and we wanted to go to a Messianic Jewish service, so we heard about this St. Andrew's Church, but it was so small and we had heard from my Mormon roommate (imagine that!?), who said he was going to attend another service of the same type a little farther away, so . . . .







we drove up the mountain to try to find this place, supposedly next to the UN building. We drove for almost an hour, but we finally stumbled onto it, and it looked like. . . .










this, not much to it, but it's much bigger on the inside. . . it was a nice service in Hebrew and in English, which was helpful. There was an eclectic crowd of people, lots of white American or European folks mixed with lIsraeli locals and a few Oriental. I wondered how a church like this got started and wouldn't ya know after the service I met this guy. . .




Nathan from the States, who has lived in Tiberias since the 80's when he moved here to start this church along with the current pastor, who is Jewish. Nathan was very friendly and talked about how they had a vision to minister to Jews and Christians and decided to start this church and they've been here ever since. Quite a story and I was happy to have met him.






After the service, I spoke with Karen about what she thought of the service, considering she is Jewish, not Messianic, and I knew she had not been exposed to a service that spoke of Yeshua, or Jesus. She was perplexed by it, and I could understand why. Although there are a number of Jews who are learning more about Jesus as the Messiah, there are many who still don't believe in Him nor ever really hear of Him. I wanted to know if she felt anything in the service, because I certainly did and I know it was the Holy Spirit, but she said she didn't. She is a good person to talk to about religious differences because she's not judgmental, somewhat open, and can listen as well as hold a good conversation about it. But I sent out a prayer for her later that day, just that the Lord would cross her path again.
The rest of the day was spent exactly how a Shabbat should be. . . . relaxing.
And actually Sunday was spent the same as Doris and Karen packed their things and headed for Sefad (0r Tsfat) the home of Kabballah, the Jewish mystic religion, ya know, the one Madonna made famous. Well I wasn't that interested in going there as much as I was in staying in Tiberias another day.