Shabbat

It is hard to believe that it was only two weeks ago that I was getting on a plane at O’Hare and heading here to Israel.  It has felt like I have been here for months! But it hasn’t felt too long, it has been the good amount of long, if that makes any since.  In the past two weeks, I have learned a lot, more than I expected to be honest.  I have learned so much about the geography and the historical and current significance of this land through our adventures with Dr. Wright; I have learned so much about the early church, theology and Christian life through my experience with Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis; I have learned so much about the people on this program with me as we have spent many sweaty, dusty, smelly hours with each other in the hot desert sun; I have learned so much about myself as I explored this country with an open mind and I have explored God’s word and been open to what He has to say to me. Already this program has been so influential to me and I am excited to see where the next four weeks takes me.

            This morning, we walked across the Hinnom Valley into the New City to go to Dr. Lenk’s synagogue.  The synagogue that she attends is Orthodox, so men and women were divided in the synagogue by a curtain, and all the men needed head coverings. We arrived to the service after the songs of praise and prayer were over. When we got there we had to split up because our group was large. I ended sitting up in the front row. I sat to a Jew, Jon Marc who was probably in his early thirties. He could tell that I was pretty lost since the service was all in Hebrew.  He spoke very good English and would talk to me throughout the service, explaining what was going on in the service and asking me about my stay in Jerusalem.  He said that this level of informality, talking during the service and people getting up and walking around the synagogue, was what surprised most of his Christians friends that he took to synagogue. During the service, there was a time when couples who got married this past week or will get married in the upcoming week get to ceremoniously read from the Torah. There was so much joy in this part of the service it was really wonderful to see; the couple danced around the Torah and read the selected passage.  It was a really great experience to be here for worship; I felt accepted and it was a very worthwhile experience.  Because I couldn’t understand the readings that were going on, I spent most of the service reading the prayer book that I had picked up that was in English. There were a wide variety of prayers ranging from the Psalms to prayers for the Israeli government and military, I even saw prayers for the American military. It was a very interesting contrast.

            In the afternoon Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis lectured to us on the Trinity and history of the gospels. It raised a lot of questions and definitely challenged me to think about the way I understand God and the Trinity. I need more time to process and understand what we talked about today before I can really formulate coherent ideas, but I have definitely had my curiosity peaked. I am excited to learn more.

Tonight we had a dessert at Dr. Wrights’s house. There was a ton of food, including a chocolate fondue.  We got to hang out together as a group, and just relax. We sat around the piano and sang songs and danced. We started with Journey and Billy Joel and moved into some Old Crow Medicine Show and into some Beyoncé. We ended on the Honey Rock song, which has always been one of my favorites. It is sung in a round and proclaims to glory of God. It always sends shivers down my spine and it is a really beautiful song. After this gather I went up to the roof and sat on the edge of roof and overlooked the New City, and sat ant thought. It was a good way to end and restful and fun day.