Sivan 5761
JEWISH RITUAL CELEBRATES RESURRECTION
That was the headline of the "Religion" section of the
St. Petersburg Times on April 14. The article that followed covered
most of the page and included several full-color photos. Clearly
visible in these pictures were both Patrice and John. The subhead
of the article read: "Messianic Jews gather to observe the
Jewish significance of Jesus' rising from the dead." The article
began: "Every Easter morning for the past 18 years, Messianic
Jews from Congregation Ohr þhadash have gathered at Philippe Park
to pray and sing." This was a very well written article on
our ministry, one of the better ones that have been done in the
past 20 years. It accurately described Yeshua's life on earth: "he
lived as a devout, pious Jew. He lived and died as a Jew. His followers
were Jews. All the writers of the Testament were Jewish." It
even pointed out the association and connection of Yeshua's death
and resurrection with the ceremonies of Passover.
The resurrection service described in the article is actually a
seasonal Jewish prayer service found in many traditional synagogues.
It is easily adapted into a celebration of Yeshua's resurrection
because it already emphasizes the coming of the Messiah and the
God who raises people from the dead. So it can quite seamlessly
become a celebration of the God raising our Messiah from the dead.
At these services John stresses both the historical evidence for
Yeshua's resurrection and the Jewish significance of this event.
At this service John spoke on the thorough-going Jewish nature of
the resurrection: its Jewish heroes, its Jewish story, its Jewish
concepts and issues, and its Jewish recorders and historians. He
also tied in the Jewish imagery of the "shattering of the heavens"
mentioned in the gospels as part of the resurrection accounts. Rather
than the usual 50 or so people normally in attendance at this service,
over 75 people joined the celebration!
That same resurrection morning another Jewish story had a "happy
ending," the story of a young Jewish man named Jody who accepted
Yeshua as his own risen Messiah. But that story begins quite a bit
earlier. Jody is from Boston. For some time he has been intrigued
about Yeshua; he was quite serious about this important figure in
Jewish history. His curiosity turned to active interest, so he began
reading about Yeshua. In fact, he read all he could find about him,
including the gospels. Along the way he received some gentle encouragement
in the form of "nudges" or "prompts." For example,
he heard the song, "Jesus Is Just All Right For Me," and
just couldn't get the words out of him mind. They kept replaying
in his head.
With all this going on in his life, he came to the St. Petersburg
area for some job interviews around Passover time. While here, he
opened up the phonebook and found our synagogue listed. His visit
resulted in Jody accepting Yeshua. He asked John, "What's next?"
Both John and later Barb, our invaluable office manager, talked
with him in considerable detail. He returned to Boston, loaded down
with Messianic material. He also left with the name of the Messianic
syangogue in Boston and the phone number of its rabbi. By the way,
John was the one responsible for leading that Boston Messianic rabbi
to Yeshua many years ago! So the "resurrection story"
continues.
By your prayers and contributions, you help to make possible the
ongoing story of Yeshua's resurrection among Jewish people. Thank
you!
The summer months are a difficult time financially for ministries
such as ours. Please pray about how you can become more involved
financially at this critical time.
Hope you had a great Shavuot (Pentecost)! [Yes, that too is an important
Jewish holiday! But that's another story. :-) ]
John and Patrice
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