Sunday Service in the Old City

Last minute I made my decision on which Church to go to for my first service in Israel. I think this is when I make my best decisions because I don't over think it. I say that because I went to the closest church to the campus. I went to Christ Church which is just inside Jaffa gate.

Somewhere around 15 other students made the same decision I did and we all walked there together. I decided to wear long sleeves and long pants which wasn't my best decision of the day simply because it was already well over 80 before the service even began.

When we made it to the church we had to walk in through a small building that had a man there to point us in the right direction. I believe this is a security measure, because this building was quite small and we were in it for maybe a minute at most. Christ Church is an Anglican church and is the oldest protestant church in all of the Middle East. It was built by the British when they had a lot of influence in the area. Sorry I can't remember all of the exact history.

Back to my own experience though. I was the only student wearing long sleeves and only noticed that older men opted for similar dress as me. I wonder if that speaks to my in character haha. The sermon was in English and focused on Jeremiah 2:1-13. Nearly all of the songs were what I sing back home except a few were in Hebrew (not an easy language to sing in). Sunday was also a communion Sunday. It was amazing to have communion in the the same city Jesus had the Last Supper (we visited the the traditional room or building that some believe the Last Supper took place history tells us though that the actual building was probably lost the same time the temple was destroyed).

Church has become much more expansive for me and I remember thinking about the churches I have been to back in the States and though there is a time difference I thought of myself worshiping together with you while I was 2000 miles away.

Blessings!