Shabbat Shalom!

In my last post I wrote about being in Jerusalem when Easter and Passover (or Pesach) occurred at the same time.  My comments partly centered around the charged atmosphere of the Jewish community as it strove to meet all of the requirements of Passover.  This week we were in Haifa for Shabbat and attended what we consider our home church here in Israel, Bethesda Assembly.  What a lovely contrast from the chaos of last weekend

Finding a good church in Israel is a bit different than in the States.  Christian churches are very low key due to pressures from both the Jewish and Muslim communities and are not located on every corner as they often are in the States; so finding a good church is not always an easy thing to do.  We found Bethesda Assembly when we were here five years ago by walking into a hotel in central Carmel that had a Christian Symbol on it's mailbox.  The hotel is called the Beth Shalom (House of Peace) and is operated by Christians from Holland. We were greeted by an elderly lady from Holland who told us she remembered her parents hiding Jews during the Holocaust in the Netherlands.  She later moved to Israel because of her love for it's people.

The Bethesda Assembly is a group of 125 to 150 believers who meet every Shabbat (Yes, church is on Saturday here.) for the Lord's Supper and then a Bible Hour, much like our own Stratford Park Bible Chapel in Champaign.  It is made up of both Hebrew and Arab believers as well as a good number of internationals.  We are blessed with wonderful fellowship and great teaching there.  When we say "Shabbat Shalom" to those we meet on every Saturday, we really mean it because we have been blessed with a wonderful "home away from home" in our church fellowship.