Worship in the Holy Land

On Sunday a friend invited me to go to church with a group of students from Rothberg and since I’ve failed at finding something on my own I went along with them. It was called King of Kings Assembly, a protestant evangelical kind of church very similar in feel to Voyagers, Mariners, or something like that (very modern in terms of technology, big screen with lyrics and passage readings, full band for worship, etc). The setting was strange because it was in a place called “the pavilion” which I think is just a theater inside a huge building in downtown Jerusalem. So I walked in, through security (which is in literally every building here) passed convenience stores, cafés, pharmacies, and bars, and went down the stairs to finally find a doorway which led to the theater where the service was held. It was bizarre, but whatever. The worship was incredible, though—we sang a few songs in Hebrew which was such a cool experience and really reminds you that people worship the Lord in hundreds of languages, and what you say in English or Hebrew or French or Swahili is all understood and appreciated by the same God. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a service since I have had classes on Sunday mornings and have been unable to find a good place, so I had been longing for that kind of atmosphere again, and this place absolutely did it for me. It was pretty charismatic but not so much that it’s strange and creepy. My only complaint was the sermon itself. I wasn’t crazy about it, the speaker was kind of all over the place, very long-winded, and I’m not sure I followed or agreed with some of what he said. But apparently he’s not the usual guy and the other one is better. So that’s promising. Anyway, I’ll probably go back unless I find another place—there are a couple I’ve been meaning to check out, but haven’t yet. It definitely is something magical to be in Jerusalem and though I know I’m no physically closer to Christ in any part of the world, being here feels like it.