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Our worship
is God-centered. Our worship is Messiah-centered.
Our The worship is Scripture-centered. We pray
the Scriptures; we sing the Scriptures; we teach
the Scriptures.
Our worship
is open to everyone - Jews and Gentiles, but those
who come must be willing to adapt to a Jewish
worship style.
Our worship
is a fusion of Jewish and Christian songs and
prayers. We embrace the best of our Jewish and
Christian heritages. We use some traditional Jewish
prayers. We may use a traditional Jewish prayer
that is introduced with a New Covenant emphasis.
We use some traditional Jewish prayers that have
been modified to reflect the coming of Messiah
and our New Covenant understanding.
Our worship
is a mixture of old songs and prayers mixed with
contemporary songs and prayers. Yeshua said to
them, “Therefore every scribe who has
become a disciple of the kingdom of Heaven is
like a head of a household, who brings out of
his treasure things new and old.”
Our worship
services are structured (we use responsive readings
and prayers), yet there is opportunity for some
spontaneity. After a song is sung or a passage
of Scripture is read, a spontaneous prayer may
be prayed by the prayer or worship leader, or
someone who is asked to pray by the prayer or
worship leader. We make time for silent prayers.
We may be praying a prayer together, but we will
pause at the end of a section, and give people
to apply it, and prayer their own prayer from
it silently.
One of
the weaknesses of a worship service that is liturgical
is that it can get stale. The same old prayers
and songs, as good as they might be, are used
over and over again. Many of the people begin
to tune them out and they prayers lose their vibrancy.
We mix prayers and songs and Scripture readings
together so that it comes out fresh each week.
We try not to use the same prayers each week.
For example, if we pray the Shema, we have several
versions of it.
Our worship
is based on the knowledge that most of the American
Jewish community, particularly the younger generation,
does not want long services with lots of Hebrew.
Our worship
is understandable. We use Hebrew and English.
When Hebrew is used it is always translated into
English, based on the principle that in public
worship, it is better to say few words in a known
language rather than many words in an unknown
language. Understandability in public worship
is essential.
We believe
that it is permissible for Christians and Messianic
Jews to participate in the Lord's Supper as often
as they met. We observe the Lord’s Supper
once a month, on the first Sabbath of the new
Biblical/Jewish month. It is open to both Christians
and Messianic Jews.
Our
worship is open to charismatic phenomena, but
we are extremely cautious and discerning when
it comes to their actual practice. When it
comes to charismatic phenomena, we prefer to err
on the side of caution. Art Katz wisely said
something to the effect that “it is the
path of wisdom to keep our distance from all questionable
phenomena and teachings, trusting that whatever
we might be missing is not greater than what we
are protecting. The Lord is not offended by a
carefulness that would rather err in the direction
of His holiness than risk subverting what has
already been given as pure and true and reliable
and trustworthy. Don't throw away what is proven,
that which you know is true, that which is precious
and dear for that which is questionable.”
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