Christian Music Ministries: Israel Houseparty part 6

The worship group at Christ Church

Our non-stop visit to Israel continued into the Sunday with a morning service at Christ Church Jerusalem. It was lovely to share in the morning service - Helen and Annie joined in with their worship group, and then we sang 'Just as I am as' as the offertory hymn. The congregation were very surprised to discover a choir singing in their midst! The service had a lovely Celtic style to it, as it was St Patrick's day.

Outside Yad Veshem

After the morning service we had a quick lunch and then travelled to Yad Veshem, the holocaust museum. It was a very important yet harrowing experience. The museum is incredibly well designed and built: it follows the persecution as it grows and develops, and as it is escalating the floor slopes ever downwards. As those in the concentration are freed and the war comes to an end, the slope returns the other way.

In rehearsal

When we returned from Yad Veshem we spent a little time in prayer and worship, and then held a rehearsal for our Christ Church performance of Rock. It was a very different acoustic (incredibly huge echo) and the choir and soloists had to work very hard to get the words across. Huge thanks to Ben for all his help with the sound.

Janine at the bookstall

After dinner we got changed ready for the performance and assembled in the church ready. The church was absolutely packed for the performance, and Janine did a great job running the bookstall. We had a shaky start to the performance when the backing track didn't work, but Annie jumped onto the piano and we managed to get through the opening song without it. By the time we needed the second backing track it was all sorted and ready to go. The performance was a great success, and there was an excited buzz in the church afterwards with lots of deep conversations.

Thank you so much to Christ Church and Shoresh for all of the work they did advertising the musical. It was wonderful to share with them.