rocking the shema

For those who are not hip to the Jewish tradition the Shema is their call to worship from Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. It is said in the Shabbat which is their service and that is where I was on Friday night.
On Friday morning I was out in Starbucks (I know I should be in local coffee shops but that is where I am now) and I met a Jewish gentleman. I was asking him about church names and he informed me that he was Jewish and invited me to synagogue. I am currently field testing names Encounter Church, InterActive Church, Tapestry Church (please leave your name preference in the comments on this post, please do not be sad if you preference is not chosen). At the Shabbat service I had a great time we sang some Old Testament passages in Hebrew. I must admit my voice does not sound on key in Hebrew either.
I had the privileged of having some dialogue with the Rabbi and she invited me to the inter-faith meetings and I will definitely blog about those. Before I spoke with her I had a very interesting conversation with a man who was once on a launch team for a church plant that did not get off the ground in Chico and now he converted to Judaism. I stood perplexed as he relayed the story and I was wondering were Jesus went in this guy's life. To know Jesus and then decided he is no long the Messiah and continue to wait for one was new to me. I have met people who walked away from the church but they left religion all together. Never have I found anyone to go from Christianity to Judaism. Our hope is that he may come back.
Hope is a funny thing. It is term thrown around recently, but what is hope? Hope speaks to a world and says that while it may look dark now, God is in control. Though the storms may wage, God is in control. While people are killing one another, God is in control. And while we want to be, God is in control. It is hope that sent us to Chico and it is hope that God gives to all of us. Hope that eternal life waits for all of us.
Please pray for us as we meet these great people. We already love them before we know their name.