George was gracious enough to spend several hours with us. We first went to his church, which is the largest Evangelical church in all of Greece. They are truly multinational and do simultaneous translations into 6 languages. Their church is a model of what we would like to become.
After our visit to the church they took us to the Acropolis that overlooks the 5 million people of Athens. My favorite moment was standing where the Apostle Paul once stood and p
reached in the public Marketplace. Acts 17 tells the story of the sermon he preached about the unkno
wn God. They had an idol in honor of him but didn't know the Lord " He is the God who made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth..." the Apostle shouted to the leaders of Athens. In the shadow of one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World he taught about the Wonder who created the UniverseWe enjoyed a delicious meal together and headed by taxi back to the Legend of the Seas.
After dinner I was honored with the privilege of conducting a funeral service for a Jewish family who'd lost their brother last year in Athens. We met in the belly of the ship and opened the big doors directly over the quickly passing Sea to honor him.
I read a scripture, said a few words and then prayed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I committed his soul to Jehovah and his body to the Sea. Then we all knelt down and leaned out over the dark and cold Sea to pour Leonard Bernstein's ashes into the water. It was quite touching
1 comment:
Barry, It is exciting to see how many biblical sites you are visiting. Also the Jewish contacts! What a blessing. I am taking your Pentateuch class at PLbc and in deciding on my creative project God gave me an idea on writing a book on the Jewish customs/traditions and how they are passing them down from one generation to another. A friend of mine (who gave her life to the Lord in my Workplace ALPHA last year) has a husband who is Jewish and president of their Synagog here in Coquitlam. Today I went to the festival of booths and got to see their Torah!
Thursday they are celebrating the finishing of the reading of the Torah and I also get to attend and take part in the festivities as the will unroll the entire Torah and dance with it. I am so excited!
My email is lg2525@shaw.ca if you have time to respond. Otherwise - I look forward to hearing you in class when you are back. (I missed the first day because I was away)
Lori Girard
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